education investing guide design
design challenge:
GIIN engaged FHI 360 to study the market, understand the needs of different stakeholders and design the Education Impact Investing Strategy Guide for their Navigating Impact Project.
my role:
Lead Designer and Strategist.
Key design research skills I used: communication, project management, research, interview, focus group, data analysis & synthesis, facilitation, detailed note taking, insights.
client:
Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN), think tank based in New York City.
project outcome:
A guide that outlines different investment strategies in education, key ways to measure social return of investments, and different resources and tools to impact investors around the world.
the process:
discover, design, deliver
discover
getting smart and empathizing:
With the objectives of understanding the market, behavior and needs of different stakeholders, we performed 3 main activities, used different research methods/tools to uncover key information and insights.
secondary research
method/tools: desktop search, industry reports/literature review
result: education impact investing landscape analysis including size of industry, main players and overall trends.
data analysis
method/tools: data mining from Pitchbook investor data platform; Excel data analysis
result: specific descriptive analysis containing main types of initiatives receiving investments, geographies, amounts and overall returns, etc.
focus groups
method/tools: recruited different groups of stakeholders — investors, entrepreneurs and education experts — from LinkedIn and team connections. Conducted open guided discussion, rankings and survey.
result: nuanced understanding of key challenges and important themes to consider for our final solution.
key research insights:
misaligned perceptions of what solutions were needed the most in education was preventing sector growth.
many investors were not sure what to invest in to generate the biggest impact and were choosing “easier solutions”.
disagreements on what to measure/what were good education results was preventing effective impact measurement and reporting.
lack of communication/alignment between education experts and investors/entrepreneurs caused many solutions not to be used or successful in the market.
stakeholders recognized the need of guidance on impact investment in education, and a more centralized way to find resources, information and sector needs.
design
data triangulation:
We triangulated information and data from our secondary and primary research, to understand what specific types of solutions were:
(1) being funded the most by investors and entrepreneurs and,
(2) were most relevant/needed based on education experts’ knowledge and experience.
We took a 3 steps approach:
1.affinity charts
We developed affinity charts to classify main solutions under specific areas. We ended up with six areas or themes:
2. survey
We created a survey sent to different stakeholders, to rank themes based on “social impact” and “financial return”.
3. prioritization
Based on the rank and a final debrief with experts, we prioritized themes for investment.
With the themes defined, we conducted design sessions to draft the final guide. For each theme, we drafted content using a shared excel template with four main sessions:
1. Strategy Overview, where we also included existing solutions/investment in the area
2. Evidence Map, showing main scientific research supporting investment in that area
3. Core Metrics to track impact performance, based on GIIN IRIS+
4. Aligned Resources, with third parties who could assist with impact performance measurement and other resources
deliver
The guide we created turned into a website, with information available to subscribers. It centralizes main resources to improve knowledge on each theme, provides more context on sector needs and guide investors and social entrepreneurs in their impact investments decisions.
