In 2019 Miguel reached out because he wanted to connect with a nonprofit organization to study what drives local elected officials to learn and adopt new policies. Using the research4impact newsletter, we made a new connection that has led to a brand-new collaboration. Here's what he reported afterwards:
"I first heard about Research4Impact at an annual meeting of the American Political Science Association. Adam was describing the goals of the organization and his excitement and passion about the project were contagious. I reached out to him a couple of months later with an idea for a collaboration with an environmental organization working with local governments. He quickly shared the idea to the 600+ person r4i community via the r4i newsletter. Within two weeks I was in touch with a colleague who was interested in similar work and offered to share the idea with 350 Seattle. Thanks to r4i we are about to field a collaborative study, less than four months after Adam brought us together."
April 2019 in Ontario, Canada:
The Institute for Change Leaders invited us to lead How to be Helpful: Building Relationships for Social Impact as part of one of their trainings. Olivia, the founder and head of the Institute, shared this afterwards:
"Adam provided excellent insight on how to build relationships for social impact. We know that building stronger organizations requires reaching out and having conversations with new people. He provides a useful, practical, and portable structure for how to have those conversations. Very engaging and really brings the academic insights to life!"
In March 2019 Anna took part in our hands-on matchmaking. She was looking to connect with social scientists studying behavioral barriers and opportunities for solar energy diffusion. Here's what she said afterwards:
"Adam puts his heart and mind into building bridges -- in my case, between the public sector and academia. After a short phone call, he connected me with three highly-relevant social scientists studying how to expand the use of solar technologies. I already had a phone call and an in-person meeting with them and we're looking forward to talking again during upcoming conferences."
Recently Sutton reached out to connect with a researcher via our hands-on matchmaking. A short, high-impact conversation can go a long way:
"As part of its work to engage Canadians around affordability issues like housing and childcare, Generation Squeeze undertook some audience research that explored, among other things, how describing the challenges people are facing might impact their willingness to take action. R4I matched us up with a researcher who offered some great ideas on how to structure member and Google surveys, and ways to compare the views of existing supporters with the general population. Even though the connection was just one phone call and a few emails, the value was huge. Thank you again for making the introduction."
February 2019 in Cebu, Philippines:
Rare invited us to lead our "How to be Helpful: Building Relationships for Social Impact" workshop as part of their Global Fish Forever Summit. This summit included 50+ staff members from Asia, Africa, and the Americas. Here's what Claudia (one of the summit's organizers) shared afterwards:
“Adam was a great addition to our Fish Forever Summit in the Philippines! In preparation for the event, he took the time to understand our program implementation staff, welcoming ideas on how to make his presentation relevant to the opportunities and challenges they face in establishing voluntary collaborative relationships. He was engaging, informative and fun, built off participant’s experiences and provided ample space for practice and questions. We’re excited to apply our new skills in workshops, site visits, meetings, remote and in-person mentoring and many more interactions across our diverse stakeholder networks.”