The Heurista Institute: How’d It Come To Be?
Way back in the last century, I was working as a graphic designer after having finished that bachelor of fine arts degree in sculpture, various stints on opposite coasts in the restaurant industry, and the birth of a couple of beautiful babies. Whether by divine providence or sheer good luck, I happened to land a gig designing donor recognition, digital donor recognition. It turned out I was good at it. The woman who’d hired me, a real forward thinker in the field, complimented me for ‘getting’ the necessary balance between architectural and brand integration while still keeping the donor in the forefront. I was hooked. This was an ‘art’ that was aching for a little science. At that point, I didn’t yet recognize the systems-thinker in me, which is odd because it is such an important part of who I am, but this was work that scratched that very itch.
Flash forward 15 years. I’d become the president of the donor recognition company. I was building a national reputation for my expertise in the field. My thinking was branching into operationalizing other aspects of donor relations and stewardship – the means by which nonprofits build long-standing, productive relationships with their donors. At that point, nonprofits were all a-buzz to emulate advances in customer service to improve donor relations practice. My clients were excited by what Disney and Amazon and Facebook were doing to attract and secure their diversified client bases. I found this study interesting but one-sided. Surely there was as much to be learned by for-profits about the practice of donor relations as there was for nonprofits to learn from their for-profit counterparts.
About that same time, my husband and business partner, Jeff got really fired up about local politics. He wasn’t aspiring for a political career himself, instead, he was holding our local politicians to account for the decisions they were making and advocating for a stronger voice from the citizens in decisions made by the municipalities in which they lived. He and I began to brainstorm about how the careful planning typical in the donor-to-nonprofit relationship should also apply to the citizen-to-government relationship. Specifically, what would change if politicians didn’t just give lip-service to representing their constituents? What if votes and taxes were more like purchases, investments, or gifts; what would change about how the municipality saw its obligations to its citizens? Would improved communication, transparency, and reportability help engage a larger number of citizens in the workings of their communities? Wasn’t citizen engagement the primary role of government and politics?
These seeds were planted deep but they began to germinate quickly and sprouted fully in 2017 when Patricia Berry and I decided to formalize the Heurista Institute. After some debate, we settled on the tagline, ‘collaborative thinking for resilient relationships.’ By this, we meant casual but intense learning opportunities where people from various types of organizations consider the structure, meaning, and intent in various types of individual-to-organization relationships. How can these relationships be managed and bolstered to be resilient in the face of change or conflict? We go into this assuming that the bulk of the work – the work to establish norms of practice and operationalize behaviors – will fall to the organizations. Yet we invite participation, ideas, and even leadership from the individuals upon whom the organizations depend – whether that’s a donor, a client or a constituent.
As I write this in the early weeks of 2019, I can’t be sure where it will lead, in the short term or over the coming years. For me, that’s part of the fun of it. Unlike my for-profit consulting and design business, Heurista Co., the Heurista Institute has the option – the charge even – to form itself to meet the needs of those who choose to participate. If you have an idea you want to consider, a problem you want to solve, or just a conversation that needs a little structure, we welcome your participation. If you like forms, contact us through the website. If you like a conversation, reach out to us at Anne@heuristainstitute.com or Patricia@heuristainsitute.com to schedule a call.
Yours in the quest,
Anne