By working closely together, design and the social sector can incubate and implement new ideas to change lives. Design Impact works with innovative organizations and the communities they serve to develop life-improving solutions.

220

% increase in income for employees involved with Paruva Kalaam, DI’s fair trade soap enterprise

Nearly half of the total population of India falls below the international poverty line of $1.25 USD/day. As a result, employees of DI’s microenterprise projects come from extremely low-income backgrounds.

Read more about the impact of DI’s microenterprise projects

24,000

Projected number of individuals that will experience reduced indoor air pollution and improved community health by 2013 through D’s briquette project launch.

The Erikoodu briquette, which releases no smoke while burning, will begin full production by December 2012. Market testing results estimate 24,000 people impacted in the first six months.

Read more about the Erikoodu briquette project

300,000

Projected number of people benefitting from DI projects by 2015

DI develops product and service solutions that improve access to basic needs. Before beginning each project, DI estimates the number of individuals potentially impacted by the design intervention, ensuring maximum impact of resources.

Read more about outcomes for each DI project

250

number of community participants engaged in design charettes with DI’s professional design fellows.

An important part of our model is involving our non-profit partners,end-users and communities in every step of the design process. Each DI fellow is responsible for holding design charrette with diverse participants during their fellowship period.

2,700

number of pro-bono hours given to DI projects by lawyers, accountants, designers, and engineers.

To see product and service solutions through from inception to implementation, it takes multiple skill sets. From accounting to PR to social sector researchers, we’re grateful for the support of our diverse team of experts.

Learn more about partnering with DI

2; 10; 30

Number of DI fellows living and working in India to design solutions that address basic human needs in 2010, 2012, and 2014, respectively

To increase design-thinking in the social sector, we hope to expand our program by placing more fellows on the ground within non-profit organizations.

4,000

Number of hours of design services provided to the community organizations by the 2011 class of DI fellows.

DI Fellows live and work on-site within non-profit organizations in India, providing access to technology and problem-solving in underserved areas.

100

% of DI’s carbon footprint that is reinvested in carbon reduction projects.

Air travel causes considerable carbon pollution (an estimated 1.5 billions tons of carbon will be released annually by the year 2025). Due to the international nature of our work, DI staff and fellows accumulate quite a few air miles. To cover our share of the damage, we estimate the impact our energy consumption and reinvest in carbon offset strategies.

Read more about DI’s sustainability initiatives