Designing Tomorrow: Creative Strategies for Social Impact
Designing Tomorrow explores a new playbook for modern social impact leaders and brands to reach their true impact potential.
Why do some social impact brands thrive, while so many others fail to get traction, build support for their cause, and make meaningful progress? Imagine your impact with truly sustainable revenue and resources. With deeper community engagement and relationships. With more influence in your social impact category.
Hosted by Eric Ressler, Founder & Creative Director of Cosmic, with co-host Jonathan Hicken, Executive Director of the Seymour Marine Discovery Center, each episode dives into the strategies, mindsets, and behaviors top social impact brands use to play and win in the attention economy. Go beyond high-level concepts to specific tools and tactics you can use today.
Watch on YouTube or listen to new episodes each Tuesday.
Let’s design a better tomorrow, together.
Designing Tomorrow is a Cosmic Production. Learn more at https://designbycosmic.com/
Designing Tomorrow is a registered trademark of Design By Cosmic, Inc.
Episodes
81 episodes
Inside charity:water's Big Brand Bet
The nonprofit sector has a marketing philosophy problem. We adopted a playbook built almost entirely around conversion: get the click, get the gift, optimize the funnel. But all of that activation depends on something most organizations never i...
•
Episode 81
•
58:16
Who Are You Becoming?
A single phrase from a previous episode sent Eric into an existential tailspin, and reshaped how he thinks about organizational identity. In this episode, Eric and Jonathan unpack why "Who are we becoming?" hits harder than any strategic planni...
•
Episode 80
•
23:18
Storytelling Needs an Ecosystem
The social impact sector has gotten very good at describing problems: white papers, statistics, annual reports filled with data on gaps and needs. But it hasn't built a system for telling stories that actually move people. Heather Mason spent 2...
•
Episode 79
•
50:52
WTF Even is Strategy?
Everyone claims to be strategic. But what does that word even mean anymore?In this episode, Eric and Jonathan dig into a question that comes up constantly: what actually separates strategy from tactics, and why do so many strategic plans...
•
Episode 78
•
31:20
Philanthropy Can Afford to Give More
There's $1.5 trillion sitting in American foundations right now. Add in donor-advised funds and the total climbs past $1.7 trillion. Most of it isn't moving. Meanwhile, the organizations on the front lines of housing, health, democracy, and cli...
•
Episode 77
•
54:40
The Great Content Reset
AI slop is flooding every channel. Here's what changes, what doesn't, and how to cut through the noise.In this episode, Eric and Jonathan dig into the great content reset — the collision of AI, shifting media formats, and a growing hunge...
•
Episode 76
•
28:59
Who Should Fund The People?
If solving the world's hardest problems requires the world's best people, why do we pay social impact professionals like they should be grateful just to have a job? The sector still treats its workforce as a cost to be minimized rather than the...
•
Episode 75
•
24:40
The Cost of "Someday"
Every organization has a “someday” list.The rebrand that never quite gets prioritized. The content strategy that’s been “in the works” for three years. The bold idea that came up in a board meeting, got tabled for further discussion — an...
•
Episode 74
•
26:56
Making Your Movement Irresistible
In the social impact sector, we talk a lot about systems. Structural barriers. Root causes. Power structures. But I've watched systems-focused thinking become its own kind of trap: top-down, abstract, and alienating the very people it aims to s...
•
Episode 73
•
44:14
Jonathan's Back?! Wins, Struggles, and What We Learned in 2025
After months away, Jonathan Hicken returns to Designing Tomorrow — and this time, we're recording from the brand new Seymour Studios at the Seymour Center in Santa Cruz.In this episode, Eric and Jonathan take a real look back at 2025: a...
•
Episode 72
•
33:26
Design Your Board (Or It Will Design Itself)
What if the biggest barrier to your mission isn't funding, or talent, or market conditions — but the people sitting in your boardroom?Not because they're bad people. But because they don't have clear expectations about their role. They w...
•
Episode 71
•
47:50
What Happens When Organizations Can't Dream
What happens when organizations can't dream?Not because they lack vision. But because they're too busy scrambling to make payroll, chasing emergency grants, firefighting the latest crisis. Scarcity doesn't just drain bank accounts — it s...
•
Episode 70
•
37:24
Fewer Donors, Bigger Checks. Interpreting the Latest Giving Data.
We break down the 2025 Bank of America Study of Philanthropy with the researchers who created it — exploring what this concentration means for nonprofit sustainability and the future of philanthropy. There’s a number that keeps show...
•
Episode 69
•
51:38
Why Good Orgs Stall Out
The biggest barrier to your next stage isn’t lack of vision or resources. It’s the moment you stop imagining what could be and start protecting what already is.
•
Episode 68
•
8:18
Why Facts Don't Change Minds
In this episode, we're joined by Drew Dumsch, President and CEO of the Ecology School at River Bend Farm in Maine. Drew co-founded the organization 26 years ago with a premise that felt radical then and feels essential now: that ecological lite...
•
Episode 67
•
32:29
Growth Isn't Linear. It's Cyclical.
Once you see the pattern, you can't unsee it.
•
Episode 66
•
6:02
What Political Campaigns Know That Nonprofits Don't
Mike Nellis has raised over $1 billion for progressive campaigns and causes. As the founder of Authentic and former Senior Advisor to Vice President Kamala Harris, he's seen what work — and what doesn't — in digital fundraising. In this convers...
•
Episode 65
•
39:44
What If It’s Not All Falling Apart?
The dominant narrative this year has been that everything’s falling apart. But what if we're manifesting a social impact doom loop? Why I have a newfound resurgence of hope and optimism for this work.
•
Episode 64
•
7:50
The Funder Breaking All the (Fake) Rules
What if philanthropy, as we know it, is a flawed system?In this episode, we're joined by Jen Nguyen, a director at the Stupski Foundation, a unique "spend-down" organization designed to close its doors after giving away all of its asset...
•
Episode 63
•
50:34
You Can’t Control Everything (But You Can Control This)
Reflections on fear, control, and what you can actually do about it. As we head into year-end — often the most high-stakes season in our sector — this episode will help you develop the right mindset to navigate it skillfully.
•
Episode 62
•
6:14
What If the Economy Were Built on Care?
What if everything you’ve been taught about economic progress is wrong?In this episode, Stacey Edgar — social worker turned social entrepreneur and now executive director of the International Folk Art Market — shares her journey through ...
•
Episode 61
•
29:25
The Vision Window is Open...For Now
How to recognize and act on the rare moments when transformation is possible.Join the conversation on substack: https://open.substack.com/pub/eressler/p/the-vision-window-is-openfor-now?r=8rkfl&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&a...
•
Episode 60
•
7:12
Amanda Litman on How Real Change Happens
What if real change doesn't begin with institutions, campaigns, or capital — but with the people we invite into our lives?In this episode, Eric sits down with Amanda Litman, co-founder of Run for Something and author of When We’re In...
•
Episode 59
•
28:34
What's Your Truth?
In this episode, I’m exploring a question that’s been showing up in a lot of our recent work — and in my own thinking:What is your truth?Links: 📝 Read the full essay version on our new Substack: https://open.substack.co...
•
Episode 58
•
5:02
The Power (and Pitfalls) of Partnerships
Everyone loves the idea of collaboration — but real partnership? That’s harder.From mismatched visions to unclear roles, even the most well-intentioned alliances can go sideways fast. In this episode, Eric and Jonathan break dow...
•
Season 4
•
Episode 10
•
30:10