Guest post by Denys Resnick, Vice President, Strategic Programs, NineSigma
Grand Challenges marry the mission and message that are central to nonprofits whose aim is to make the world a better place. They focus on a cause and they achieve a positive impact through their:
MESSAGE by building awareness, empathy, and backing from those most impacted by the cause, and even more importantly, from a broader community of supporters
MISSION to create change relative to the cause, by funding research and problem solving that will minimize the negative impact of the cause
Grand Challenges are an ideal vehicle to support this dual mission because they mirror this two pronged structure. They are comprised of:
An ASPIRATIONAL MESSAGE that echoes the organization’s vision of a better world, and motivates inventors to break boundaries, and
The TECHNOLOGY NEED that creates a technical, measurable outcome related to the cause
Through a Grand Challenge, a nonprofit can create a unified outreach and campaign t…