BUILDING A SOCIAL IMPACT CONSCIOUSNESS
Embedded Files
Course Syllabus
Course Syllabus
Each week, we will openly discuss, reflect, write and verbalize our thoughts on many issues we face as a class. The grid below will help articulate the key assignments due the day-of the class as well as the materials that we will cover in class.
We will be updating this page on a regular basis to include materials, activities, and reflection exercises for each session.
The latest syllabus from Fall 2022 can be found to the right, along with previous years' syllabi for reference. Each year takes on its own character based on current and previous student feedback. The below sections reflect the most recent syllabus.
Georgetown UNXD 256 | Social Impact as Consciousness SyllabusGeorgetown UNXD 256 | Social Impact as Consciousness Syllabus
MODULE 1: LEVERS FOR CHANGE
We begin by looking at how social change works, dissecting macro concepts and understanding the important roles that work together and keep opposing balance in the larger impact ecosystem. We will look at inequality and environmental degradation and how we got here as an anchor for why we focus on social impact. We pay particular attention to the time horizon of change, how actors can interact, and incentives of each actor.
SESSION 1 - INTRODUCTION, NORMS, AND GOAL SETTING
Should Social Impact be a Field or Consciousness?
We will explore the question of what is social impact. Should it be a field or rather a consciousness that pervades everything we do?
📌 Readings / Materials
💭 Individual Reflection Prompt
What’s your take: should social impact be a field or a broader consciousness?
What might some of the trade-offs be around band-aid solutions and long-term actions to fix systemic injustices?
Looking over the syllabus, what session topics are you most comfortable with? Least comfortable?
🗣️ Peer Share (in class)
What are your goals for this seminar? What do you hope to contribute?
SESSION 2 - PROBLEM OF INEQUALITY & ENVIRONMENTAL DEGREDATION
How Did We Get Here?
We will dissect some of reasons we may even come into social impact and why it’s important to look at the past to better understand the future
📌 Readings / Materials
💭 Individual Reflection Prompt
What anchors my interest in social impact?
Where do you gravitate toward: the problems or the solutions?
🗣️ Peer Share
Select a social impact organization to focus on. This can be through your consulting class, internship, or other organization you have a connection with. What drew you to select that organization?
SESSION 3 - ART OF SOCIAL CHANGE
How Does Social Change Happen?
We will explore the question of how social change happens through the lens of social movements, as well as what actors are involved to make it happen
📌 Readings / Materials
⚓Facilitators/ Anchor Speakers (for Fall 2022)
Alexa Clay, Director US, Royal Society of Arts (RSA)
Ian Burbidge, Head of Systems Change and Innovation and Change, Start Network
💭 Individual Reflection Prompt
What’s the dynamic between the individual, the community, the organization, and the institution/ system in positively affecting social change?
🎨 Studio Assignment: In-class to start (bring your org’s mission statement)
Share your selected organization’s mission statement. What role(s) do you think this organization plays as part of the larger social change choreography (use the handout as reference)?
🌐 Open-Source Feedback: In-class to start
What are 1-2 constructive aspects you’d contribute to this module (e.g., what are additional resources you’d add, what could be clearer, what was a highlight “must-do-again”)?
MODULE 2: PROBLEMS BY DESIGN
We will then move into the realm of philosophy and personal reflection, understanding human nature and explore these problems as intentional and designed. We will discuss the role that institutions have played around systemic oppression through the use of power and privilege of a few that has contributed to these problems. Yet, we are not immune to examination and will turn the spotlight to ourselves, understanding our own identities and how they may show up in how we even approach our role in the impact space.
SESSION 4 - POWER + IMPACT
How Is Power Connected to Social Impact?
We will explore the role of power in shaping how social change happens, both as causes of social ills as well as solutions to them, and new constructs to think about power
📌 Readings / Materials
💭 Individual Reflection Prompt
How might I think about power differently?
🗣️ Peer Share
Where does power show up in your selected organization? How might this affect the ability to have a positive social impact?
SESSION 5 - IDENTITY + POWER
What Right Do I Have to Do This Work?
We will explore the question of our own identities and how that shapes the role we play in social impact, ultimately discussing what right we have to do this work
📌 Readings / Materials
Social Identity Wheel worksheet encourages you to identify facets of your identities and reflect on the ways those identities become visible or more keenly felt at different times (alternative worksheet here)
💭 Individual Reflection Prompt
Reflect on the questions listed in the worksheet and how do your identities impact the ways others perceive or treat you?
🗣️ Peer Share
What right do I have to do this work? What responsibility do I therefore have?
🎨 Studio Assignment
Complete the Social Identity Wheel for yourself; How might your social identity inform your role in social impact?
🌐 Open-Source Feedback
What are 1-2 constructive aspects you’d contribute to this module (e.g., what are additional resources you’d add, what could be clearer, what was a highlight “must-do-again”)?
MODULE 3: SECTORAL DISTINCTIONS
Next, we will move into the practical realm, dissecting roles in each sector as well as the incentives that drive each sector and how they interact with each other. We will better understand the interaction points as well as the aggregate effect that organizations may have on the world both positive (like creating more jobs for people and paying taxes), and negative (like polluting local rivers and exploiting local workers).
SESSION 6 - SOCIAL SECTOR - NON-PROFIT AND CIVIC ENGAGEMENT
What Drives and Impedes Civic Organizations To Be Impactful?
We will explore the role of the non-profit and civic sector to a thriving social impact ecosystem, as well as the incentives that may work in their favor or against the very social impact they are seeking including funding structures, accountability, and competition
📌 Readings / Materials
Social Service or Social Change? by Paul Kivel from The Revolution Will Not Be Funded
⚓Facilitators/ Anchor Speakers (for Fall 2022)
Marisa Stubbs, Initiative Director at Wayfinding Partners, Nonprofit Executive Consultant/Coach, Development and Communications professional
💭 Individual Reflection Prompt
What makes a civic organization. non-profit successful in the long-run?
🗣️ Peer Share
Are civic organizations/ non-profits set-up to truly achieve positive social impact?
Is bigger better?
🎤 Class Presentation
If your selected organization is within the social sector (non-profit or foundation), share what the drivers and impediments are of your organization to achieve positive social impact? It may be helpful to identify the endgame(s) for your organization (based on the reading) and where there may be momentum or barriers.
SESSION 7 - PUBLIC SECTOR - POLICYMAKING AND REGULATION
What Is the Role of Government In Scaling or Impeding Impact?
We will explore the role of government to a thriving social impact ecosystem and its role in creating sustained impact or exacerbating inequity. We will explore the incentives that may work in their favor or against the public impact they are seeking including constituency and terms, regulation, and lobbying.
📌 Readings / Materials
How to Achieve Social Change Through Governments | Harvard Kennedy School
Optional: YouTube | The Entrepreneurial State: Debunking Private vs. Public Sector Myths | Mariana Mazzucato
⚓Facilitators/ Anchor Speakers (for Fall 2022)
Emily Tavoulareas, Managing Chair, Initiative of Tech & Society at Georgetown University; former White House Office of Science + Technology and Department of Veteran Affairs
💭 Individual Reflection Prompt
What makes a government successful in the long-run?
🗣️ Peer Share
Are government institutions set-up to truly achieve positive social impact?
🎤 Class Presentation
If your selected organization is within the public sector (government, policy, lobbying), share what the drivers and impediments are of your organization to achieve positive social impact?
SESSION 8 - PRIVATE SECTOR - BUSINESS AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP
What Role Does Business Have in Contributing to Social Impact?
We will explore the role of business and social change. We will explore its evolving role including shareholder primacy and the shift to stakeholder capitalism. We will explore the incentives that work in their favor or against the impact that business may have including corporate governance, business models, and the financial system.
📌 Readings / Materials
⚓Facilitators/ Anchor Speakers (for Fall 2022)
Cole Hoover, Director of Learning, Moving Worlds
💭 Individual Reflection Prompt
What makes a business successful in the long-run?
🗣️ Peer Share
Are corporations set-up to truly achieve positive social impact?
How could we know if corporations are meaningfully engaging as partners and investors in social enterprises?
🎤 Class Presentation
If your selected organization is within the private sector (business, start-up, large corporation), share what the drivers and impediments are of your organization to achieve positive social impact?
SESSION 9 - INCENTIVES + FUNDING
How Does Philanthropy Dictate Social Change?
We will explore the role of philanthropy and how it has played a central role in social change, as well as the insidious side of “impact-washing” profit.
📌 Readings / Materials
Excerpts of Giridharadas, Anand; Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing The World (ISBN: 9781101972670)
Excerpts of Letting Go: How Philanthropists and Impact Investors can Give up Control
SSIR | Building a Trust-Based Philanthropy to Shift Power Back to Communities
Optional: Change the World: To Reimagine Capitalism, We Need to Reimagine Power
💭 Individual Reflection Prompt
How might I be tempted to overlook things in the name of “changing the world”?
🗣️ Peer Share
How do we balance good intentions with outcomes?
🎨 Studio Assignment
Assess where power lies within your selected organization. What are the key sources (e.g., funders, board members, leadership, team members, community members, etc.) and how do they dictate the organization?
🌐 Open-Source Feedback
What are 1-2 constructive aspects you’d contribute to this module (e.g., what are additional resources you’d add, what could be clearer, what was a highlight “must-do-again”)?
MODULE 4: OUR CHOICES
Lastly, we will turn inward and better understand the agency we have to create social impact including the role of individual well being connected to broader social impact as well as our ability to create boundaries and a ruleset to guide our own decision-making through a “gut check.”
SESSION 10 - WELLBEING
How Does My Individual Wellbeing Affect My Ability To Achieve Impact?
We will explore how our individual wellbeing may affect our ability to achieve impact, including how the well-being of the body, brain, and mind can lead to broader healing and social change.
📌 Readings / Materials
Wellbeing Project Research Report
Executive Summary (pg 05-07)
Background Research (pg 08-10)
An Emerging Definition of Wellbeing (pg 70-72)
Videos from the Wellbeing Summit (pick one): Eddie Glaude, Jr., Reggie Hubbard, Kumi Naidoo
⚓Facilitators/ Anchor Speakers (for Fall 2022)
Duncan Peacock, Georgetown Red House
Ijeoma Njaka, Georgetown Red House
💭 Individual Reflection Prompt
What are ways that I may have overlooked my own individual wellbeing in the name of “changing the world”?
Bring to class one artifact that represents how you tend to your personal wellbeing. This can be a physical or digital artifact.
🗣️ Peer Share
What actions can you take to be more conscious of your own individual wellbeing?
SESSION 11 - GUT CHECK
How Can I Say No When I Need to _______?
We will explore what it takes to create a gut check that guides you making your own decisions about what you take on or not.
📌 Readings / Materials
Excerpts from Essentialism by Greg McKeown - Chapters 11, 12, and 14
Optional: 10% Happier podcast episode #271: The Antidote to Burnout | Leah Weiss
Optional: Think Again, by Adam Grant, Chapter 11, “Escaping Tunnel Vision: Reconsidering our best-laid career and life plans” (20 pages)
⚓Facilitators/ Anchor Speakers (for Fall 2022)
Alessandra Zielinski, independent consultant & executive coach
Eric Chen, Manager I, The Bridgespan Group, SFS ‘19
💭 Individual Reflection Prompt
What makes it hard to say no?
What are your top 5 values? (Based on this worksheet)
🗣️ Peer Share
What actions can I take to be more conscious of my own individual values?
🎨 Studio Assignment
Develop your own gut check - What are the criteria and/or questions you want to use as a filter for decision-making going forward? Create your list. This could be for career (e.g., questions to ask when going through a job interview, criteria to evaluate when selecting a job) or for life overall (e.g., checking in on how you are living out your values, thinking through how fulfilled are you at this moment in time and why, etc.) then schedule a check in with yourself date (e.g., 3, 6, 12 months out).
🌐 Open-Source Feedback
What are 1-2 constructive aspects you’d contribute to this module (e.g., what are additional resources you’d add, what could be clearer, what was a highlight “must-do-again”)?
MODULE 5: CLOSEOUT
We will reflect on our broader learnings over the semester and share actions that we will take next, discussing our culminating personal manifestos that will guide our social impact consciousness into the future.
SESSION 12 - REFLECTION AND SHARE-OUTS
What is My Social Impact Consciousness?
We will reflect on our broader learnings over the semester and share actions that you can take to make that consciousness a life’s ever calibrating “compass.”
📌 Readings / Materials
Complete questionnaire that will prompt your learnings ahead of your manifesto
Bring an artifact you can share that represents what you’ve taken away from the class (we’ll be sharing this together)
💭 Individual Reflection Prompt
What did I learn about myself? How did I grow?
🗣️ Peer Share
How can we help each other sustain this broader consciousness?
🌐 Open-Source Feedback
What are ways that the lessons of this seminar can be best shared with others?
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