Just as our donors depend on us to advise them of their best options for giving, we look to nonprofits for ideas about how to assist the community directly. Co- creation allows for brainstorming and implementing truly transformative programs. KELLY URANKER Center for Philanthropy FortheBuncherFoundation,which has received hundreds of conventional grantproposalsovertheyears,co-creation haspresentedarareopportunitytofund projects that have the potential to create catalytic change. The Buncher Board committed$200,000totheCentertohelp nonprofits they fund become stronger and more agile. “TheBuncherInitiativewaslaunched with The Pittsburgh Foundation so that small and mid-sized area nonprofits could receive the technical and mana- gerial support they deserve but which, quite often, they cannot access,” says Karen Emmerich, Buncher’s grants manager. “One recurring problem is that a certain percentage of nonprofits werenotcommunicatingtheirmissions or funding needs adequately and effec- tively. We designed the initiative to help organizationsbetterdetermineandthen strategically convey those needs.” Thepilotprogramfocusedonorgani- zationsprimarilyservingveterans,seniors and people with limited medical care. Phase 1 of the initiative, June to December2016,focusedonstrengthening administrative and marketing practices. The Program to Aid Citizen Enterprise (PACE), a regional organization that primarily assists nonprofits that serve socioeconomically disadvantaged communities, led these sessions. “We try our best to build honest and open relationships as early as orientation, so we can determine what an organization really needs to be successful,” says PACE Program Coordinator Hilary Ferencak. With PACE’s guidance, leaders of the Veterans Breakfast Club and VeteransVoicesofPittsburgh,anotherorganizationinthecohort,decided thattheycouldfunctionmoreeffectivelybymergingundertheaegisofthe Breakfast Club. “It wasn’t the money, it really wasn’t,” DePastino says. “It was the focus on what our organization needed. That really gave us a shot of confidence.” InPhase2oftheinitiative,participantsreceivedtraininginhuman-cen- tered design from the LUMA Institute. The two-and-a-half-day training in February 2017, along with subsequent check-ins, spiked creativity in goal setting.Human-centereddesignisanapproachthatteachesproblem-solving methods. Techniques include persona profiles, which challenge people to imagine an ideal population to serve, and constituent mapping, where participants create a visual outline of their community partners. Change Agentsusedthemethodstoimproveperformanceinkeyworkareassuchas governance,fundraisingandpublicspeaking.Eachnonprofitalsoreceived upto$10,000tofundoperationalchanges.“We’vetakenLUMA onasaverb,” says DePastino. “Let’s LUMA this, let’s LUMA that!” 36 THE TRANSFORMERS