Business advocacy sounds like a simple enough proposition: ask business leaders what government should or shouldn’t do to help them be more successful, lobby legislators to make those changes, make [...]
Serve the whole
Every major city has arts consortiums that represent various creative institutions. But how can such organizations be more than the sum of their parts? That was the question on the [...]
Drop the special terms
In some ways the story of World Sport Chicago is easy to explain: the organization’s goal was to take the energy from Chicago’s ultimately unsuccessful bid for the 2016 Olympics and [...]
Look past the usual suspects
Chicago’s Silk Road Theatre Project aims to break down barriers in all sorts of ways. The group’s main mission is to bring to the public dramatic work by Asian, Middle [...]
Catch the corporate whale
There is no shortage of civic initiatives to help Detroit. Virtually every corporate, institutional and non-profit leader is part of some effort to re-build, restore or re-invigorate one of America’s [...]
Give more than money
UX for Good is a wildly ambitious effort to design systemic solutions for some of the most vexing social challenges. Top user experience and visual designers convene to tackle problems that [...]
Give new leaders new platforms
In January 2011, Insight Labs partnered with the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce Foundation to examine the question: if our new captains of industry don’t want to be on the school board, [...]
Build better buttons for change
The Illinois Commerce Commission is the state agency that regulates utilities. But – as the nexus between utilities and the greater good – there are even larger interests to be served, [...]
It’s only new to you
Demand for higher education is greater than it has ever been, but options for funding college are shrinking. Non-profits and government agencies need to consider ways to get more bang [...]
Let trust beget trust
In October 2010, Insight Labs convened a prestigious group of Indian-Americans from the private and nonprofit sectors to meet with the North South Foundation. Founded in 1989, North South promotes the [...]