FutureLab: An Online Challenge has been an important component of IS’s ongoing Envisioning Our Future initiative, which has focused on determining what the nonprofit community can do -- now and over the next decade -- to create a more vibrant 2020.

By providing a forum to share big ideas and identify common goals, FutureLab was designed to strengthen the sector at large and increase the individual and collective impact of our organizations. People from across the nonprofit community were able to share and get feedback on ideas, as well as contribute to the sector's collective thinking.

In the short period they were up, the FutureLab web pages were viewed more than 11,000 times by roughly 650 people from the nonprofit community, and have produced over 60 ideas and discussion questions and 350 pieces of feedback through comments or votes. 

The FutureLab discussions focused on nine topics that emerged from the StrategyLab segment of Envisioning Our Future, with a framework explaining the importance of each of the nine. Those frameworks, as well as transcripts of each discussion, are available on the discussion page. (There was a 10th discussion, based on topics introduced by FutureLab participants.)

The best ideas from the FutureLab will also be key pieces of an online toolkit that IS will launch next year. This kit, which will also draw from other elements of Envisioning Our Future, will offer a roadmap for organizations as they plan for the years ahead. It will contain an overview of key trends likely to affect our sector over the next 10 years, allow nonprofits and foundations to assess themselves against these trends; it will also provide key questions, scenarios, and ideas about how organizations can increase their impact.

We encourage you to continue your involvement with this process. We’d also like to thank Imaginatik for all of their in-kind support of the website platform throughout this process.