What is the innate human drive to give away what we do best?

At our last Creative Mornings, Matt Rollins from Iconologic shared a little about an initiative called Good Thinking Atlanta. This is a new "volunteer creative service organization that provides communication tools to qualified NPOs that provide health, education and/or welfare services to Greater Atlanta families."

Last year on a school field trip, I heard Erin Huizenga of gravitytank talk about EPIC, a stratagem for social change in Chicago. They have designed a process of eight week project rallies that bring together a conglomerate creative team to design deliverables for nonprofit clients dedicated to education, children and families.

A friend of mine did a tour with Project M a few summers ago. This is a unique, design-centric spin on Rural Studio founded by Samuel Mockbee. It is "a program for creative people who are already inspired to contribute to the greater good, and are looking for a platform to collaborate and generate ideas and projects bigger than themselves."

The School of Visual Arts has an intensive workshop on the subject of design in social advocacy. I took a class last summer at SCAD called The Role of Design in Social Awareness. Design Ignites Change is a Worldstudio program which supports designers and architects who desire to use their skills for social change.

In an age with such high value on social activism, it is not surprising to see a general consciousness around how design might be leveraged for social betterment. However, the proliferation of these programs (and many more) beg the question, "what are best practices for giving away of energy, time, and talent?"

What processes should guide the work you do in order to ensure sustainability and solid results?
What boundaries need to be in place for the sake of the benefactor as well as the cause organization?
What benefits are derived from practicing this type of charity?  What are the dangers?

And Most curiously, What is the innate human drive to give away what we do best?

As much as I love the work of Jessica Hische, her Should I Work for Free? flowchart only gets me so far in answering these questions.

One of the things I respect most about working here at Matchstic, is that there is always a push to make things better. This goes for On the House. Over the years and looking into the future, this is the primary way that Matchstic gives back to deserving non-profit clients. (Be on the lookout for a case study of 2011′s recipient, Beltline Bikeshop).

I am excited to see how the process improves as we tee up 2012 and hope to get some answers to these questions as well.

Feel free to chime in if you already have the solution(s).

Oh yeah, to be more on brand, Happy Valentine's Day.

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