Good Innovation Lab Tools (GILT) was a research project conducted by Prime with De La Court. The starting point was the hypothesis presented by Good Innovation that bringing charities together could lead to innovation in fundraising. In turn the research led to the creation of new revenue models and collaborative approaches for Third Sector organisations. Prime with De La Court researched to uncover common design principles needed for innovation in revenue generation for the Third Sector. Through participatory design research they were able to develop a series of tools and processes that are the GILT.
The research was initially framed in relation to a three-year project initiated by Good Innovation in 2016. Good Innovation created GoodLab to bring together a collaboration of leading charities to design new ways for charities to fund their work and bring new sources of income in to the sector. The groundwork, delivery and outcomes of the project led to the creation of new ventures by charities and alternative ways of thinking about fundraising. Prime and De La Court developed the enquiry with a review of practices of financial modelling and governance in the Third Sector and prototyped new tools to support the thinking and activities needed to develop alternative revenues.
Built on a notion that it was possible to repurpose capitalist tools that had been developed to commercialise Intellectual Property and innovation more broadly. GILT reviewed ways to transition charities in to new revenue and business models without replicating social enterprises or corporate models. GILT built on design thinking and co-design practices of Good Innovation and GoodLab; Prime and De La Court’s research synthesised practice and learning to find new insights that could be applied more broadly across the Third Sector and questioned existing notions of appropriate business models in the Third Sector
