About the Role
The ED will prioritize The Design Lab’s work of centering the lived experience of young people with diverse identities who are marginalized due to race or gender identity and ensure The Design Lab’s work takes a racially equitable approach to solutions.
The Board of Advisors for The Design Lab for Digital Wellbeing seeks a Founding Executive Director who is an experienced, equity-focused, entrepreneurial leader to design a healthier digital future for young people in the U.S.
The funding sponsors are seeking an inaugural Executive Director (“ED”) to set the strategic direction and lead The Design Lab. This includes developing a curated network of researchers, activists, entrepreneurs, youth-serving organizations, and investors with a shared north star. The ED will have ownership of The Design Lab’s success and will partner with varied organizations to ensure meaningful impact on a human-centered digital future.
The ED’s focus will be to provide the strategic thinking and direction to shape and launch The Design Lab, while playing a crucial role as cross-sectoral advocate and thought leader for a healthier digital world and human experience. Under the ED’s leadership, The Design Lab will be positioned to fund a new generation of organizations pioneering the most innovative and critical solutions, particularly ones designed by, with, and/or for historically marginalized communities.
The ED will be responsible for establishing the brand voice of the organization. They will message the work of The Design Lab in a way that both creates, and pulls other leaders into, the conversation. The ED will be a relationship builder and a leader who launches ideas into action.
About the Company
The Design Lab for Digital Wellbeing (“The Design Lab”) will identify, fund and scale solutions to shape a human-centered digital future. This new nonprofit organization, funded by a coalition of philanthropic entities including Pivotal Ventures and the Susan Crown Exchange, will champion equitable digital wellbeing and serve as an incubator for new solutions across the digital wellbeing ecosystem. The Design Lab will partner with a coalition of change-agents and organizations that have developed evidence-backed solutions for a healthier digital world. The Design Lab will focus on solutions that support people most marginalized within the current tech ecosystem, in particular BIPOC and LGBTQ+ young people.
The Design Lab will have three core priorities, which may evolve or expand over time:
§ Provide thought leadership on emerging patterns and solutions on youth, tech, and wellbeing. This includes attracting different champions, funders, and government leaders to this critical sector. Provide subject matter expertise to other nonprofits and funders to achieve impact across the sector;
§ Design and manage two to three open-call funding challenges annually to identify and scale 20-30 new solutions per year for healthier tech engagement. Solutions may include new innovations, resources, technologies, and/or organizational-level support. Identify and fund work that will help youth thrive in a tech-filled world, including identifying the “ten most exciting/needed solutions” and diversifying exposure to a larger number of solutions and ideas; and
§ Foster community and design support to incubate and scale solutions/organizations funded under the challenges, enabling the best solutions to develop, gain traction, mature, and grow. Ensure that these solutions are highlighted, broadly visible and known, as well as connected with key audiences.