American Heart Association

Since 2015, I’ve worked with the American Heart Association as a futurist, facilitator, and strategist on over 30 unique initiatives. Recent projects include a 100 year vision and accompanying scenarios and statement; an initiative to diversify revenue and imagine new business lines for the organization; strategic positioning for the organization’s expansion into brain health. A high-level overview of more projects from the past decade are organized below, into three categories: Community & Philanthropy; Strategic Planning & Insights; Research & Development. 

Community & Philanthropy:

verynice's first engagement with the American Heart Association was in 2015, when we were brought on to revitalize the organization's largest fundraising event: the Heart Walk. Together with a diverse group of staff and volunteers, we imagined a future in which convening in large groups would become less desirable; a strategy that engages the Heart Walk community more frequently. Following the engagement, the organization saw a growth in revenue earned from special events from $295MM in 2016, to $325MM in 2019, a growth of $30MM, or ~10%. We have also worked with the AHA on professional membership engagement strategies, including the design and facilitation of several hackathon events between 2018 and 2020 with nurses, medical students, and researchers.

Strategic Planning & Insights:

In 2016, verynice worked with the AHA to craft a value proposition statement that the organization could point to toward 2030:  “a catalyst to achieve maximum impact in equitable health and wellbeing”. This was our first organization-wide engagement; the statement went on to inspire a new mission statement for the organization along with the launch of cutting-edge programs and initiatives that have saved countless lives. In addition to the Strategic Value Proposition, verynice has been able to support the organization on a wide range of projects, including: 2020 and 2030 Goal-Setting; Information and infographic designs that illustrate the social determinants of health; stakeholder research contributing to the Nicotine & Cannabis Policy Center's tobacco and cannabis policy research in 11 counties across the San Joaquin Valley.

Research & Development:

The American Heart Association's culture encourages curiosity and innovation through experiments. verynice has been a partner in numerous research and development initiatives over the years, including a VR CPR training prototype; a design research toolkit for organizations working with rural communities; an art installation in the Dallas HQ that consists of 100 canvas prints of art generated by AI; an ongoing comic book series, Comix from the Heart, which explores our emerging theory of "Graphic Listening", or the collaborative creation of comics serving as a tool to gain deeper insight, and maybe even empathy, when working in a new space.