DSO stands with those who confront systemic and individual racial injustice. We are proud to support inspiring social impact organizations and we continue to listen, learn, and take actions that support necessary and enduring change.

DSO Update May 2020. we want to amplify some of our current partners and their continued courage and changemaking with our communities. Read more about them in their own words. We hope you’ll consider supporting them.

DSO Report January 2020. We feature our 2019 Design Thinking Session.

We feature our recently-concluded work with the School Justice Project, which is a legal services and advocacy organization serving older students with special education needs who are involved in the District of Columbia’s justice systems

We have two amazing volunteer interns Hanxi and Ankita who are revamping marketing and recruiting materials to increase engagement with students, working professionals, and clients. On July 26th, we hosted a Design Thinking Workshop in the Bay Area on the theme of Nonprofit Operational Sustainability. Over 20 people participated, including both nonprofits and nonprofit supporters.

Rosh Mehta and Jenny Zhu share their analysis. Our 2019 social impact case competition focused on improving how we recruit and retain teammates at DSO.

DSO Reunion Celebration. We feature favorite moments and highlights from our student and professional volunteers both across the USA and globally. You will quickly see why we are so excited about our team!

Bridge for Billions Team. We feature a project from our DC team with Bridge for Billions, a digital ecosystem that connects early-stage entrepreneurs to growth opportunities.

We feature how we are continuing to incorporate lessons learned from our projects to improve our approach.

DSO Case Competition. We feature a case competition with POISE Foundation.

The Banyan

Design Thinking Workshop at SAP Palo Alto Campus. We feature our inaugural design thinking workshop.

Memunatu's community-led approach. We feature a project our DC and LA teams did with Memunatu.

On April 12th, the DC team gathered together with the Latino Economic Development Center (LEDC) at their WeWork office in DC to complete our first design thinking centered session

Design thinking is a concept that has seen increased interest in DSO recently. Our professional volunteers have been introduced to frameworks and tools around implementing design thinking into project work. Companies such as SAP, Pariveda, and Ashoka have all contributed to an increasing awareness of design thinking.

The Pittsburgh team, with the help of members from the DC and SF team to hosted a case competition on Carnegie Mellon’s campus at the Tepper School of Business. This was one of the first social impact case competitions this campus has seen, and with solid on the ground marketing help from a student organization, Undergraduate Marketing Organization (UMO), we ended up having 8 teams (28 participants) take part in the day’s affair.

Taking a happy break! (Photo Credit: Therese Tardio). We feature our first ever social impact case competition initiative. This was done in partnership with Building New Hope in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to support a local community in El Porvenir, Nicaragua.

Highlighting stories + Impact via website redesign with ScholarshipPlus to support the college careers of outstanding economically deprived New York City high school graduates by better reaching a youth demographic and improve their overall marketing.

We share our initiatives to create local impact and apply our skillsets and experience to developing local and global partnerships

We feature our project with More than Me (MTM) Empowering Girls and Social Change in Liberia.

Dedicating to honoring the human right to education Gooru is a nonprofit edtech startup that offers an online courseware platform for K-12 settings. Students and educators all over the world can build and deliver their course materials through Gooru, either in a classroom setting or a self-learning experience.

We feature our project with the Disrupt Team of Derek Caelin and Giselle Lopez from the US Institute of Peace’s PeaceTech Lab. This project was completed with our Washington DC DSO team..

The DC hub has experienced great growth since launching in Georgetown in 2014. We focus on achieving tangible, measurable results for global clients we believe in through creativity, passion, and teamwork. To do this, we are deliberately using our position as a member of the global DC community to enhance our projects and grow our hub.

The Pittsburgh hub is bustling with activity this Fall with new projects, new members, and continued discussions with nonprofits on potential projects.

​​If you’re planning on studying abroad, you may be able to test out a career path while still pursuing your education by taking advantage of an intern abroad program. Now a days, more and more employers are recognizing the benefits of studying abroad, and are actively seeking out candidates with study abroad experience.

Young Women in Tech, Regina Agyare, Future Forward. We feature our project with Ashoka’s Future Forward: Innovations for Youth Employment in Africa initiative in partnership with The MasterCard Foundation.

Global Health Media Project (GHMP) is a nonprofit that develops and distributes high-quality video training materials for health workers in low-resource settings. It’s an organization that meets all three of the conditions listed above. GHMP’s precise and descriptive videos are used as primary educational materials. GHMP’s videos have been downloaded in almost every country, both developing and developed, across the globe.

Hummingbill Users. We will focus on our project with Hummingbill and discuss DSO’s next steps.

Amy reflects on the roles of a dream team, outlining the Fierce Imaginer, Silent Do-er, Strengths Sparker, Graceful Gather, Endless Energizer, Tough Lover and Guilt Tripper.

Minkee reflects on a panel of thought leaders in social entrepreneurship speaking at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business arguing that leveraging the private sector is vital to grow out an organization focused on social change.

Lucus reflects on earned how he learned to work with a team through all sorts of challenges, small and large, got a window into the world of international development consulting and DC’s corporate culture, worked on his own business skills, but more importantly he got to work on a project that had an impact on the world and will continue to in the future.

Hannah lived in the DC Metro area her entire life but left the east coast and moved out west all the way to Southern California. She reflects on her cross country move.

DSO Team Sahana. We feature our project with Sahana Software Foundation and discuss DSO's next steps.

If you recently started a nonprofit or work/volunteer for a small organization you might be overwhelmed with everything there is to do to setup your organization for success in executing their mission. Here at Development Solutions Organization we went from a student organization in 2008 to an official 501©(3) and have some tips on getting started.

Kiva work session. We will feature the Pittsburgh Hub’s most recent engagement with Kiva.

Changemakers staff at DSO design presentation

Matt reflects on his study abroad in Taipei, Taiwan and expounds upon his experience by introducing Taiwan through his eyes.

Ellen reflects on where we are in time and how we live in a world where communication is not a journey. She can speak to he mother, and can see her face on a computer screen. That’s incredible. We live in the future.

Ajay outlines four principles on why mentoring matters - mentoring is important, each member matters, choice assignments and mentoring is a two-way street.

Wei had had the privilege of working with an amazing community located in the foothills of Nepal, called Sabhung. As part of the Hartford Professional Chapter (HPC) of Engineers without Borders (EWB) USA, he partnered with a local NGO, Namlo, to help improve water access to the Ward 8 community of about 800 residents.

A glimpse of our DC team kickoff. We will share testimonials from two returning students, feature an overview of our talent, share some of our proudest accomplishments, and discuss DSO’s next steps.

Trisha reflects on the Importance of Being Busy. Do what you love. It's absolutely important to spend time with your [self | friends | family], but you also owe it to yourself (and society!) to follow your passions and be happy.

Amy reflects on her amazing opportunity to travel to Kenya for a Changemakers Summit and how the way we learn and grow is changing profoundly and she am at the core of that change.

Agency, in simple terms, deals with choices. Your capacity to make choices and decisions to determine your future and shape the world around you. People’s happiness, health and well being are closely tied to their agency whether they are in the “first world”; countries or developing nations.

We feature our project with Cameroon Football Development Program (CFDP) and discuss DSO’s next steps.

Mobile money is bringing financial services to the poor around the world, and DSO is taking part in the revolution with Hummingbill, a solution that allows companies to send customers accurate, timely bills, which customers pay on their cell phones via SMS even if they don’t have a bank account or a data connection.

One of DSO’s clients, Cameroon Development Football Program understands the power of this coordinating device and is using soccer to empower and educate the youth of Cameron. Mandela, like CFDP understood the power of soccer and sports and used it as a coordinating device for attempting to unite races in South Africa and as an emotional outlet when he was in prison.

Sonal reflects on a SF DSO Retreat and the opportunity to get to know the SF team better in a gorgeous sun-kissed setting, have delicious food for every meal and most of all for the time to reignite her passion for international development.

Cathy is inspired by how Cameroon Football Development Program (CFDP) integrates soccer into helping children to develop necessary life skills.

Saurabh reflects on time spent at an ART clinic in Zambia working with 3 other classmates on a project to improve overall patient wait-time. This incremental progress is hugely rewarding and impactful and the reason why more of us need to work on the world’s biggest challenges.

Amy reflects on her experience at the American Red Cross Global Refugee Simulation. Families forced to leave their homes would never have a home again. Water, food, sanitation, and education; basic necessities to her, had become a luxury for 15.4 million people around the world.

Lizzie reflects on her experience at the Women Techmaker's Summit hosted by Google, where she had the opportunity to network with many talented women working in tech, as well as hear great talks by some of the tech industry's most inspiring women leaders.

Outlining DSO’s ongoing effort to evolve our online presence and presentation and update our logo.

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