When crisis strikes, innovative leaders don’t just survive—they create new models for sustainable impact. During COVID-19, while many organizations struggled with traditional funding, PSYDEH demonstrated crisis innovation leadership by launching a social enterprise that addressed community needs while diversifying revenue streams.
“Like many other nonprofit organizations in Mexico, we suffer from a complicated public funding climate. Our small network of donors is completely depleted, and we have not yet been able to secure stable funding sources that will ensure the continuity of all our programs and people over the long term. However, we see these obstacles as opportunities to become more resilient. We have managed to diversify our resource streams through [seven interrelated] strategies.” (from my 2020 article, “Siete formas para diversificar las fuentes de fondeo de tu organización“)
This mindset—crisis as opportunity for innovation—is essential for Ohio and US leaders managing stagnant economic conditions, demographic and government changes, and shifting climate and funding landscapes.
Our Bordamos Juntos (Embroider Together) Initiative
Crisis innovation requires deep understanding of local assets and the ability to connect these assets to new markets and revenue streams.
The Challenge: Limited organization funding and economic opportunity for rural and Indigenous communities, with high-quality, local-sourced goods and traditional crafts under-sold and devalued by third-party buyers. This dynamic mirrors challenges in Ohio and other USA post-industrial communities: premium local products and services struggling to reach appropriate markets, with value extraction by outside intermediaries rather than wealth-building within communities.
The Solution: Bordamos Juntos disrupts this narrative by (1) fostering a ground-up, women-led project that offers immediate and long-term results in the region and (2) is net income neutral for the organization. This iterative approach—piloting, learning, scaling—demonstrates crisis innovation leadership: building solutions with communities rather than for them, creating sustainable economic models that strengthen rather than extract from local ecosystems.
Current Impact: Online store platform with women’s cooperatives and national / global sales events, supported by global brands 3M, Brandi Carlile, HSBC, Johnson & Johnson, Viasat and Zoom.
OHIO / USA APPLICATIONS
Crisis innovation leadership means building organizations that thrive through uncertainty. Ohio and other US leaders who master this approach can:
- Use a “this, then” strategy to transform constraints into competitive advantages
- Build diversified revenue streams that reduce dependency on single funding sources
- Create authentic partnerships with corporate stakeholders seeking meaningful ESG impact
- Develop scalable models that attract national attention and investment
