Upstream Thinking

There comes a point where we need to stop just pulling people out of the river. We need to go upstream and find out why they’re falling in.” Inspired by Desmond Tutu's sage advice, Upstream was created to put his words into action. Our mission is to increase early-stage innovation success rates at foundations, associations and philanthropies to drive greater impact. We specialize in tackling complex, multi-stakeholder challenges through our community-led approach. Upstream has pioneered Community Led Innovation for Equity & Impact since 2008- We gather community voice - We build community solutioning capacity - We make strategies responsive to communities Offices in Austin & Chicago Learn more about our Community-Led work at upstreamthinking.com