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Helping nonprofits and funders scale their impact.

Spring Impact Spring Impact

Strategy

Problem Definition

Clearly define the societal problem you want to address at scale

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Working time: 2 – 4 hours
Working Format: Solo or team
Use after: Scale Readiness Diagnostic
Output: Problem statement

It’s for organisations

Beginning to scale
Revisiting strategic focus

Use it before

You will produce

A concise, team-agreed statement ready to carry forward.

STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE

1

Brain dump | 20–30 min

Write down all the ways your problem manifests — root causes, the problem itself, and its consequences. Think about who experiences it and how.

2

Categorise and narrow | 30–45 min

Using the four-column grid in the worksheet, group your thoughts and settle on which parts of the problem to target, given your capacity and appetite.

3

Identify which part to focus on | 20–30 min

Determine the specific aspect you’re best placed to address, given expertise, resources, and commitment.

Example

Dismantling structural racism across all sectors may be your ambition, but you may only have the expertise to focus on one — such as the workplace. That’s still a powerful and meaningful scope.
4

Challenge against five criteria | 30–45 min

Test your draft. Is there a genuine gap between what exists and what’s needed? Are you describing the problem, not a symptom? Does your statement avoid any reference to a solution?

What good looks like

“1.2 million children in the UK lack quality after-school support, contributing to long-term educational inequality” beats “children need better support.” Specific, problem-focused, solution-free.
5

Gather stakeholder and user input | plan ahead | Days to weeks

Ask your team, partners, and the people you serve to challenge your thinking. This is the most important step — your own perspective is most at risk of bias.

Time risk

Scheduling stakeholder conversations takes time. Don’t treat this as a quick email round — build it into your project plan before you start the tool
6

Align your team on a final statement | plan ahead | 60–90 min+

Bring the team together to agree on a concise statement — short enough to remember, precise enough to guide decisions.

Facilitating as a group

Ask everyone to write their draft independently before sharing. Surface differences first — disagreement usually reveals where the framing is still ambiguous, not that you’re fundamentally misaligned.

Common Sticking Points

 

You and your team may not agree on a single problem straight away

That’s usually a sign you’re defining the problem at the wrong level, not that you’re fundamentally misaligned. If you’re stuck, try going one level up: find a broader framing where agreement is easier, then narrow together from there.

You may find you’re describing a symptom, not the root cause

Ask “why does this happen?” three times. If your answer changes each time, you’re still at a symptom. The root cause is where the answer stops changing.

The problem may feel too large to address

A well-scoped problem is one you can actually dent. Narrow by geography, demographic, or sector until it feels achievable without losing its significance.

 

The Societal Problem

Defining it clearly keeps your team aligned and keeps you focused on the problem rather than any particular solution — what we call "falling in love with the problem." A well-scoped problem definition also anchors every tool that follows.
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