Mapping What Matters: Ripple Effects Mapping for Communities and the Organizations That Support Them

A participatory, story-driven approach to understanding impact, strengthening partnerships, and sparking collective learning and action

Three 2-hour video conference sessions

AUGUST: Tuesdays Aug. 4-18, 2026, 10-12 PT/1-3 ET

OCTOBER: Thursdays, Oct 29 and Nov. 12 and 19, 2026, 11-1 PT/2-4 ET.

Instructor: Michele Archie, The Harbinger Consultancy

Ripple Effects Mapping (REM) is a participatory, story-driven process that helps groups understand the effects of their work—both the results they expected and the ripples they didn’t see coming. Built on appreciative inquiry and collaborative visual mapping, REM offers a grounded way to explore real experiences, surface strengths, and make sense of complex or evolving initiatives. Originally developed as an evaluation method, it has grown into a flexible, energizing approach that supports learning, strategic thinking, team development, partnership building, and systems-focused change.

REM is great for:

Supporting organizations and programs – from strategic planning to organizational learning to program support.
Qualitative research and data analysis using stories, themes, and patterns within REM data.
Enhancing community engagement and collaborative processes to build trust, strengthen partnerships and elevate diverse voices.

This three-session, interactive course provides a practical, hands-on introduction to REM. You’ll experience a REM session from the inside, learn how to design and facilitate one, and explore the many ways REM can be adapted for evaluation, strategic planning, collaborative networks, donor engagement, and organizational learning. Whether you’re working with a community, an organization, or a multi-partner initiative, you’ll leave with the skills and confidence to use REM to illuminate impact, strengthen relationships, and spark meaningful forward momentum.

Optional post-course one-on-one coaching sessions will help you as you plan, organize, facilitate, follow up on your own REM work — or even just explore questions that linger after the course wraps up.

WHO IS THIS course FOR?

Extension, community and economic development professionals • Community and service organizations • Nonprofit and foundation program managers • Local government officials and staff • Facilitators, evaluators, and network coordinators • Chambers of Commerce & business alliances • Place-based & conservation organizations • Historic preservation groups • Downtown & Main Street groups • Community leaders • Anyone who wants to strengthen partnerships, understand community impact, or use participatory approaches for reflection, communication, and decision-making

What You’ll Gain

First-hand experience with a live Ripple Effects Mapping session
A clear, adaptable framework for planning and facilitating REM
Strategies for crafting effective appreciative inquiry questions
Tools and resources for using REM results in evaluation, learning, and collaborative planning
Examples of how others have adapted REM for diverse contexts (community initiatives, collaborative networks, organizational learning, multi-stakeholder partnerships)
Practice in key REM roles and support for trying REM on your own
Confidence to design and lead a REM session in your own setting
Optional support from post-course, one-on-one coaching sessions

Three Sessions + One-on-one Coaching

Three 2-hour live sessions (6 hours total), highly interactive and paced for reflection and maybe even experimentation between meetings. All sessions include instruction, discussion, examples from practice, and practical planning tools. Sessions are recorded in case you can’t make it to one, or want to review later.

Session 1 – Experiencing Ripple Effects Mapping

In the first session, you’ll experience REM from the inside. We’ll begin with a mini-REM session where you’ll hear stories of impact drawn from real community and organizational work. As the map emerges in real time, you’ll see how participant stories translate into visible connections, themes, and outcomes—often revealing ripples that go far beyond the original effort. Afterward, a debrief will focus on what makes REM work, the skills of a facilitator, and how the process could be used for other purposes. We’ll wrap up with an overview of the main approaches to REM and some examples of how the process has been used and adapted.

Key takeaways:

Understand the flow and feel of a REM session
Recognize how REM functions as both a participatory evaluation and a learning process
Identify conditions that make REM effective in community and organizational contexts
Observe the core skills and roles of a REM facilitator
Understand the main approaches to REM and how the process can be adapted for different purposes

Session 2 – Designing and Facilitating Ripple Effects Mapping

Session 2 shifts into the design and facilitation side of REM. We’ll unpack the elements that shape a strong session—from purpose and focus questions to participant selection, appreciative inquiry interviews, and facilitator roles. Together, we’ll explore how to tailor REM for different uses, such as evaluation, strategic learning, team-building, or partnership development. You’ll practice crafting appreciative questions, consider options for virtual and in-person formats, and see how small design decisions influence trust, participation, and outcomes.

Key takeaways:

Step-by-step guidance for planning and facilitation
How to align REM’s purpose and scope with evaluation goals or learning needs
Strategies to promote inclusion, trust, and shared ownership of results

Session 3 – From Mapping to Meaning: Turning Insights Into Action

The final session focuses on what happens after the REM conversation. We’ll walk through approaches for developing and interpreting a ripple map, translating raw stories and connections into themes, insights, and actionable next steps. You’ll see examples of how organizations and communities have used REM findings for evaluation reports, strategic planning, donor engagement, communication materials, and collaborative decision-making.

Building on appreciative inquiry questions introduced in Session 2, we’ll also spend time practicing REM roles in small groups. Participants will rotate through interviewer, storyteller, and mapper roles in short breakout sessions, then share their small-group maps back in the full group. This practice helps participants understand the skills involved, imagine how their own stories might ripple out, and compare their experience with the examples shared earlier in the course. We’ll wrap with a coaching-style conversation to support you in designing your own REM process and applying what you’ve learned.

Key takeaways:

Experience practicing REM roles (storyteller, interviewer, mapper)
Understanding how appreciative-inquiry prompts support the mapping process
Techniques for analyzing and communicating REM results
How to link qualitative insights to quantitative data and evaluation frameworks
Confidence to design and facilitate REM sessions in your own community or organizational setting

Post-Course one-on-one Coaching Sessions

After the course, participants may schedule optional one-hour, one-on-one coaching sessions to explore specific applications of REM in more depth. These sessions will offer practical, real-world guidance for putting REM into practice. We could cover topics including:

How to work with the qualitative data generated during an REM process—stories, transcripts, emerging themes, and map elements;
How REM can support organizational learning, strategic planning, and program development;
How to use REM to strengthen and build trust in community engagement, cross-sector collaboration, and multi-partner initiatives;
Questions about organizing, planning, developing prompts, selecting and inviting participants, facilitation, mapping and using REM findings; and
Whatever else would help you use REM!

COURSE INSTRUCTOR

Michele Archie — Community economics and engagement lead at The Harbinger Consultancy

Thanks to Janet Hansel (founder and managing consultant, Grant Street Consulting) and Lorie Higgins (an REM originator, Extension Community Development Specialist and Professor of Rural Sociology at the University of Idaho, REM Studio Collaborative) for assistance with developing the original version of this course!

Session Dates and Times

Three 2-hour video conference sessions

AUGUST: Tuesdays Aug. 4-18, 2026, 10-12 PT/1-3 ET

OCTOBER: Thursdays, Oct 29 and Nov. 12 and 19, 2026, 11-1 PT/2-4 ET.

Group coaching sessions to be scheduled in consultation with course participants.

Fees & Details

Every class will be presented live and available for replay in case you need to miss a session or want to review.
$525 regular course fee/$425 early registration discount through April 30, 2026
Group rates for two or more participants from the same organization or community — $425 per person regular group rate/$375 early registration discount.
Organizational and other special codes offer a discount in addition to early registration and group rates.

Free continuing education Learning Credits

Through a partnership with American Trails, Harbinger is offering free learning credits for this and selected other courses. Credits are available by request, at no charge beyond the course registration fee, contingent on completing the entire course and a brief post-course quiz. American Trails is a certified provider, and you may request credits for:

American Institute of Certified Planners Continuing Maintenance (AICP CM)
Landscape Architecture Continuing Education System (LA CES PDH)
National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA CEU)
CEU/PDH equivalency petition for other accepting organizations

This course provides 6.00 CM | 6.00 LA CES HSW | 0.60 CEU/6.00 PDH Equivalency Petition

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