Nonprofit organizations can increase their impact by addressing implementation challenges at key points of delivery. Behavioral science offers nonprofits a unique opportunity to achieve that goal. By applying behavioral science principles, nonprofits can design programming that recognizes how people make decisions to improve program delivery and overall impact.

In a project funded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, Urban Institute recently collaborated with Urban Alliance, a high-performing nonprofit organization, to apply behavioral science insights to its program model. In this brief, we document our behavioral insights implementation process, or BIIP, and how we piloted that approach to improve the jobsite mentoring that young people participating in Urban Alliance’s high school internship program receive. We offer this approach as a resource for other nonprofit organizations looking to apply behavioral science to their program design.