Real change happens when frustrated leaders stop fighting alone. 

Child welfare leadership innovation

And they start building a more just future for family preservation, together.

For the Curious Leaders. The Brave Builders. The Bold Visionaries. The ones who know system reform is not enough. Imagination Factory is where deep beliefs become action.

Child welfare needs a revolution. You are it.

Find Your Creative Disruptor Type →

We arm justice-driven leaders with the strategy, tools, and powerful backing, to turn bold vision into lasting impact. 

✦ Family preservation and integrity

Foster care was built to separate families. Instead, we should be investing in family support and well-being. That's the work now.

Three people participating in a science experiment with a paper funnel and a plastic bottle, in an indoor setting.
Illustrated astronaut character — Imagination Factory brand mascot representing curiosity and exploration

Our Programs‍‍

  • Create brave and vulnerable spaces for personal growth

  • Unlock your inner disruptor and your creative capacity

  • Work on real challenges for real transformation

  • Build a vibrant cohort of empowered leaders and founders

  • Create new solutions for family preservation

  • Eliminate systemic harm, together

  • Imagine. Create. Activate!

Four programs. Singular focus. Child welfare innovation. 

✦ NONPROFIT LEADERSHIP COHORTS

Featured Program

Matt Anderson and Cheri Williams, co-founders of Imagination Factory, with a community member at a program event 
✦ Lead Change

Accelerator

Get curious. Align your values. Empower the change.

Clarify your venture ideas and pivot plans with our Accelerator Program.

Tell Me More →

Upcoming Programs

Featured
Creative Clusters
Creative Clusters

One challenge. One Crew. Real Results.

Design teams for leaders building human-centered solutions to child welfare's hardest problems. Eighteen months of real, deep work that results with a Playbook that communities can actually use to scale the impact.

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CEO Circle
CEO Circle

Stop carrying the burden of leadership alone.

A small, curated peer group for CEOs driving child welfare innovation. Monthly calls. Bi-annual retreats. Real talk with people who understand the weight you carry.

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Untethered
Untethered

Three days. Your people. A movement in the making.

Imagination Factory's annual in-person convening for child welfare leaders ready to go inward, think bigger, and leave with a bold idea worth building. Not a conference. Not a retreat. Something better.

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See all programs

This work takes brave leaders willing to reimagine everything. 

✦ Cohort-Based Learning Community

  • Leaders running the race alone.

    You've built something real. You believe in the mission. But the system keeps pushing back—and the isolation is exhausting. It's time to find your community of creative disruptors.

    CEO Circle ➝

  • Leaders looking to align to their values.

    You feel the misalignment. You're not waiting for permission to fix it. You're ready to build something new—and you need the clarity, community, and tools to make real change.

    Accelerator ➝

  • Leaders ready to disrupt child welfare.

    You know the work. You know the future you want to create. You're ready to lead at a higher level—boldly, differently, with real tools and real peers behind you.

    Creative Clusters ➝ 
✦  Accelerator Impact

“Imagination Factory was our best decision. Their mentorship helped us stay true to our mission, make tangible progress on our app, and launch our first major test with 400 clients. Their Ecosystem approach has been invaluable to our success.” 

- Ryan O’Donnell, CEO of Sunlight

Questions? We love those. Let’s dig in.

✦  FAQs

  • A community of creative disruptors reimagining how child welfare and family support systems can work differently.

    We bring together leaders, builders, and visionaries to develop new skills, solve real challenges, and keep families together through bold, human-centered approaches.

  • Most organizations focus on what exists. We focus on what's possible.

    We are who frustrated leaders come to to stop accepting the status quo and to start building better futures. Our Innovation Ecosystem framework is the key. It’s real work, in a real community, using real tools to create impact

  • You're not alone—this is one of the most common reasons leaders come to us.

    Whether you need space to process, a community of like-minded people, or support figuring out your next move, we have programs built exactly for leaders at the crossroads.

  • You start by recognizing that real change starts with us, the leaders working inside the system.

    System reform is not enough. We train and equip people—giving them tools, community, and courage to disrupt the system from within. Real change happens when frustrated leaders stop fighting alone and start building together.

  • Because the system was built with a judgemental, family separation mindset.

    Foster care was designed to rehome kids and separate families, further punishing and oppressing them. The real work now is keeping families together and supporting communities upstream. This work takes brave leaders willing to dream, build, and reimagine everything. That's what we're here for.

Ready to find your people?

Tell us a little about yourself and we'll help you find the right path into the Imagination Factory community.