kirakiraきらきら

KiraKira is a social impact lab helping communities and movements shine.

We co-create research, stories, and strategies with organizations and changemakers working toward justice, sustainability, and collective resilience. Our name—KiraKira, meaning “sparkling” in Japanese—reflects our belief that the brightest solutions often come from the people closest to the problem.

We don’t just fix broken systems.
We imagine new ones.

き
Hope

Light Work ✨

We illuminate brilliance and build hope through imagination and creativity.

  • Strategic planning rooted in justice and community priorities
  • Creative tools like zines, games, and storytelling kits
  • Curricula & media to support classrooms and campaigns
ら
Shadow

Shadow Work 🌑

We confront broken systems and surface hard truths with research and reflection.

  • Community research rooted in lived experience and co-creation
  • Power mapping and narrative audits to expose systemic barriers
  • Evaluation frameworks to measure justice and sustainability impact
き
Play

Play Work 🎮

We design playful spaces to prototype change and imagine just futures.

  • Game jams & design labs for climate, civic, and justice issues
  • Interactive toolkits that make complex systems accessible
  • Youth-led programs centered on creativity and leadership
ら
Bridge

Bridge Work 🌉

We connect people, movements, and generations to spark collective action.

  • Coalition building across grassroots, academia, and policy
  • Youth mobilization with intergenerational leadership pathways
  • Advocacy storytelling for campaigns, fundraising, and public voice

    • Community-based organizations

    • Youth-led movements

    • Social & environmental justice nonprofits

    • Educators, artists, and researchers

    • Funders & intermediaries committed to systemic change

  • We envision a world where both people and the planet shine—where imagination is a tool for resistance, justice is joyful, and transformation is collective.

    We believe:

    • Stories are blueprints for liberation

    • Systems thinking is healing

    • Hope is a renewable resource

  • I started this nonprofit to build something I could point to and say, “This is a collection of the people, ideas, and moments that give me hope.”

    KiraKira began as a personal need—a way to stay grounded in a world that often feels overwhelming. Growing up, I held onto an idealistic view of what was possible, but I struggled to find proof of that ideal in everyday life. It wasn’t until I became involved in the American Cancer Society’s Relay For Life that I experienced what hope looked like in action. Through that work, I witnessed the power of community, remembrance, youth leadership, and celebration even in the face of grief. That experience changed me. It taught me that hope isn’t passive—it’s something we practice, build, and share.

    KiraKira is my way of carrying that lesson forward.

    We exist to illuminate the brilliance already present in people and movements, and to build tools that help communities imagine and create systems rooted in justice, joy, and sustainability. Whether through storytelling, games, advocacy, or research, our work is grounded in the belief that imagination is resistance, systems thinking is healing, and stories are blueprints for liberation.

    This nonprofit is not just a project—it’s a practice in gratitude and wonder, a container for the kirakira moments that remind us what we’re fighting for. I hope it becomes that for others, too.

    — Kira Sano