Collective Impact Forum

When collaborative partners come together to tackle complex challenges, learning must be part of the work itself and not an afterthought.

In this new podcast episode, we talk with Lauren Gase of Mindful Metrics and Lori Fuller of Fuller Impact about Emergent Learning and how the principles and practices that are part of Emergent Learning can support collaboratives that are navigating uncertainty, complexity, and change.

This discussion offers practical insights for anyone working in collective impact, backbone roles, or cross-sector partnerships, including:

What does it look like for a collaborative to shift from nearly sunsetting to achieving a vibrant renewal?

We tackle this challenging question in the 100th episode of our podcast, where we dive into the realities of what it means to rebuild collective work from the ground up.

To explore this topic, we talk with Annie Burke, the executive director of Together Bay Area, a regional coalition focused on climate resilience and equity in the Bay Area of California. Annie details the difficulties the coalition faced when experiencing a near collapse in 2018, the reckoning that...

What does it look like for a collaborative to balance planned strategies with new and rising needs?

In this new podcast discussion, we talk with Melissa Darnell, Heather Equinoss, and Luzette Jaimes from the organization CoCreative, and learn how they work with collaboratives to blend structured and emergent strategies when doing collective work.

Listen in as we explore:

In a time when so many are grappling with division and polarization in their communities, where does one start to build connections to better understand when and why do you feel like you “belong” in your community? 

In this new podcast conversation, we talk with Anjum Rahman and Atarau Hamilton-Fuller from Inclusive Aotearoa Collective Tāhono, based in Aotearoa New Zealand. In the aftermath of the horrific Christchurch mosque attacks in 2019, their collective’s work focused on visiting communities across the country to foster understanding, empathy, and a sense of belonging by encouraging participants to share personal experien...

A backbone’s role in a collective is often to facilitate collaboration among partners and help the group make progress toward a shared goal. This can be a complex challenge, as the backbone doesn’t hold formal authority or decision-making power. Instead, it must rely on its central coordinating position to influence, build alignment, and advocate for the collaborative’s mission.

In this new podcast episode, we explore how a backbone can influence partners to take action, without holding a position of authority. We talk with Susan Dawson, the founder and former CEO of E3 Alliance, and author...

How can a community shift their economic future?

In this episode, we explore how communities heavily reliant on a single industry can come together to diversify and build a more resilient economy. This kind of transformation is complex and requires collaboration across a broad range of partners to support the wellbeing of the whole community.

We discuss what it looks like to diversify single-industry communities with Heidi Binko of the Just Transition Fund and Sherene Hess, an Indiana County Commissioner from Western Pennsylvania. We discuss the challenges these communities face, including job losses and economic...

Collaboratives based in the U.S. that are working to solve for and reduce disparities in their communities are facing compounding challenges with the current chaotic sociopolitical climate, including sudden funding cuts, mass job losses, mis- and disinformation campaigns, demoralizing messaging from national leaders and those they have deputized, and vigorous attacks on both equity and democracy.

When everything seems to be coming down at once—overwhelming by intention, it feels like a tsunami of Executive Orders, department directives, and social media missives that range the spectrum from unprofessional to potentially illegal (or “extralegal”). The current context feels...

Listening to community members and tapping into community expertise are key factors when trying to understand why social issues are happening, and what potential solutions may be best to address these challenges. This is especially true for philanthropy, a sector committed to traditionally funding social change through more “top down” strategies, rather than seeking and empowering community-driven solutions from the beginning. 

Over the last 10 years, the funder collaborative Fund for Shared Insight has been working to support philanthropy to better engage and uplift community voice by promoting resources and building capacity around community listening, centering community voice and e...

What are the skills and mindsets necessary to be a backbone leader for a collaborative?

In this new podcast discussion, we talk with Paul Schmitz and Dominique Samari, authors of the recent report, “Backbone Leadership Is Different.” We explore how backbone leadership is unique and why It differs from traditional, more hierarchical leadership styles. In the discussion, we dive into:

Companies can be a critical partner in collective impact work. However, working with companies can pose unique challenges, from understanding how to initiate these partnerships to understanding how to best partner to sustain these relationships over time.

To learn more about how collaboratives can engage and partner with the private sector to advance social change work, we talk with Nikhil Bumb, Managing Director at the social change consulting firm FSG.

In this conversation, we discuss the multiple ways that nonprofits and companies can collaborate, from reaching out through corporate philanthropy to building deep, cross-sector partnerships...

Achieving long-term change requires having government—whether local, state, or federal—at the collaborative table as a key partner. However, many collaboratives share that building these partnerships can be challenging, intimidating, or confusing.

To better understand how to build and sustain effective relationships with public sector partners, we talk with Caroline Whistler, CEO and co-founder of Third Sector, a nonprofit technical assistance provider that advises U.S. government agencies on effective ways to reshape policies, systems, and services toward better outcomes for all people no matter their race, background, and circumstances.

This discussion explores the oppo...

Later this fall, Tamarack Institute’s Co-CEO Liz Weaver will retire, closing a chapter that includes many decades supporting community change, collective impact, and poverty-reduction work across Canada and beyond.

Liz is a long-time collaborator and dear friend of the Collective Impact Forum, and it has been a true honor to work alongside her as she has served so graciously and thoughtfully as a change leader, mentor, catalyst, partner, and a lifelong learner.

In this special podcast episode, Liz reflects on her career navigating the many complexities within collective change work, including:

Last year, Independent Sector published research on how advocacy by the nonprofit sector has evolved over the last 25 years, and specifically, how it has severely declined, with only 31% of nonprofits reporting advocacy activities over the last 5 years. Compare that to the year 2000, where more than double that—74% of the nonprofit sector--was participating in advocacy activities.

That dip in advocacy has multiple rationales, including increased confusion about what counts as advocacy and experiencing “advocacy fatigue” from how long advocating can take to create long-term policy and systems change.

To better understand how collaboratives CAN participate in advoca...

How can inclusive design spur community connections and build stronger partnerships in the process?

During the COVID pandemic, the Van Alen Institute and the Urban Design Forum collaborated to launch Neighborhoods Now, a program shepherding resources, both funding and people, toward pandemic recovery and strengthening community partnerships across four boroughs in New York City.

One notable community partnership was with Think!Chinatown, an intergenerational non-profit based in Manhattan’s Chinatown that fosters community through neighborhood engagement, storytelling and the arts. Manhattan’s Chinatown was severely impacted by the pandemic, not only due to the health cris...

When building a collaborative strategy or working through your implementation plans, it might feel like what you need most is a crystal ball (or a mystically accurate Magic 8 ball) to reveal which activities will work, which won’t, and where you can pivot so you and your partners can keep making progress. Moving ahead while surfing through ambiguity and questions like, “what will happen if…” can make the process of working together even more uncertain and stressful.

The practice of futurism can be helpful when working through questions about where your collaborative work can go, and how your wor...

Without proactively removing the structures and systems that have contributed to inequity, place-based collaboratives can not make a meaningful impact on the lives of those most excluded and underestimated in communities. However, given the increasing anti-DEI political and cultural headwinds unfolding in the US and several other countries, communities are facing increased challenges pursuing their equity work.

To explore this topic, we share an audio recording from the Day 3 opening panel discussion at the 2024 Collective Impact Action Summit. The panel discusses the challenges collaboratives are facing in their work to advance equity and how collaboratives can navigate...

Navigating and managing change is key to a collaborative’s journey, but it’s also one of the most challenging as each partner’s relationship, personal history, and ability to participate in change can vary. Differences in how partners navigate change, if not recognized and explored, can make it difficult for the collaborative to  achieve meaningful progress towards shared goals.

How does one lead and navigate through these varying responses to change? In this new podcast episode, we explore this question and more with Dr. Nicole Caridad Ralston and Ileana Ortiz from the racial equity consulting firm Beloved...

Addressing issues related to disability and access are often cordoned off within the social sector and philanthropy. Disability is often deemed as “separate” from issue-specific systems change work, such as education, climate, economic mobility, or health equity. Funders supporting causes like these may think that their focus does not require including disability, or that addressing disability may make things “too complex” and “out of scope” for their issue-focused grantmaking efforts.

This exclusion of disability from the wide spectrum of grantmaking has its own reverse multiplier effect. Instead of scaling change to reduce inequity and create the conditions for more peo...

Understanding a community’s “context” and its readiness for complex change work is a critical factor for launching and advancing collective impact work.

Knowing the local context is necessary to support work with and within a community--who is part of the community, what are they experiencing, and what are their challenges, needs, assets, and opportunities? Where do relationships exist, and is there enough trust among participants to support a foundation for long-term work? Without a basic understanding of  community context, supporting change within a community is difficult and runs the risk of causing more harm than good.

In...

A core element of collective impact is changing systems in the pursuit of equity. Pursuing policy change and advocacy efforts are some of the key levers to effectively change how systems operate. But how can cross-sector partners within a collective impact initiative work together to co-create a policy agenda that addresses inequities and closes disparities?

In this discussion we learn how a policy agenda can drive collaborative action and strategy to support collective impact work, how it can communicate where a collaborative stands on issues, what are the challenges in building a collaborative policy agenda (including bringing...

May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and we wanted to highlight the importance of recognizing and supporting mental health as a critical and necessary element of a robust and sustainable collective impact effort.

We frequently receive questions from a wide variety of collaboratives that are experiencing challenges related to the mental health of their team and partners, and the impact that this has on the collaborative’s work. For this episode, we invited the national nonprofit Mind Share Partners to address some of those questions. Mind Share Partners focuses on changing the culture of workplace mental health so...

For more than a decade, The Opportunity Youth Forum at the Aspen Institute’s Forum for Community Solutions has been working with a growing network of urban, rural, and tribal communities across the U.S. to build and scale reconnection pathways that achieve better outcomes in education, employment and overall well-being for opportunity youth. (Opportunity Youth are young adults, age 16-24, who are not engaged in work or education.)

Based on their work with a network of 40 communities, along with thought leaders and funders across the field, OYF is advancing four key principles that, when brought together, he...

We welcome back members of the Healthy Food Community of Practice to hear what they learned from their multi-year collaboration and how the way they worked together changed over time.

Launched in 2020, the Healthy Food Community of Practice is a network of more than 50 organizations working toward a shared goal—that communities of color across the country can access and consume nutritious food. Through their collaboration, they came to understand that to be successful, the community of practice had to shift *how* they worked together in four key ways:

The Millers for Nutrition coalition is working with 100+ millers and other partners to achieve an ambitious goal—getting nutritious, fortified food to 1 billion people by 2026.

One of the critical questions that Millers for Nutrition has grappled with is how to get private-sector partners, many of whom may be in competition with each other, to find common ground, build sustained, trusting relationships, and ultimately work together to support healthy food access for millions of people.

To learn what has worked to support private-sector collaboration, we talk with backbone team member Christian Pirzer from Endeva, and Yvonne Ba...

What does it mean to build a movement? How is movement building connected to organizing and practicing solidarity with others? And why are these concepts important to make progress on collective work?

In this deep dive conversation, we discuss core aspects of movement-building with Adaku Utah, senior manager at Building Movement Project. In this discussion, we review definitions of movement-building, organizing, and solidarity. We also explore what it means to be doing movement work and why strong relationships are necessary to build strong movements.

References and Footnotes

More on...

Getting to the heart of complex problems can be tricky. How does one untangle the many threads that can be involved? How do you uncover what the real pain points are so that you can address them?

In this discussion, we explore the approach of human-centered design and how it can be used to both discover and uplift perspectives to help find community-focused solutions.

To learn more about human-centered design, we talk with Michelle Carrillo and Leslie Tergas of ThinkPlace West.  The discussion explores their work using the “four voices of design” approach, and uplifts examp...

Communities can be “researched,” engaged, and surveyed to explore a variety of questions such as what barriers are preventing students from graduating? What are the local economic and health impacts of having only a few grocery stores in the area? It’s important to rigorously explore these types of questions, but there can be danger in taking data and stories from a community for the purpose of research. You can fall into the trap of “community extraction” if the research is not deeply connected to how that community progresses.

Participatory Action Research, otherwise known as PAR, is a methodol...

Addressing homelessness in rural areas has multiple complexities  including scarcity of funding, support services, and shelter options, as well as facing a common misconception that rural homelessness does not exist.

To better understand how homelessness was affecting their community, partners working in Mercer County, IL came together to participate in their own “100-day challenge,” an organized collaborative event that supports communities in kick-starting complex change efforts. As part of their 100 days, they mapped out the broader system that contributes to getting people rapidly housed and stress-tested their support infrastructure to see what was working and what was not.<...

During the winter break, we're replaying some of our favorite past episodes.

This replay episode features a dynamic discussion from the 2021 Collective Impact Action Summit, and focuses on the importance of narrative in collective social change efforts. This discussion is led by Melody Barnes of the Aspen Institute Forum for Community Solutions, and features Crystal Echo Hawk from IllumiNative, Rashad Robinson from Color of Change, and Nayantara Sen from Real Food Real Stories. 

Resources and Footnotes: 

During the winter break, we're replaying some of our favorite past episodes.

In this episode from 2022, we hear from Rev. Dr. Starsky Wilson, who serves as President and CEO of the Children’s Defense Fund. Dr. Wilson reflects on the challenging times that many of us experienced earlier in the pandemic, and the ways we can reground ourselves and move forward, so that we can shift from states of languishing, disconnection, and numbness to a place where we can better connect to ourselves, our purpose, and our communities.

Introducing this keynote are Jennifer Splansky Juster, ex...

In a time when many cities across the United States are facing a growing housing crisis, one community has challenged the status quo, working across divides to bring partners together to raise millions of dollars - with a goal of building 10,000 housing units by 2028 in California’s Coachella Valley.

What sounds like success now, with 1,600 units already under production, didn’t start out that way. The region faced both a lack of funding and a lack of belief that significantly increasing housing in the valley was even possible. But through effective collaboration, steadfast commitment, and hard conversations, the...

To find out what contributes to an effective and sustainable backbone, the EdRedesign Lab at Harvard University interviewed backbone leaders and field-building organizations about their experiences. Earlier this year, they released a report on the most critical skills and competencies required for a backbone leadership team to succeed when doing collective impact work.

We talk with Tauheedah Jackson, Judy Touzin, and Rob Watson from the Harvard EdRedesign Lab to learn more about these essential backbone leadership competencies, and how these abilities can be spread across multiple team members to better support the work.

Resources and Footn...

During this holiday week, we're replaying one of our favorite episodes from last year that focused on the power of parent engagement.

In this 2022 podcast conversation, we learned about the parent engagement work of Child Safety Forward in Hartford, CT - one of five demonstration sites for the federal demonstration initiative Child Safety Forward. In the discussion, we learned about how the Hartford project has worked with parents to become more comfortable owning and exercising their power – all in service of building a Child and Family Wellbeing System where child protection agencies, community partners, neighbors, and families sh...

How does a collaborative effort start planting the foundation for sustainability early on? 

In this podcast episode, we learn about the work of Child Safety Forward, a four-year demonstration initiative that engaged five sites across the U.S. in research, planning, and implementation around place-based strategies aimed at reducing child injury and fatality from abuse and neglect. The initiative, funded by the Department of Justice (DOJ) was launched in October 2019 by the DOJ’s Office for Victims of Crime.

With the project now closing, we talk with folks from Child Safety Forward to learn what fac...

We’re excited to share with you an episode of another podcast that we think you’ll find very valuable for your social change work. System Catalysts is a show that shares compelling stories from philanthropists and change-makers who are promoting systems change in their communities. They just concluded their first season of stories and we wanted to give them a shout-out and share with you one of their most recent episodes that we think Collective Impact Forum listeners might appreciate.

In this episode of System Catalysts, we hear from Sarah Austin Jenness and Brandon Grant-Walker, who both...

In this episode, Director of Programs and Partnerships Courtney W. Robertson talks with Jamilica Burke and Melody Freeman from Seeding Success, an organization focused on supporting the wellbeing of children and families in Memphis, Tennessee.

In this conversation, they discuss how Seeding Success continues to keep equity at the center of their work, even as they navigate uncertainty and turmoil following the rise of opposition against efforts that specifically address equity disparities. We learn how Seeding Success uses these challenges to fuel themselves forward as well as how they have shifted strategies to continue making progress.

Local governments can play a critical and necessary role in advancing system and policy changes to support communities, but it can be challenging to understand the complexities within local government and how best to work together. 

In this episode, Forum Director of Programs and Partnerships, Courtney W. Robertson explores how to partner with local and city governments to advance collaborative work in a conversation with Anthony Smith, Executive Director of Cities United. 

Cities United is an organization that advocates for a holistic approach to reducing gun violence and supporting public safety, and does so through bu...

Complex issues like homelessness can feel unsolvable or intractable, but that does not have to be the case. Through a commitment to a collective approach and strategies, communities can end homelessness.

We take a deep dive into this collective approach required to solve homelessness with Community Solutions, a nonprofit that is dedicated to ending homelessness. As part of their mission, Community Solutions leads Built for Zero, a movement of more than 100 cities and counties that are applying this approach so that homelessness can be rare or brief in their regions.

Sharing about what they learned...

In this episode, we discuss the practice of community-led monitoring, and how this practice can help inform and influence collaborative change efforts.

To learn more about community-led monitoring, we talk with the International Treatment Preparedness Coalition (ITPC), a global network that works to achieve universal access to HIV treatment and other life-saving medicines. One of ITPC’s core strategies is to "watch what matters," which includes supporting data gathering and analysis that’s centered on and led by community members, and reflects the issues and questions that are most important to people living with and affected by HIV...

In this episode, we discuss the power of community partnerships, and how necessary they are when working to support better outcomes for the whole community. 

In this discussion, we learn about the community partnership work of JumpStart, a service organization that focuses on supporting folks re-entering society after incarceration. Partnerships are a critical factor to support JumpStart’s participants in finding what they need so they can more fully rejoin their communities, including employment, housing, and healthcare. 

To share about their partnership journey and what they’ve learned so far, we hear from Don Williams, who is...

What can it look like to build capacity to support authentic community listening?

In this podcast discussion, we learn about the community listening work supported by Foundation for a Healthy St. Petersburg, based in St. Petersburg, Florida. We hear from a group of partners that worked together to establish community listening to support the South St. Petersburg CRA (Community Redevelopment Area), and what they learned along the way, including supporting community members’ capacity for listening, pivoting through evolving political priorities, and how a hurricane can change everything. 

Joining this discussion to share what they learned is...

How can you imagine and create a world for everyone?

In this new podcast episode, we’re sharing our conversation with Krista Tippett, which was the closing keynote conversation from the 2023 Collective Impact Action. Krista is a journalist, a National Humanities Medalist, a bestselling author, and founder of the On Being Project—a groundbreaking media and public life initiative that uplifts and celebrates deep thinking and conversations around what it means to be here together in this world.

In this fireside chat, Krista joins Cindy Santos (Aspen Institute Forum for Community Solutions) for a conversation abou...

What does it mean to create truly accessible spaces within your collective work? 

At the 2023 Collective Impact Action Summit, we explored this question and more in a keynote conversation with Imani Barbarin (Crutches and Spice), who is a disability and inclusion activist, speaker and content creator.

In this fireside chat, Imani Barbarin and Miya Cain (FSG) discuss what components can create a truly accessible culture of Belonging, including how directly addressing the inequities experienced by disabled people is necessary to reach broader societal change. They also explore the long impact of the Covid pandemic, and h...

What does it mean to create a culture of “belonging” within your collective work? 

At the 2023 Collective Impact Action Summit, we explored this question and more in a keynote conversation with Ruchika Tulshyan, award-winning inclusion strategist, speaker, and author of the bestselling book, Inclusion on Purpose: An Intersectional Approach to Creating a Culture of Belonging at Work.

In this fireside chat, Ruchika Tulshyan and Melody Barnes (Aspen Institute Forum for Community Solutions) discussed practices that can support and operationalize inclusive, equity-centered collaborative cultures. They also shared about the importance of elevating the voices of women of co...

Communities of practice are a valuable way of bringing partners together to connect and learn from each other to strengthen their collective work. It can also be very challenging to navigate the complexities that come with bringing a wide spectrum of partners together.

Founded in 2020, the Healthy Food Community of Practice has become a space for connection, learning, resource sharing, and action centered around the goal of helping to ensure that Black, Indigenous, and other people of color (BIPOC) and communities kept furthest from power, can access and consume healthy food. Since launching three years ago, the...

In this episode, we explore the topic of sharing power, which is a key component and strategy when advancing equity in collective impact work. But what can sharing power look like in practice? How are decisions made, and how is power distributed amongst a broad set of colleagues? 

To explore this topic, we learn about the work of Civic Canopy, a nonprofit that focuses on supporting collaborative efforts across Colorado. As part of their own commitments to supporting equity within their work, the Civic Canopy team took an intentional look within, and explored how they could share le...

In this episode, we learn about how to build and strengthen partnerships with parent leaders so that the wide spectrum of parent voices and needs are kept at the center when supporting early relational health for families. 

To explore this topic and more, we learn from the national collective Nurture Connection and how their partnership with a diverse group of parent leaders has helped evolve and advance their work to support early relational health for all families. Joining us for this conversation are Claudia Aristy, Bryn Fortune, Mia Halthon, and Becky Jaques Hasak. They discuss how centering p...

In this episode, we talk about building “collective power,” including what it means to build collective power and what factors can contribute to building it. 

To explore those questions and more, we learn about the Child Care NEXT coalition and how through advocacy work, they have developed a culture of collective power amongst their wide spectrum of partners and advocates. Joining us for this conversation is Alissa Marchant from Innovation Network and Jacy Montoya Price from Alliance for Early Success. They discuss several of the factors that have been most helpful in supporting a culture of collective power...

This episode is the second part of a two-part discussion that explores what practices can help a collaborative be more sustainable and resilient. For part 2, we welcome back our colleagues from the Tamarack Institute, Liz Weaver and Mike Des Jardins, who recently authored a new, free-to-access resource called “10: A Guide for Building a Sustainable and Resilient Collaboration.” In this second part, we discuss the practices and resources that can help support resiliency for collective impact efforts. Interviewing Liz and Mike for this conversation is Collective Impact Forum executive director Jennifer Splansky Juster.

Resources and Footnotes

Part...

This episode is the first of a two-part discussion that explores what practices can help a collaborative be more sustainable and resilient. For this conversation, we welcome our colleagues from the Tamarack Institute, Liz Weaver and Mike Des Jardins, who recently authored a new, free-to-access resource called “10: A Guide for Building a Sustainable and Resilient Collaboration.” In this first part, we discuss tips, stories, and resources that support sustainability practices for collective impact efforts. Interviewing Liz and Mike for this conversation is Collective Impact Forum executive director Jennifer Splansky Juster.

Resources and Footnotes

10: A Guide for...

In this episode, we talk about “trusting the messiness,” and how one can balance navigating partnerships and managing expectations while participating in a long-term complex collaboration. 

To explore those questions and more, we learn about the collective impact work supported by Sagesse Domestic Violence Prevention Society which is based in Calgary, Canada. Joining us from Sagesse are Carrie McManus and Andrea Silverstone who share how organizational values help them navigate through complex work, conversations, and decision-making. They also explore what to consider when expectations and experiences may differ between partners, and how to work through these situations.
...

We have a deep dive discussion about a new resource called the Racial Equity Toolkit that’s free to download and available now in the Collective Impact Forum library. The Racial Equity Toolkit is designed to support backbone staff and partners to operationalize racial equity throughout their collective impact work. We talk with toolkit authors Dominique Samari and Paul Schmitz about what’s in the toolkit and the ways that teams can explore it to advance their own equity work.

References and Footnotes

More on Collective Impact

In...

In this episode, we share a discussion from this spring’s 2022 Collective Impact Action Summit. This discussion explored ways to better collaborate across differences, including different experiences and ideologies, and specifically, how funders could support grantees and partners when bridging across divides, especially in times of deep polarization and turmoil. 

Joining this discussion is Kristen Cambell (Philanthropy for Active Civic Engagement - PACE), Wendy Feliz (American Immigration Council), Andrew Hanauer (One America Movement), and Ted Johnson (Brennan Center for Justice). Introducing this discussion is Cindy Santos, (Aspen Institute Forum for Community Solutions.)

Resources and Footnotes

In this episode, we hear from Rev. Dr. Starsky Wilson, who serves as President and CEO of the Children’s Defense Fund. Dr. Wilson reflects on the challenging times that many of us are experiencing, and the ways we can reground ourselves and move forward, so that we can shift from states of languishing, disconnection, and numbness to a place where we can better connect to ourselves, our purpose, and our communities.

Introducing this keynote are  Jennifer Splansky Juster, executive director of the Collective Impact Forum, and Sheri Brady, who is Vice President of Strategy and Programs at...

Parents can be powerful advocates in supporting the wellbeing of children and families in their community. But sometimes collaboratives and organizations that focus on supporting children struggle with building and maintaining parent engagement and authentic power shifting and sharing with parents. 

In this podcast conversation, we learn about the parent engagement work of Child Safety Forward in Hartford, CT - one of five demonstration sites for the federal demonstration initiative Child Safety Forward. In the discussion, we learn about how the Hartford project has worked with parents to become more comfortable owning and exercising their power – all in...

What is “community authority,” and what are ways to authentically build it within place-based collaborative work? In this new podcast discussion, we learn how one group in Northeast Oklahoma City changed course and reset their collective work so that they could better partner with community members and embed community authority as a part of the collaborative process. 

In this discussion, we hear from Matt Biggar (Connected to Place), Vanessa Morrison (Open Design Collective), and naturalist Sean Washington as they share what they’ve learned while working with the Edwards Property Collaborative, a group working together on the future...

How can community anchor institutions, like hospitals, help launch and strengthen community investment initiatives? 

In this episode, we learn about how Nationwide Children’s Hospital and the nonprofit housing organization Healthy Homes worked to support affordable housing and home repair in Columbus, Ohio. Through their work building deeper community connections and accountability, they saw real progress and real community outcomes in their Columbus neighborhoods.

Sharing their experiences and what they learned through this partnership are Nora Bloch of Center for Community Investment, and Patrice Allen Brady and Gretchen West of Healthy Homes. 

If you’...

What kinds of dedicated skill-building can help prepare system leaders for the monumental job of coordinating complex collaborations? 

In this episode, we learn about Advance Together, a cohort of collective impact initiatives in Texas that focus on education and workforce development. Organized by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, with support from funders including the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Advance Together cohort members participated in a capacity-building program dedicated to expanding their system leadership skills. 

Listen in as we explore how the program got started, the impact of the program, and the specific system leadership skill...

How can a backbone build structures and processes that can better support and retain its staff?

In this new podcast episode, we’re doing a deep dive discussion to learn about the work of United Way of Salt Lake and the Promise Partnership, a cradle-to-career initiative to support Utah youth. In this talk, we learn about the Promise Partnership’s goals and what the team has learned so far from adjusting their staffing models to build in more peer support and mentorship.

To share their experiences with this new staffing model, we hear from Marisol Pére...

How can collaboratives build and ensure clarity of purpose as partners work together? In this episode, we’re doing a deep dive discussion into a specific collaboration tool—the project charter—and how this tool can help bring partners together to clarify roles, accountability, and a shared vision.

To share their own experiences using a project charter within their work partnering together, we hear from Staci Anderson, Angie Medina, and Rachel Minnick from PRO Youth and Families, and Keya Bell and Shakeya Bell from IQSquad. They share what they have learned supporting youth in Sacramento, CA, and how to...

In this episode, Collective Impact Forum senior advisor Junious Williams talks with Erika Bernabei and Theo Miller who co-lead the consulting group Equity and Results. Erika and Theo share what they’ve learned supporting organizations that want to embed anti-racism practices in their collective impact work. They also discuss a set of core principles that can help guide collective impact initiatives that want to go deeper into their racial equity work.

Resources and Footnotes

In this episode, Collective Impact Forum senior advisor Paul Schmitz shares what he’s learned through supporting many collective impact initiatives, including some specific challenges that he has seen repeatedly come up and block progress. We dive into the dangers to avoid and also explore three key lessons that can help navigate through these challenges. 

This chat is jumping off of Paul’s recent article “10 Dangers to Collective Impact,” which was featured online in the Stanford Social Innovation Review, and is part of the online series Collective Impact, 10 Years Later. 

Resources and Footnotes

In our new episode of the Collective Impact Forum podcast, we’re talking with Justin Piff from Equal Measure about his recent article Data in Collective Impact: Focusing on What Matters. This piece was featured online in the Stanford Social Innovation Review and is part of the online series Collective Impact, 10 Years Later. In this chat, we talk about four key strategies for understanding and using data effectively to support collective impact work as well as ways collective impact funders can serve as a valuable data partner for initiatives. 

Resources and Footnotes

Article: Data in Col...

What are ways that funders can foster trust and support relationships with community partners? In this episode, Fay Hanleybrown, John Harper, and Victor Tavarez of FSG stop by the podcast to share from their own experiences supporting funders doing place-based work. In the discussion, they highlight four key practices that are effective in building and sustaining trust with community partners.

Listeners can check out more in the recent article that Victor, Fay, and John wrote, titled, “How Funders of Collective Impact Initiatives Can Build Trust,” that was featured online in the Stanford Social Innovation Review, and is part...

In this episode, we feature an unabridged roundtable discussion amongst a group of leaders who are part of United Way organizations from across the United States. In this talk, we get to hear what they have learned using the collective impact approach for collaborative, place-based change, and how they have seen their roles transition from a traditional funder role to that of a connected and collaborative community partner. Leading this discussion is Ayeola Fortune who serves as interim senior vice president for impact at United Way Worldwide. Joining Ayeola Fortune is Bill Crim, who is president and CEO of...

In September 2021, Melody Barnes, chair of the Aspen Institute Forum for Community Solutions, led a conversation with four social change leaders who for more than a decade have used collective impact to create collaborative, place-based change. Participants included Jennifer Blatz, president and CEO of StriveTogether, a national network of local communities striving to achieve racial equity and economic mobility, supporting the success of every child from cradle to career; Geoffrey Canada, founder and president of Harlem Children’s Zone and the recently launched William Julius Wilson Center, nonprofits working to break the cycle of intergenerational poverty with comprehensive, on-the-ground progr...

How can the collective impact approach put anti-racism at the center of its work?  How can collective impact work authentically center Black and Pacific Islander families, as it focuses on improving infant and maternal health? In this podcast interview, FSG Senior Consultant Miya Cain, MPH, explores these questions and more with the Executive Director of Expecting Justice, Zea Malawa, MD, MPH, building on their time working together on the early stages of the initiative. This interview is an unbridged version of an article shared in the Stanford Social Innovation Review titled Bringing an Anti-Racist Approach to Collective Impact. 
Duration: 00:59:00

In this episode, we’re talking about the findings from a new article in the winter 2022 edition of the Stanford Social Innovation Review titled, "Centering Equity in Collective Impact." We’re doing a “behind the writing” deep-dive discussion with several of the articles’ authors to hear about what lessons they learned from collaboratives who are practicing deep equity work, and what strategies arose through the process. Moderating this discussion is Cindy Santos of the Aspen Institute Forum for Community Solutions, and joining Cindy for this chat are article coauthors Sheri Brady, Jennifer Splansky Juster, and Paul Schmitz.

Resources...

How can collective impact initiatives leverage advocacy and community organizing to create more equitable systems and policy outcomes? In this episode we look into the findings of the new research study Rebalancing Power: Examining the Role of Advocacy and Organizing in Collective Impact. In this candid “behind the research” discussion, Rebalancing Power coauthor Brian Kennedy and Frontline Solutions senior partner and founder Marcus Littles discuss the report’s recommendations, research methodology, and notable takeaways from the team’s interviews with collective impact practitioners, funders, and community organizers.

Resources and Footnotes

We share a deep dive discussion on the topic on how funders can support frontline community organizing and activism. This discussion was part of this past spring’s 2021 Collective Impact Action Summit. In this deep dive, we explore lessons learned from communities organizing for transformational change, and how funders can cede power effectively to better support community efforts. 

Participating in this discussion is Aaron Dorfman of the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy, Kiyomi Fujikawa of Third Wave Fund, Tamieka Mosley of Grantmakers for Southern Progress, and Erik Stegman of Native Americans in Philanthropy. Introducing the discussion is my...

Hello, Collective Impact Forum listeners! Appreciate your patience as we prep our next podcast release, but before then we wanted to drop by and invite you to our upcoming virtual office hours. Virtual office hours are like a really informal webinar where we answer your questions about a specific topic. It’s kind of like a live podcast recording. 

Our next virtual office hour is on September 1 at 3pm Eastern, where we will answer questions around how to embed equity practices in collective impact and after that, the next one is on Sept. 8 at 3pm Eastern where we w...

We’re sharing a deep dive discussion on the topic of participatory grantmaking that was part of this past spring’s 2021 Collective Impact Action Summit. In this deep dive, we explore what is participatory grantmaking, how is it different from more traditional approaches to philanthropy, and how does this approach shift decision-making power to communities, putting them in charge of funding the solutions they want to see. Participating in this discussion is Bonnie Chiu of The Social Investment Consultancy, Melanie Kawano-Chiu of the Disability Rights Advocacy Fund, Hannah Paterson of The National Lottery Community Fund, and Meg Massey of Sans...

 traIn this episode, we’re sharing a conversation from the 2021 Collective Impact Action Summit that was held this past spring. During this session, we talk with disability justice advocate Imani Barbarin (Crutches and Spice) about the various narratives that affect disabled folk in the U.S. and what measures we can take to better support disabled folks on our teams and in our communities. 

Resources and Footnotes 

Read a transcript of this talk

Crutches and Spice website and on TikTok, Crutches_and_spice

Resource: Disability & Philanthropy Forum

Blog: Navigating Conse...

We’re diving into the topic of what does it mean to do collective impact work in more rural areas. Collective Impact Forum executive director Jennifer Splansky Juster chats with Deb Halliday of Halliday and Associates about what can be helpful to consider when working in a cross-sector collaborative that supports rural communities.

Resources and Footnotes

Blog: 100 Cups of Coffee

Webinar: Lessons Learned from Rural Collective Impact Efforts in Montana

More on Collective Impact

Infographic: What is Collective Impact?

Resource List: Getting Started in Collective Impact
Duration: 00:44:05

This episode features a powerful keynote address by author, entrepreneur, poet, and activist Sonya Renee Taylor that was part of the 2021 Collective Impact Convening this past April. Building off of her work in her book The Body is Not an Apology, Sonya Renee Taylor discusses key questions about how we view ourselves and each other, how we judge who is worthy of acceptance and justice, and how we can break out of systems that tell us that the only way to survive is to devalue others.

Preceding this talk, poet Tara Hardy shares her poem Buses Stop.  Duration: 00:56:50

In this powerful address from the 2021 Collective Impact Convening, Rev. Dr. William Barber (Repairers of the Breach) issues a call to action to not return to the “normal” of pre-covid, and to recognize the systemic inequities that existed before and contributed to why the pandemic has had such a devastating impact on so many people and communities. Rev. Dr. Barber describes that what’s needed now is for folks to come together, and through the strengths of coalitions, work to challenge these systemic inequities that have existed for too long. 

Preceding this talk, poet Azura Tyabji shares her poe...

This episode features a dynamic discussion from the 2021 Collective Impact Action Summit, and focuses on the importance of narrative in collective social change efforts. This discussion is led by Melody Barnes of the Aspen Institute Forum for Community Solutions, and features Crystal Echo Hawk from IllumiNative, Rashad Robinson from Color of Change, and Nayantara Sen from Real Food Real Stories.

This discussion is introduced by Sheri Brady of the Aspen Institute Forum for Community Solutions and includes a poetry performance beforehand by Seattle poet, organizer and attorney Troy Osaki.

Resources and Footnotes: 

Troy O...

Nikki Pitre and Kendra Becenti from the Center for Native American Youth at the Aspen Institute share about their work on the recent Indigenous Futures Survey project, a comprehensive survey, and the first of its kind, with thousands of participants across 401 tribes and 50 states. Nikki and Kendra share about what they learned through this survey project, including the immense impact of interviewing both youth and elders, and the importance of having community members lead in community data gathering.

Resources and Footnotes

Center for Native American Youth at the Aspen Institute

Indigenous Futures Project<...

In this episode, we chat with Jackie Campbell, who serves as Executive Director of ROC the Future, a collective impact education initiative that’s part of the Strive Together Network and is based in Rochester, NY. Listen in to hear how ROC the Future takes a systems lens to their work with youth, including supporting their community through the ongoing COVID pandemic and racial justice reckonings as well as uplifting parents as leading partners for their kids’ education needs.

Resources and Footnotes

ROC the Future: https://rocthefuture.org/

More on Collective Impact approach to c...

What does it mean to play the backbone role for a collective impact initiative? What approaches to identifying the backbone tend to set the work up for success? In this episode, we’re focusing on the various ways the backbone works, and a few things to avoid when establishing a new backbone role.

Featuring Jennifer Splansky Juster, Robert Albright, and Tracy Timmons-Gray.

Resources and Footnotes

Report: When Collective Impact Has Impact: A Cross-Site Study of 25 Collective Impact Initiatives

Resource: Backbone Starter Guide: A Summary of Major Resources about the Backbone
Duration: 00:36:26

How do you sustain momentum over the long-term when doing collaborative work? For many collective impact initiatives, there can be a far horizon to see actual long-term population-level results- like 5 or 10 years for a project (or longer.) Change can take a long time, and because of that, an added challenge is just keeping people motivated, keeping partners at the table, or figuring out how to fund a long-term initiative when grant funding may not continue after a year or two. So what do you do? If these big social change goals take a long time to become reality, how...

In this episode, Collective Impact Forum executive director Jennifer Splansky Juster is in conversation with John Kania and Juanita Zerda of the social impact organization Collective Change Lab. Jen, John, and Juanita discuss what are some of the key qualities and practices needed when working to achieve long-term systems change.

Resources and Footnotes

The Water of Systems Change

Collective Change Lab

More on the Collective Impact approach to collaborate for social change:

Infographic: What is Collective Impact?

Resource List: Getting Started in Collective Impact

The In...

In this discussion, we hear from FSG's Hallie Preskill and Joelle Cook, who share advice, recommendations, and concrete ideas on how to continue to keep learning about how our collaborative work is going, even during times of prolonged crisis like the pandemic. 

Resources  and Footnotes

Blog: Learning in a Time of Crisis

Resource: Facilitating Intentional Group Learning: A Practical Guide to 21 Learning Activities

Tool: Appreciative Inquiry

More on Collective Impact approach to collaborate for social change:

Infographic: What is Collective Impact?

Resource List: Getting Started in C...

In this interview with Forum senior advisor Paul Schmitz, we hear about the formation and experiences of Milwaukee’s Civic Response team during the first months of the pandemic and learn about the city’s comprehensive response to the COVID-19 crisis. Along the way, Paul shares the lessons learned about how collective impact efforts can be most effective in both meeting emergency needs and pursuing long-term systems change.

Resources and Footnotes

Case Study: Collective Impact in Emergency Response: A Case Study of Milwaukee’s COVID-19 Civic Response Team

Webinar: Collective Impact in Emergency Respon...

In this roundtable discussion, we focus on questions around how to collaborate when there may be conflicts between partners, whether it’s conflicting schedules, motivations, or values, and what to consider when those conflicts come up. This discussion includes what to consider when partnering with law enforcement, how to sort through conflicting community meeting needs, and the challenges of finding common ground when everything seems polarized.

Featuring Sheri Brady, Paul Schmitz, Tracy Timmons-Gray, and Junious Williams.

Resources and Footnotes

Video and Transcript: Complementary or in Conflict? Community Organizing and Collective Impact

Po...

We often talk about bringing together people and organizations from different sectors to do collaborative work, but it is also essential to bring folks from different generations into the conversation. What are the common differences we see across generations when working in collaboration, and how can we work through these challenges? 

Joining this cross-generational conversation on collective and community work is Sheri Brady, Ana Taukolo, and Junious Williams. This discussion was originally hosted at the Champions for Change virtual workshop on September 16, 2020.

More on Collective Impact approach to collaborate for social change:

Infographic: Wh...

How does one go about creating a “common agenda” with collaborative partners? In this deep dive episode, we explore the components of the common agenda, including what to think about when forming one, and what to consider when these current uncertain times might affect how your common agenda moves forward. Featuring Jennifer Splansky Juster, Rpbert Albright, and Tracy Timmons-Gray.

Resources and Footnotes

Report: When Collective Impact has an Impact: A Cross-Site Study of 25 Collective Impact Initiatives

Podcast: Getting Started – What is Collective Impact?

Podcast: Top things to consider when launching a new co...

What does it mean to be a “good partner?” In this roundtable discussion, we discuss community questions around how to support and assess partnerships, and what does it really look like to share credit among multiple partners in a collaborative. 

Featuring Sheri Brady, Jennifer Splansky Juster, Paul Schmitz, Tracy Timmons-Gray, and Junious Williams.

Resources and Footnotes

Article: Turf, Trust, Co-Creation & Collective Impact

Tool: TRIZ

Blog: Lessons Learned from our Conversations with Experienced Backbone Leaders

Report: When Collective Impact has an Impact: A Cross-Site Study of 25 Collective Impact Initi...

In this roundtable discussion, we continue discussing community questions about how to support anti-racism within our work, and specifically diving into how to host hard conversations when everyone is gathering virtually, and what to consider when the focus of your work feels separate from race and racial equity. Featuring Sheri Brady, Jennifer Splansky Juster, Paul Schmitz, Tracy Timmons-Gray, and Junious Williams.

Resources and Footnotes

Resource: Covid, Race, and the Revolution from PolicyLink

Blog: Have nonprofit and philanthropy become the “white moderate” that Dr. King warned us about? By Vu Le (Nonprofit AF)
Duration: 00:42:21

In this roundtable discussion, we address some questions from Forum community members about how to support anti-racism work, and specifically exploring the question of what does it mean to be an ally to others, and how to use one’s own privilege to forward anti-racism efforts. Featuring Robert Albright, Sheri Brady, Jennifer Splansky Juster, Paul Schmitz, Tracy Timmons-Gray, and Junious Williams.

Resources and Footnotes

Blog; Beyond Seats at the Table: Equity, Inclusion, and Collective Impact - Video and Transcript

Book: Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World by Anand Giridharadas Duration: 00:39:09

In this roundtable discussion, we address some questions from Forum community members about how our collaborative work is affected by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, including supporting exhausted community partners, figuring out how to build engagement around a new initiative during the pandemic, and how to keep long-term goals while meeting immediate needs. Featuring Robert Albright, Sheri Brady, Jennifer Splansky Juster, Paul Schmitz, Tracy Timmons-Gray, and Junious Williams.

Resources and Footnotes

Resource: Community Engagement Toolkit

Blog: Learning in a Time of Crisis

Blog: Scenario Thinking for an Unpredictable Year: Status Quo is N...

In this roundtable discussion, we reflect on what’s been happening with the pandemic, the economy, and the protests to support Black lives, the impact we’re seeing, and what does it mean to look ahead when the future seems so unknown. Featuring Robert Albright, Sheri Brady, Jennifer Splansky Juster, Paul Schmitz, Tracy Timmons-Gray, and Junious Williams.

Resources and Footnotes

Blog: Scenario Thinking for an Unpredictable Year: Status Quo is Not an Option 

Tool: Reimagining Strategy in the Context of the COVID-19 Crisis: A Triage Tool

More on Collective Impact appro...

In this interview, Dr. Lauren Smith, Co-CEO of FSG, shares key recommendations for how funders can support grantees now during the Covid-19 pandemic, and how their programs may evolve when supporting the needs of communities post-pandemic.

Resources and Footnotes

Blog: COVID-19⁠—Seven Things Philanthropy Can Do by Lauren A. Smith

Blog: Foundations: Use Your Balance Sheet to Help by Mark Kramer

More related to dealing with the impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic

Podcast: Managing Change in Rapidly Changing Times (Office Hour 1)

Blog: Managing Change During the Pandemic: Thou...

In response to the current situation with the Covid-19 pandemic and how it affects so much of our lives, the Forum is hosting weekly virtual office hours that looks at your questions related to how to manage change right now- whether it’s change in your work, or your relationships, or even how to work right now. We’ll be sharing the audio from those virtual office hours so listeners of the podcast can also receive this support. 

In this episode, we’re featuring the audio from our virtual office hour that was held on March 26, 2020 and include...

In this episode, we’re sharing a keynote and panel discussion titled, “Complementary or in Conflict? Community Organizing and Collective Impact” that features a talk by Marshall Ganz, who serves as Senior Lecturer in Leadership, Organizing, and Civil Society at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. 

Following the keynote is a panel discussion on community organizing in collective impact. Joining Marshall Ganze for this talk is Melody Barnes of the Aspen Institute Forum for Community Solutions, Chekemma Fulmore-Townsend of Philadelphia Youth Network, Marjorie Parker of JobsFirstNYC, and Marc Philpart of PolicyLink.

Introducing Marshall Ganz is...

This episode continues the theme of “Getting Started” in collective impact by focusing on some underlying factors including building relationships and shifting mindsets that can support the long-term success of a collaborative effort.

Episode Contents

1:44: Before diving into these key factors for success, how did we come up with these factors in the first place?

3:44: Four mental model shifts that can be helpful to support a collaborative’s work and long-term sustainability.

17:00: Other “intangible” factors that can support a collaborative’s success, including building a culture of learning, including learning from failure, and...

In this episode, we’re sharing a keynote talk titled, “Moving from Charity to Justice in Collective Impact” by Liz Dozier, founder and CEO of Chicago Beyond, an impact investor that backs the fight for youth equity. Chicago Beyond exists so that all youth, especially the most vulnerable, will have the opportunity to achieve their fullest human potential.

This talk was held on May 16, 2019 at the 2019 Collective Impact Convening in Chicago. 

Footnotes and Resources:

Chicago Beyond

Why am I always being researched?

More on Collective Impact approach to collaborate for soc...

In this episode, we’re sharing a keynote talk titled, “Beyond Seats at the Table: Equity, Inclusion, and Collective Impact” that features a talk by Vu Le, founding Executive Director of Rainier Valley Corps and author of the blog NonprofitAF. 

Introducing Vu Le is Sheri Brady, who serves at the Aspen Institute Forum for Community Solutions as well as co-lead of the Collective Impact Forum. This talk was held on April 3, 2018 at the 2018 Collective Impact Convening in Austin. 

Due to the original recording, this episode may be heard best with headphones.

Episode Contents
Duration: 00:46:42

In this episode, we’re sharing a 2019 Collective Impact Convening keynote talk titled, “From the “Why” to the “How": Operationalizing Equity in Collective Impact” by Professor john a powell, who serves as Director of the Othering and Belonging Institute at the University of California Berkeley. 

Following the keynote, Michael McAfee, President and CEO of PolicyLink, joins Professor Powell in a discussion about what’s needed to prioritize equity within collective impact work. 

Episode Contents 

1:27: Sheri Brady of the Aspen Institute Forum for Community Solutions and co-lead of the Collective Impact Forum introduces Professor john a. powell. Duration: 01:13:50

Jen, Robert, and Tracy go into the topics of getting ready to launch a collective impact effort, including exploring the question of “How do I know if the collective impact approach is the right approach to take for my collaborative?”

Episode Contents:

2:35: Robert and Jen share a few of the conditions that can be helpful to have in place when deciding whether or not to use this approach on a social change issue.

7:48: Jen and Robert discuss what it means to bring in a variety of “interventions,” both relating to single programs and also the...