Getting Ready for Collective Impact
Liz Weaver
Vice President,
Tamarack – An Institute for Community Engagement
www.tamarackcommunity.ca liz@tamarackcommunity.ca
About Tamarack – An Institute for
Community Engagement
Tamarack is a charity that develops and
supports learning communities that helps
people to collaborate, co-generate
knowledge and achieve collective impact
on complex community issues. Our vision is
to build a connected force for community
change.
Join us as we discover how communities
can act together for positive change!
Visit our websites:
• www.tamarackcommunity.ca
• www.seekingcommunity.ca
• www.vibrantcommunities.ca
• www.tamarackcci.ca
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Workshop Overview
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The Context: Collaboration and Complexity
The Framework: Collective Impact
The Issue: The Community Context
The Challenge: Working Differently
The Case: Human and Financial Investments
The Context
The Collaboration Spectrum
Trust
Compete
Co-exist
Communicate
Cooperate
Coordinate
Collaborate
Competition
for clients,
resources,
partners,
public
attention.
No
systematic
connection
between
agencies.
Inter-agency
information
sharing (e.g.
networking).
As needed,
often
informal,
interaction,
on discrete
activities or
projects.
Organizatio
ns
systematical
ly adjust
and align
work with
each other
for greater
outcomes.
Longer term
interaction
based on
shared
mission,
goals;
shared
decisionmakers and
resources.
Integrate
Fully
integrated
programs,
planning,
funding.
Turf
Loose
Tight
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Table Discussion: Collaboration
Spectrum
How could you use the
Collaboration Spectrum
with your community
partners and with current
collaborative efforts?
Complexity + Community Change
Learn-by-doing,
see what emerges,
adapt.
Develop
common
ground,
compromise
or compete.
Follow the
‘best practice’
recipe.
Wicked Problems
& Social Messes
Use expertise, experiment and
build knowledge.
Create stability, look for
opportunities to innovate.
Characteristics of Complex
Problems
Complex problems are difficult to frame
The cause and effect relationships are unclear
There are diverse stakeholders
Each experience of is unique
The characteristics & dynamics of the issue evolves
There is no obvious right or wrong set of solutions
There is no objective measure of success
Managing Complex Problems
TRADITIONAL
RESPONSE
CHARACTERISTICS
OF COMPLEX ISSUES
ADAPTIVE RESPONSE
Specialization
Multiple Root
Causes
Orchestration
Silos
Multiple Stakeholders
Cross Boundary
Crisp Problem
Definition
Difficult to Frame
Working Framework
Plan the Work, Work
the Plan
Emergent
Act, React and Adapt
Resolve
Paradoxes & Dilemmas
Cope
Standardized and
Detailed Blueprint
Unique
Minimum Specs,
Variation &
Customization
Short Term
Intractable
Long Term
Collective Impact
An Overview of Collective
Impact
Greater Cincinnati Foundation
Collective Impact: Pulling Together
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZZRvNXOozc
From Isolated Impact to
Collective Impact
Isolated Impact
Collective Impact
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Funders select individual grantees
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Organizations work separately
Funders understand that social
problems – and their solutions –
arise from multiple interacting
factors
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Evaluation attempts to isolate a
particular organization’s impact
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Large scale change is assumed to
depend on scaling organizations
Cross-sector alignment with
government, nonprofit, philanthropic
and corporate sectors as partners
•
Corporate and government sectors
are often disconnected from
foundations and non-profits.
Organizations actively coordinating
their actions and sharing lessons
learned
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All working toward the same goal
and measuring the same things
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Collective Impact is…
…positive and consistent progress at scale.
- John Kania, FSG Social Impact Consultants, Oregon 2013
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Used for Many Complex Issues
Teen Pregnancy
Homelessness
Health
Community Safety
Education
Poverty
Collective Impact –
Framing Questions
• Do we aim to effect ―needle- change (i.e., 10% or more) on a
community-wide metric?
• Do we believe that a long-term investment (i.e., three to fiveplus years) by stakeholders is necessary to achieve success?
• Do we believe that cross-sector engagement is essential for
community-wide change?
• Are we committed to using measurable data to set the
agenda and improve over time?
• Are we committed to having community members as
partners and producers of impact?
Phases of Collective Impact
The Phases of Collective Impact
Components
for Success
Phase I
Generate Ideas
and Dialogue
Phase II
Initiate Action
Governance Convene community Identify champions
and form crossand
stakeholders
sector group
Infrastructure
Phase III
Organize for
Impact
Phase IV
Sustain Action
and Impact
Create
infrastructure
(backbone and
processes)
Facilitate and
refine
Strategic
Planning
Hold dialogue about
Map the landscape
Create common
issue, community
and use data to
agenda (common
context, and
make case
goals and strategy)
available resources
Support
implementation
(alignment to goal
and strategies)
Community
Involvement
Facilitate
community outreach
specific to goal
Determine if there is
Evaluation
consensus/urgency
And
Improvement to move forward
Facilitate
community
outreach
Engage community
and build public will
Continue
engagement and
conduct advocacy
Analyze baseline
data to ID key
issues and gaps
Establish shared
metrics (indicators,
measurement, and
approach)
Collect, track, and
report progress
(process to learn
and improve)
Preconditions for Collective
Impact
• Influential
Champion(s)
• Urgency of issue
• Adequate Resources
The Five Conditions of
Collective Impact
Common
Agenda
Shared
Measurement
Mutually
Reinforcing
Activities
Continuous
Communication
Backbone
Support
All participants have a shared vision for change including a
common understanding of the problem and a joint approach to
solving it through agreed upon actions
Collecting data and measuring results consistently across all
participants ensures efforts remain aligned and participants hold
each other accountable
Participant activities must be differentiated while still being
coordinated through a mutually reinforcing plan of action
Consistent and open communication is needed across the many
players to build trust, assure mutual objectives, and appreciate
common motivation
Creating and managing collective impact requires a dedicated staff and
a specific set of skills to serve as the backbone for the entire
initiative and coordinate participating organizations and agencies
Source: FSG
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The Issue
Common Agenda
• Define the challenge to
be addressed.
• Acknowledge that a
collective impact
approach is required.
• Establish clear and shared
goal(s) for change.
• Identify principles to
guide joint work together.
Building a Common Agenda
Prior History
Positive or negative impact
Pressing Issue
Galvanize leaders across sectors
Data
Determine what you need to understand
impact of the issue on community
Community Context Is there community buy in? Determine
community leverage opportunities
Core Group
Determine who needs to be involved in core
group
Convener
Trusted leadership to facilitate collaborative
efforts
Community
Engagement
Determine how to engage the broader
community in the effort
Where is your community?
• Waiting place – waiting for something to
create a pivot point
• Impasse – know there is a problem, but it’s
someone else’s problem
• Catalytic – gearing up for change
• Growth – engaging citizens in change
• Renewal and sustaining
• Source: The Harwood Institute
Common Agenda
What makes the difference
between a good movie and a
bad movie?
“Getting everyone
involved to make the
same movie!”
- Francis
Ford Coppola
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The Community Context
What are the key
community context
elements we need to
consider to work
collectively in
Adelaide?
Common Agenda Exercise: Theory of Change Tool
Strategies
Assumptions
6
5
Influential Factors
Problem or Issue
1
4
Desired results
(outputs, outcomes
and impact)
3
Community needs/assets
2
Source: Kellogg Foundation, 2004
The Challenge: Work Differently
Highly Effective Communities
1. Reach for It
2. Go with who you’ve got
3. Hold the centre
4. Keep the circle open
5. Avoid the blame game
6. Choose measureable
outcomes
7. Develop a sense of
urgency and keep going
Shared Measurement
• Identify key measures
that capture critical
outcomes.
• Establish systems for
gathering and analyzing
measures.
• Create opportunities for
“making-sense” of
changes in indicators.
Thinking About Shared
Measurement
Process: # of people/orgs at
table, # of community
presentations, articles, etc
Progress: # of programs, # of
new initiatives, etc
Shared
Measurement
Policy: policy changes in own
or other organizations, new
investments, gov. policy
changes
Population : # of people
moved out of poverty, # of
high school graduates, # of
low birth weight babies
Thinking About Shared
Measurement
• Use your Theory of Change Tool as
background
• Brainstorm what it would take to show that
your collaborative was making progress on
your issue or problem.
• Use the attached grid to determine where
your shared measurements fit
• What do you observe?
Mutually Reinforcing Activities
• Agreement on key
outcomes.
• Orchestration and
specialization.
• Complementary –
sometimes “joined up”
- strategies to achieve
outcomes.
Memphis Fast Forward
Coordination in Saint John
Poverty
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Housing
Transportation
Education to Employment
Early Childhood Development
Workforce Development
Neighborhood Renewal
Continuous Communication
• Create formal and
informal measures for
keeping people informed
• Communication is open
and reflect a diversity of
styles
• Difficult issues are
surfaced, discussed and
addressed
In and Out Communication
Building the Case
Backbone Organization(s)
• Guide vision & strategy
• Support aligned activities
• Established shared
measurements
• Build public will
• Advance policy
• Mobilize funding
• Like a manager at a
construction site who
attends to the whole
building while carpenters,
plumbers and electricians
come and go, the support
staff keep the
collaborative process
moving along, even as the
participants may change.
Jay Conner. 2004.
Community Visions, Community
Solutions: Grantmaking for
Comprehensive Impact
Backbone Organizations
Common Misperceptions about the
Role of Backbone Organizations
Common Misperceptions
• The backbone organization sets the agenda for the group
• The backbone organization drives the solutions
• The backbone organization receives all the funding
• The role of backbone can be self appointed rather than
selected by the community
• The role of backbone isn’t fundamentally different from
“business as usual” in terms of staffing, time, and resources
Source: FSG Interviews and Analysis
What will it Take?
Things to Consider in Collective
Impact
• Patient capital
• Persistence for longer term, systems change
• Align funders across sectors to common
agenda
• Legitimize the work of the collaborative table
• No playbook, support and advance the skills
and capacity of collaborative partners
Collective Impact
• Use collective impact as a framing tool
• Assess whether everyone in the collaborative
is working on the same agenda
• Developing success measures (process and
outcome indicators)
• Learn about what’s working and let go of
those things that are not making an impact
Reflecting on Collective Impact
Think – Pair – Share
• What have I learned that
I can apply to my
collaborative
partnerships?
• What other questions do
I have?
Tamarack Learning Opportunities
www.tamarackcommunity.ca
Learn together through:
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Monthly tele-learning Seminars
Engage! e-magazine
Face-to-Face Learning Events
Online Learning Communities
Communities of Practice
Tamarack Learning Communities
Tamarack CCI
For Collaborative Leaders who use
collective impact approaches to address
complex community issues.
www.tamarackcci.ca
Vibrant Communities: Cities Reducing
Poverty
For Cities that develop and implement
comprehensive poverty reduction strategies
www.vibrantcanada.ca
Seeking Community
For individuals who care about community,
the vibrancy of neighbourhoods and the
unique role of citizens in social change.
www.seekingcommunity.ca
Deepening Community – Just Released!
Read the latest book by Paul Born
President of Tamarack Institute
If you do, here are some fun ways to get involved
in the Deepening Community campaign:
 Read the book & post a short review on
Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Indigo.ca,
GoodReads.com or iBook
 Go to the “Get Involved” page on
www.deepeningcommunity.org
 Write a post about your thoughts/ideas on the
book or on your experiences of community at
www.seekingcommunity.ca
Wishing you joy as you deepen community!
Upcoming Tamarack Learning Events
Learn more & register:
http://tamarackcommunity.ca/events.html
Additional Resources
• Follow my blog: http://vibrantcanada.ca/blogs/liz-weaver
• Regular updates about Collaboration and Collective Impact
are posted on Tamarack Learning Communities Sites:
www.tamarackcci.ca; www.vibrantcommunities.ca;
www.seekingcommunity.ca
• Stanford Social Innovation Review articles on Collective
Impact: http://www.ssireview.org/
• FSG Social Impact Consultants: www.fsg.org
• Collective Impact Forum:
http://www.collectiveimpactforum.org/
Additional Resources on
Collective Impact
• FSG – collective impact resources http://www.fsg.org/KnowledgeExchange/FSGApp
roach/CollectiveImpact.aspx
• Resources for Backbones http://tamarackcci.ca/blogs/sylviacheuy/champions-change-leading-backboneorganization-collective-impact
• Rural Communities Resources http://www.penquis.org/?id=2&sub_id=2941