The document discusses fostering a culture of collective impact. It begins with an agenda for a meeting on collective impact which includes introductions, why pursue collective impact, what collective impact is, examples in communities, backbone organizations, and creating a plan. It then defines collective impact as a commitment by actors from different sectors to a common agenda for solving a social problem. The five conditions for collective impact are also outlined.

1. Fostering a Culture
of Collective Impact
Michael R. Wood
Director, Partnerships & U.S. Network Engagement / United Way Worldwide
Leslie Wright
Vice President, Community Building, United Way of East Central Iowa

2. Today’s Agenda
Welcome and Introductions
Why Pursue Collective Impact?
What is Collective Impact?
What does it look like in our communities?
Backbone Organizations
Break
Creating the Culture: Skilling up
Assessing your current state
What’s your plan and what do you need?
Adjourn
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3. What issue is causing your
community the most pain
right now?

4. Why pursue
Collective Impact?
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5. Isolated vs. Collective Impact
Isolated impact Collective Impact
• Funders select individual • Funders understand that
grantees that offer the most social problems and their
promising solutions. solutions arise from the
• Nonprofits work separately interaction of many
and compete to produce the organizations within a larger
greatest independent impact. system.
• Evaluation attempts to isolate • Progress depends on working
a particular organization’s toward the same goal and
impact. measuring the same things.
• Large scale change is • Large scale impact depends
assumed to depend on scaling on increasing cross-sector
a single organization. alignment and learning among
• Corporate and government many organizations.
sectors are often disconnected • Corporate and government
from the efforts of foundations sectors are essential partners
and nonprofits • Organizations actively
coordinate their action and
share lessons learned.
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6. WHAT IS COLLECTIVE
IMPACT?
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7. Collective Impact Defined
―The commitment of a group of
important actors from different
sectors to a common agenda
for solving a specific social
problem.‖
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8. The Five Conditions of Collective Impact
All participants have a shared vision for change
including a common understanding of the problem and
Common Agenda
a joint approach to solving it through agreed upon
actions.
Collecting data and measuring results consistently across
Shared all participants ensures efforts remain aligned and
Measurement participants hold each other accountable.
Mutually Participant activities must be differentiated while still being
Reinforcing coordinated through a mutually reinforcing plan of action.
Activities
Consistent and open communication is needed across the
Continuous many players to build trust, assure mutual objectives, and
Communication create common motivation.
Creating and managing collective impact requires a
Backbone separate organization(s) with staff and a specific set
Support of skills to serve as the backbone for the entire initiative
and coordinate participating organizations and agencies.
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9. FSG.ORG
Keys to Launching a
Collective Impact Initiative
Influential Champion
• Commands respect and engages cross-sector
leaders
• Focused on solving problem but allows
participants to figure out answers for themselves
Financial Resources
• Committed funding partners
$ • Sustained funding for at least 2-3 years
• Pays for needed infrastructure and planning
Urgency for Change
• Critical problem in the community
• Frustration with existing approaches
• Multiple actors calling for change
• Engaged funders and policy makers
Source: Channeling Change: Making Collective Impact Work, 2012; FSG Interviews 9 © 2011 FSG

10. Phases of Collective Impact
Components
Phase I Phase II Phase III
for Success
Governance Identify champions Create infrastructure Facilitate and refine
and and form cross- (backbone and
Infrastructure sector group processes)
Map the landscape Create common Support
Strategic and use data to agenda (goals and implementation
Planning make case strategy) (alignment to goals
and strategies)
Facilitate community Engage community Continue
Community
outreach and build public will engagement and
Involvement
conduct advocacy
Analyze baseline Establish shared Collect, track, and
data to identify key metrics (indicators, report progress
Evaluation and
issues and gaps measurement, and (process to learn
Improvement
approach) and improve)
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11. COLLECTIVE IMPACT IN THE
EVERYDAY WORLD
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12. Discuss at your table:
1. Share an example of Collective Impact
work in your community
2. What phase of development is this work
in?
3. What is your United Way’s role in the
work?
4. What’s working?
5. What is challenging?
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13. United Way of Greater Milwaukee
Teen Pregnancy Prevention Initiative
Over 50 partners, including representatives from the business, faith,
academic, social service, and funding communities
Goal: Reduce births to teens by 46% by 2015
In March of 2006, the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Advisory
Committee released its results at the United Way Women’s
Initiative luncheon in the report If Truth be Told: Teen Pregnancy,
Public Health and the Cycle of Poverty. This report resulted in nine
core recommendations, including creating a collaborative funding
strategy to create a strategic and effective community response to
teen pregnancy.
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14. The Farmer’s Market Story
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15. Kirkwood Pathways for
Academic Career Education and
Employment (KPACE)
The Issue:
 66% of new and replacement positions in the
region will require education beyond a high school
diploma through 2014 (Skills 2014)
 90% (N-5,700) of the available workforce
(members of IowaWORKS) do not have a college
credential—11% No GED; 53% HS Diploma; 26%
Some College

16. Kirkwood Pathways for
Academic Career Education and
Employment (KPACE)
Note:

17. You Can Be a Piece to the
Solution

18. Collective Impact in Action
• Strive has brought together local leaders to tackle the
student achievement crisis and improve education
throughout greater Cincinnati and northern Kentucky.
• A core group of community leaders decided to abandon
their individual agendas in favor of a collective approach to
improving student achievement.
• These leaders realized that fixing one point on the
educational continuum--such as better after school
programs--wouldn’t make much difference unless all parts
of the continuum improved at the same time.
• Strive focused the entire educational community on a
single set of goals.
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19. MOVING FROM BANKER
TO BACKBONE
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20. FSG.ORG
Characteristics of Successful Backbones
• Have high credibility
• Seen as neutral convener
• Have dedicated staff
• Build key relationships
• Frame issues
• Create a sense of urgency
• Promote learning
• Balance inclusivity vs. expediency
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*These skills can exist within a single organization or within another organization in the effort. 2011 FSG
©

21. FSG.ORG
Successful Backbone Organizations Tend
to Manage Six Key Functions
Function Description
Strategic Oversee strategic direction
Coherence Analyze landscape, identify gaps
Data Collect, house, analyze, and disseminate data
Management Manage process of defining and refining common indicators
Manage meetings and logistics
Facilitation
Act as neutral arbiter between players, as necessary
Communica- Identify communication strategy to reach stakeholders
tions Manage frequency, content, and delivery of messages
Community Support meaningful cross-sector community engagement
Outreach Help develop policy agenda and coordinate advocacy
Coordinate grant writing among initiative partners
Funding Seek and manage new grants
Possible: Re-grant, serve as fiscal agent
21 © 2011 FSG

22. Backbone Organizations
Types of
Description Examples Pros Cons
Backbones
One funder initiates Calgary Ability to secure start-up funding Lack of broad buy-in if CI effort seen as
Funder- CI strategy as Homeless and recurring resources driven by one funder
Based planner, financier, Foundation Ability to bring others to the table Lack of perceived neutrality
and convener and leverage other funders
New entity is created, Community Perceived neutrality as facilitator Lack of sustainable funding stream and
often by private Center for and convener potential questions about funding priorities
New
funding, to serve as Education Potential lack of baggage Potential competition with local nonprofits
Nonprofit
backbone Results Clarity of focus
Established nonprofit Opportunity Credibility, clear ownership, and Potential ―baggage‖ and lack of perceived
Existing takes the lead in Chicago strong understanding of issue neutrality
Nonprofit coordinating CI Existing infrastructure in place if Lack of attention if poorly funded
strategy properly resourced
Government entity, Shape Up Public sector ―seal of approval‖ Bureaucracy may slow progress
Government either at local or state Somerville Existing infrastructure in place if Public funding may not be dependable
level, drives CI effort properly resourced
Shared Numerous Magnolia Lower resource requirements if Lack of clear accountability with multiple
Across organizations take Place shared across multiple voices at the table
Multiple ownership of CI wins organizations Coordination challenges, leading to
Organization Broad buy-in, expertise potential inefficiencies
Senior-level Memphis Broad buy-in from senior leaders Lack of clear accountability with multiple
Steering
committee with Fast across public, private, and voices
Committee
ultimate decision- Forward nonprofit sectors
Driven
making power
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23. Backbone Organizations
Is your United Way a backbone organization?
If not, would you be willing to serve in that role?
What are the barriers or challenges to taking this on?
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24. Break
(10 minutes)
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25. PRACTICES THAT FOSTER
THE CULTURE
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26. What do we need?
Inspiration
Dense networks (connectivity)
Trust
Collaboration & Innovation
Fierce Conversations
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27. Hope fuels
our first steps
toward uncertain destinations.

28. Sinek’s Golden Circle
―People don’t buy what you do,
they buy why you do it. The goal
is to do business with people
who believe what you believe.‖
Sinek, Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire
Everyone to Take Action
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVnN4S52F3k

29. A NETWORKED COMMUNITY
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30. Creating the network for change:
– Map the players
– Find your gaps
– Find your nodes
– Build a dense network

31. 31

32. FSG.ORG
Actors In the New York Juvenile Justice System
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Source: FSG interviews and analysis; State of NY Juvenile Justice Advisory Group, ―State of NY, 2009–2011:
Three-Year Comprehensive State Plan for the JJ and Delinquency Prevention Formula Grant Program.‖32 © 2011 FSG

34. Characteristics of strong
network partnerships
• Communication
• Commitment
• Equality
• Skills
• Trust
• Respect

35. A CULTURE OF TRUST

36. How does trust impact our work?
T =S &C

37. What is the effect of trust on results?
(S x E)T=R

38. Covey’s Organizational Trust Audit
The 7 Low Trust Organizational The 7 High Trust Organizational
Taxes Dividends
1. Redundancy 1. Increased value
2. Bureaucracy 2. Accelerated growth
3. Politics 3. Enhanced innovation
4. Disengagement 4. Improved collaboration
5. Turnover 5. Stronger partnering
6. Churn 6. Better execution
7. Fraud 7. Heightened loyalty
(The opposites of the 7 Organizational Taxes are also Dividends).
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39. The 4 Cores
Integrity
Intent
Capabilities
Results

40. At your tables…
What’s your trust
quotient?
United Way?
Around this issue?
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41. CULTURE OF COLLABORATION
& INNOVATION
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42. Midnight Lunch: The 4 Phases of
Team Collaboration Success
Build capacity in your team structure
Practice discovery learning
• Create a new context
• Provocative questioning
• Unreasonable hypotheses
• Solution scenarios
• Inquire and reflect
Create a coherent micro culture
Create the structures for speed and scale
• Collective intelligence
• Smart layers
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43. A guide for your discovery learning…
Principles for Building Effective Community
Impact Strategies
1. Establish your target outcomes
2. Uncover the underlying issues
3. Choose strategies and approaches that create lasting
change
4. Create a plan for implementing those strategies
5. Decide how to measure, communicate and improve
results

44. Fierce Conversations
Interrogate reality
Provoke learning
Tackle tough issues
Enrich relationships
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45. ASSESS YOURSELF
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46. Are you ready?
Ir = T x CRd x Vc x Kht
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47. BUILDING STAYING POWER
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48. Balance the Tensions
• Patience versus urgency
• Data driven versus
innovative
• Digital versus relational
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49. Questions for you…
What will you do?
What supports do you need to do
this work well?
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50. Great Resources:
The Answer to How is Yes Peter Block
The Abundant Community John McKnight and
Peter Block
The Medici Effect Frans Johansson
Fierce Conversations Susan Scott
Midnight Lunch Sarah Miller Caldicott
Start with Why Simon Sinek
Reinventing Social Change David Gershon
socialchange2.com
To Be Fearless Case Foundation
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