Collective Impact Blog

“Sounds great, how can I get this funded?”

“We’re doing really exciting work in my region, but we’re concerned about sustainability.”

“The backbone just doesn’t seem as exciting to fund as the programmatic interventions.”

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In the past couple weeks, I’ve had several conversations with a number of collective impact efforts. Despite the diversity of these efforts— efforts that span a range of social issues; some emerging, some established; some rural, some urban; and happening all around the country—I’ve been struck by a common challenge they’re facing: funding!
 

Think about the last time you contributed to a positive change. What made you care enough to put in the effort? How did you learn what might help? Did it begin by hearing – and really listening – to a story?

Last month, I participated in Champions for Change: Leading a Backbone Organization for Collective Impact. This dynamic workshop, hosted by the Tamarack Institute and FSG in Toronto, brought together 150 leaders of backbone organizations from around Canada (and some from the U.S.). From the start, the energy was incredible. These were leaders of organizations that had taken on significant responsibility to catalyze long-term systems change in their communities. Given the tremendous complexity of their work, I expected them to be exhausted. I quickly learned they were anything but.

In a recent FSG and the Stanford Social Innovation Review webinar discussion on complexity in collective impact,  John Kania, coauthor of SSIR’s “Embracing Emergence: How Collective Impact Addresses Complexity,” Blair Taylor, of Memphis Fast Forward and Mark Cabaj of the Tamarack Institute explored how leaders of successful collective impact initiatives have embraced a new way of collectively seeing, learning and doing that marry emergent solutions with intentional outcomes. 

In a recent FSG and the Stanford Social Innovation Review webinar discussion on complexity in collective impact, John Kania, coauthor of SSIR’s “Embracing Emergence: How Collective Impact Addresses Complexity,” Blair Taylor, of Memphis Fast Forward and Mark Cabaj of the Tamarack Institute explored how leaders of successful collective impact initiatives have embraced a new way of collectively seeing, learning and doing that marry emergent solutions with intentional outcomes.

In the fourth post in this 5-part blog series, Blair and Mark continue the discussion, answering thought-provoking questions from webinar participants on emergence in action and Developmental Evaluation in collective impact. This post discusses how traditional project management and emergence can be a boon for organizations when used together, and touches on how to convince others that emergent strategies are key to solving complex problems.

In a recent FSG and Stanford Social Innovation Review webinar discussion on complexity in collective impact, John Kania, coauthor of “Embracing Emergence: How Collective Impact Addresses Complexity,” Blair Taylor, of Memphis Fast Forward and Mark Cabaj of the Tamarack Institute explored how leaders of successful collective impact initiatives have embraced a new way of collectively seeing, learning and doing that marry emergent solutions with intentional outcomes.