Understanding the Value of Backbone Organizations in Collective Impact

Shiloh Turner, Kathy Merchant, John Kania, Ellen Martin

FSG and The Greater Cincinnati Foundation (GCF) have partnered to understand and evaluate the role of backbone organizations in collective impact efforts. Originally published as a four-part blog series by the Stanford Social Innovation Review, this article shares FSG's and GCF's experience of working with a cohort of six backbone organizations in Cincinnati to help funders and practitioners understand what it takes to be a backbone and what the value of this necessary, though often behind the scenes, role is in collective impact.

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