FSG understands that social change is about systems change. We support social change leaders and their teams in applying the principles of systems thinking to their work using a variety of tools and approaches.

How We Work

• Explore issues from a systems perspective, looking deeply at context, connections, and patterns, and incorporating multiple perspectives into our work.
• Elevate those with lived experience to help shape system change solutions.
• Support collaboration across sectors, including with corporations and governments, to forge cross-sector coalitions to tackle large-scale problems to produce systems change.
• Provide training, webinars, coaching, and technical assistance to build the field’s capacity to apply a systems thinking lens to their work.
• Contribute to the field through publications and tools that support systems thinking and change.

Systems Thinking Projects

• Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
  Supporting a Culture of Health through Emergent Strategy at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
• Grand Rapids Community Foundation
  Assessing the Challenge Scholars program to improve college access.
• The California Endowment
  Assessing the progress of the Building Healthy Communities initiative.
• Early Matters
  Accelerating progress on early childhood education in Houston, Texas.
• See more systems thinking client projects >

Blogs

• An Introduction to System Mapping

• System Mapping in Action 

• Tools for Supporting Systems Thinking and Change

• Putting Systems Thinking into Practice 

• See all system thinking blog posts >

Tools

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

• Guide to Actor Mapping

• Guide to Trend Mapping
• Guide to Appreciative Inquiry
• See all systems thinking tools and resources >

Publications

• Being the Change
  Twelve ways foundations are transforming themselves to transform their impact. 
• Evaluating Complexity: Propositions for Improving Practice
  Propositions that can help evaluators navigate the unique characteristics of complex systems, and improve their evaluation practice.
• Evaluating Ecosystem Investments
  In partnership with Omidyar Network, FSG identifies 5 effective practices in evaluating ecosystem investments and highlights examples of these practices in action.
• “The Dawn of System Leadership”
  Co-authored by Peter Senge, Hal Hamilton, and John Kania, this article illustrates the core capabilities required for system leadership through the stories of successful practitioners.
• See all systems thinking publications >