Collective Impact Forum

In this episode, we talk about “trusting the messiness,” and how one can balance navigating partnerships and managing expectations while participating in a long-term complex collaboration.  To explore those questions and more, we learn about the collective impact work supported by Sagesse Domestic Violence Prevention Society which is based in Calgary, Canada. Joining us from Sagesse are Carrie McM...

We have a deep dive discussion about a new resource called the Racial Equity Toolkit that’s free to download and available now in the Collective Impact Forum library. The Racial Equity Toolkit is designed to support backbone staff and partners to operationalize racial equity throughout their collective impact work. We talk with toolkit authors Dominique Samari and Paul Schmitz about what’s in the...

In this episode, we share a discussion from this spring’s 2022 Collective Impact Action Summit. This discussion explored ways to better collaborate across differences, including different experiences and ideologies, and specifically, how funders could support grantees and partners when bridging across divides, especially in times of deep polarization and turmoil.  Joining this discussion is Kriste...

In this episode, we hear from Rev. Dr. Starsky Wilson , who serves as President and CEO of the Children’s Defense Fund . Dr. Wilson reflects on the challenging times that many of us are experiencing, and the ways we can reground ourselves and move forward, so that we can shift from states of languishing, disconnection, and numbness to a place where we can better connect to ourselves, our purpose,...

Parents can be powerful advocates in supporting the wellbeing of children and families in their community. But sometimes collaboratives and organizations that focus on supporting children struggle with building and maintaining parent engagement and authentic power shifting and sharing with parents.  In this podcast conversation, we learn about the parent engagement work of Child Safety Forward in...

What is “community authority,” and what are ways to authentically build it within place-based collaborative work? In this new podcast discussion, we learn how one group in Northeast Oklahoma City changed course and reset their collective work so that they could better partner with community members and embed community authority as a part of the collaborative process.  In this discussion, we hear f...

How can community anchor institutions, like hospitals, help launch and strengthen community investment initiatives?  In this episode, we learn about how Nationwide Children’s Hospital and the nonprofit housing organization Healthy Homes worked to support affordable housing and home repair in Columbus, Ohio. Through their work building deeper community connections and accountability, they saw real...

What kinds of dedicated skill-building can help prepare system leaders for the monumental job of coordinating complex collaborations?  In this episode, we learn about  Advance Together , a cohort of collective impact initiatives in Texas that focus on education and workforce development. Organized by the  Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas , with support from funders including the  Doris Duke Charitab...

How can a backbone build structures and processes that can better support and retain its staff? In this new podcast episode, we’re doing a deep dive discussion to learn about the work of United Way of Salt Lake and the Promise Partnership, a cradle-to-career initiative to support Utah youth. In this talk, we learn about the Promise Partnership’s goals and what the team has learned so far from adju...

How can collaboratives build and ensure clarity of purpose as partners work together? In this episode, we’re doing a deep dive discussion into a specific collaboration tool—the project charter—and how this tool can help bring partners together to clarify roles, accountability, and a shared vision. To share their own experiences using a project charter within their work partnering together, we hear...

In this episode, Collective Impact Forum senior advisor Junious Williams talks with Erika Bernabei and Theo Miller who co-lead the consulting group Equity and Results. Erika and Theo share what they’ve learned supporting organizations that want to embed anti-racism practices in their collective impact work. They also discuss a set of core principles that can help guide collective impact initiative...

In this episode, Collective Impact Forum senior advisor Paul Schmitz shares what he’s learned through supporting many collective impact initiatives, including some specific challenges that he has seen repeatedly come up and block progress. We dive into the dangers to avoid and also explore three key lessons that can help navigate through these challenges.  This chat is jumping off of Paul’s recent...

In our new episode of the Collective Impact Forum podcast, we’re talking with Justin Piff from Equal Measure about his recent article Data in Collective Impact: Focusing on What Matters . This piece was featured online in the Stanford Social Innovation Review and is part of the online series Collective Impact, 10 Years Later . In this chat, we talk about four key strategies for understanding and u...

What are ways that funders can foster trust and support relationships with community partners? In this episode, Fay Hanleybrown, John Harper, and Victor Tavarez of FSG stop by the podcast to share from their own experiences supporting funders doing place-based work. In the discussion, they highlight four key practices that are effective in building and sustaining trust with community partners. Lis...

In this episode, we feature an unabridged roundtable discussion amongst a group of leaders who are part of United Way organizations from across the United States. In this talk, we get to hear what they have learned using the collective impact approach for collaborative, place-based change, and how they have seen their roles transition from a traditional funder role to that of a connected and colla...

In September 2021, Melody Barnes , chair of the Aspen Institute Forum for Community Solutions, led a conversation with four social change leaders who for more than a decade have used collective impact to create collaborative, place-based change. Participants included Jennifer Blatz , president and CEO of  StriveTogether , a national network of local communities striving to achieve racial equity an...

How can the collective impact approach put anti-racism at the center of its work?  How can collective impact work authentically center Black and Pacific Islander families, as it focuses on improving infant and maternal health? In this podcast interview, FSG Senior Consultant Miya Cain, MPH, explores these questions and more with the Executive Director of Expecting Justice, Zea Malawa, MD, MPH, bui...

In this episode, we’re talking about the findings from a new article in the winter 2022 edition of the Stanford Social Innovation Review titled, "Centering Equity in Collective Impact." We’re doing a “behind the writing” deep-dive discussion with several of the articles’ authors to hear about what lessons they learned from collaboratives who are practicing deep equity work, and what strategies aro...

How can collective impact initiatives leverage advocacy and community organizing to create more equitable systems and policy outcomes? In this episode we look into the findings of the new research study Rebalancing Power: Examining the Role of Advocacy and Organizing in Collective Impact. In this candid “behind the research” discussion, Rebalancing Power coauthor Brian Kennedy and Frontline Soluti...

We share a deep dive discussion on the topic on how funders can support frontline community organizing and activism. This discussion was part of this past spring’s 2021 Collective Impact Action Summit. In this deep dive, we explore lessons learned from communities organizing for transformational change, and how funders can cede power effectively to better support community efforts.  Participating...

Hello, Collective Impact Forum listeners! Appreciate your patience as we prep our next podcast release, but before then we wanted to drop by and invite you to our upcoming virtual office hours. Virtual office hours are like a really informal webinar where we answer your questions about a specific topic. It’s kind of like a live podcast recording.  Our next virtual office hour is on September 1 at...

We’re sharing a deep dive discussion on the topic of participatory grantmaking that was part of this past spring’s 2021 Collective Impact Action Summit. In this deep dive, we explore what is participatory grantmaking, how is it different from more traditional approaches to philanthropy, and how does this approach shift decision-making power to communities, putting them in charge of funding the sol...

 traIn this episode, we’re sharing a conversation from the 2021 Collective Impact Action Summit that was held this past spring. During this session, we talk with disability justice advocate Imani Barbarin (Crutches and Spice) about the various narratives that affect disabled folk in the U.S. and what measures we can take to better support disabled folks on our teams and in our communities.  Resour...

We’re diving into the topic of what does it mean to do collective impact work in more rural areas. Collective Impact Forum executive director Jennifer Splansky Juster chats with Deb Halliday of Halliday and Associates about what can be helpful to consider when working in a cross-sector collaborative that supports rural communities. Resources and Footnotes Blog: 100 Cups of Coffee Webinar: Lessons...

This episode features a powerful keynote address by author, entrepreneur, poet, and activist Sonya Renee Taylor that was part of the 2021 Collective Impact Convening this past April. Building off of her work in her book The Body is Not an Apology, Sonya Renee Taylor discusses key questions about how we view ourselves and each other, how we judge who is worthy of acceptance and justice, and how we...