1. Champions of Change San Francisco Backbone Workshop: Phases Activity Analysis | March 2014

2. Contents Summary of Activity Phase I – Idea Phase
Phase II – Idea to Formation
Phase III – Growth Phase
Phase IV – Mature Phase

3. Phases of Collective Impact
Around 250 Participants Broke Up By Phase to Discuss “The Effective Backbone Organization”
Activity Summary
Workshop participants broke into four groups based on the stage of development of their collective impact projects
Phases of Collective Impact
Phase I
Idea Phase
Phase II
Idea to Formation
Phase III
Growth Phase
Phase IV
Mature Phase
(Pre Start-Up)
(Start-Up to 1 Year)
(2 – 3 Years)
(4 Years or More)
Each group discussed the following questions:
What is going well?
What is challenging?
What tools are you using to break through?

4. Participants Identified the Following High Level Themes as “Going Well” in Each of Their Phases
Phase I
Idea Phase
Phase II
Idea to Formation
Phase III
Growth Phase
Phase IV
Mature Phase
Alignment with existing collaboratives
The initiative has a clear and compelling goal
Shared measurement leading to more cohesion and engagement
Groups speak with a common voice
All community stakeholders are engaged in some way
Diverse group of key leaders at the table
Data is beginning to be linked to governance and action
Influence on policies and policy makers
Data has been streamlined and linked to accountability
There is a inspiration and momentum around solving the problem
Diverse partnerships and stakeholder engagement
Reflecting and building on earlier successes
Group is structured for action and to take advantage of quick wins

5. Participants Identified the Following High Level Themes as Areas That Are “Challenging” in Each of Their Phases
Phase I
Idea Phase
Phase II
Idea to Formation
Phase III
Growth Phase
Phase IV
Mature Phase
Shifting leaders’ mindsets to focus on systems change
Identifying quick wins while avoiding distractions
Meeting fatigue
Educating funders on the power of the work
Effectively capturing and utilizing data for action
Clashing egos from those unused to this type of collaboration
Moving from planning to action
Managing changes in leadership over time
Balancing funding needs to reach financial sustainability
Finding and attracting funders
Ability to evolve the initiative to changing circumstances and scale
Unequal progress
Sharing power and credit

6. Contents Summary of Activity Phase I – Idea Phase
Phase II – Idea to Formation
Phase III – Growth Phase
Phase IV – Mature Phase

7. Phase I – Idea Phase: What is Going Well?
Themes
Examples from Exercise
Alignment with existing collaboratives
Alignment with other local, state, and federal initiatives
Building on and acknowledging previous work
Diverse group of key leaders at the table
Loaned executives to lead initiative
Multiple, diverse partners identified with instrumental resources
Key leaders have signed-on
There is inspiration and momentum around solving the problem
Examples from successes in other communities for inspiration
Kania / Kramer article resonates
Sense of urgency and need
Opportunity / hope

8. Phase I – Idea Phase: What is Challenging?
Themes
Examples from Exercise
Shifting leaders’ mindsets to focus on systems change
Asking community to accept/support/buy into a cultural shift
Seeing the forest instead of the trees (big picture thinking)
Understanding the "language" of collective impact
Clashing egos from those not accustomed to this type of collaboration
Ensuring equal voice / everyone is heard
Competing agendas and priorities (i.e., focus on sustaining "my" organization vs. collective impact)
Moving/helping partners move beyond their own mission/interests/issues
Finding and attracting funders
Developing a plan for sustainable funding
Move beyond competing for funding to having seed funding / startup $
Engage funders effectively

9. Phase I – Idea Phase: What Tools Are You Using to Break Through?
Tools Suggested By Participants
Regular meetings
Piggybacking collective impact meetings on existing meetings already attended by some partners
Clear definitions around the problem the initiative is seeking to solve, the roles of the partners, and the responsibility of the steering committee and backbone organization
File sharing, calendar sharing, etc.
Asset mapping techniques
Partnership tools

10. Contents Summary of Activity Phase I – Idea Phase
Phase II – Idea to Formation
Phase III – Growth Phase
Phase IV – Mature Phase

11. Phase II – Idea to Formation: What Is Going Well?
Themes
Examples from Exercise
Cohesion linked to clear goal
Carefully negotiated common agenda and goal
Focus of the initiative is narrowing and moving toward action
The initiative has a clear and compelling goal
Data is beginning to be linked to governance and action
Data is being visualized
Data is being to governance
Strong data supports are creating a focused agenda & affect all other aspects of the initiative
Diverse partnerships and stakeholder engagement
Diverse partnerships (funders, public, private, non-public)
Regular public engagement
Peer to peer engagement

12. Phase II – Idea to Formation: What Is Challenging
Themes
Examples from Exercise
Identifying quick wins while avoiding distractions
Avoiding distractions
Assessing opportunities for early wins vs. distractions
Effectively capturing and using data for action
Creating a culture that responds to data, not just to look at
Finding data / info that is not easily captured (ex: on undocumented individuals)
Balancing funding needs to reach financial sustainability
Achieving financial sustainability
Balancing funding needs for infrastructure and partners
Sharing power and credit
Culture of territoriality
Reducing competition and increasing power sharing amongst partners at the table
Switch thinking from how does it benefit me

13. Tools Suggested By Participants
Phase II – Idea to Formation: What Tools Are You Using to Break Through?
Tools Suggested By Participants
Memorandums of Understanding
Building capacity through outside technical assistance providers
Identifying best practices among initiative members and then scaling them across the entire group
Identifying and achieving quick wins in order to maintain momentum

14. Contents Summary of Activity Phase I – Idea Phase
Phase II – Idea to Formation
Phase III – Growth Phase
Phase IV – Mature Phase

15. Phase III – Growth Phase: What Is Going Well?
Themes
Examples from Exercise
Shared measurement leading to more cohesion and engagement
Common data indicators
Deeping engagement because of shard learning and successes
Broader importance of research and data in work than before
Influence on policies and policy makers
Connecting the dots for politicians and funders
Identified policy changes that politicians can champion
Reflecting and building on earlier successes
Making a link between process and past outcomes / successes
Taking time to celebrate successes
Process that acknowledges success along the way

16. Phase III – Growth Phase: What Is Challenging
Themes
Examples from Exercise
Meeting fatigue
Too much process
Partners exhausted after long planning process
Moving from planning to action
Getting partners to work in-between meetings
Capacity issues of partners
Individuals changing the way they work to better align with the collaborative
Unequal progress
Unequal engagement across different stakeholder groups
Hard to balance focus on building structure with focus on making progress on strategies

17. Phase III – Growth Phase: What Tools Are You Using to Break Through?
Tools Suggested By Participants
Online report card around shared metrics
Utilizing prototyping to test new projects
Map efforts to determine who is doing what and reinforce activities
Proactively reach out to those still “not getting it” to bring them in
Create a “brain-trust” of advisors to help think about next steps
Create a brand for the collaborative

18. Contents Summary of Activity Phase I – Idea Phase
Phase II – Idea to Formation
Phase III – Growth Phase
Phase IV – Mature Phase

19. Phase IV – Mature Phase: What Is Going Well?
Themes
Examples from Exercise
Groups speaks with a common voice
Authentic buy-in from being together a long time
Collective voice has been established that is powerful and adds credibility
All community stakeholders are engaged in some way
Have right decision makers & systems in place
Have gained stakeholder buy-in
All cross-sector stakeholders are at the table (funders, those with lived experience, etc.)
Data has been streamlined and linked to accountability
Data has been streamlined
Using indicators / results based accountability gives common language for framing strategies
Sharing data, resources = transparency
Group is structured for action and to take advantage of quick wins
Group is open to what energizes
Don't let the perfect get in the way of the good
Prepared to take advantage of quick wins and scale them up

20. Phase IV – Mature Phase: What Is Challenging
Themes
Examples from Exercise
Educating funders to transition their types of funding
Long term tension between funders of specific causes and the collective impact funders
Educating funders on the power of the work
Managing changes in leadership over time
Educating new leaders joining the initiative, especially from new sectors or organizations
"Leadership churn" - managing change around the table
Ability to evolve the initiative to changing circumstances and scale
Growth of initiative has made it hard to sustain consistent messaging
Resilience - ability to evolve
Creating "organizational flexibility" to use the "collective impact" to address any challenge

21. Phase IV – Mature Phase: What Tools Are You Using to Break Through?
Tools Suggested By Participants
Joint fundraising by partners to support the initiative's activities and backbone infrastructure
Strong use of diverse marketing tools to build awareness and develop common narrative around issue (blogs, newsletters, e-blasts, website, editorials, billboards, etc.)
Making time for reflection as individual partners and as a group
Landscape mapping to identify changing realities
Written theory of change or strategic action plan

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