NONPROFIT MANAGEMENT Channeling Change: Making Collective Impact Work

WHAT IS COLLECTIVE IMPACT? Collective impact is the social change which can occur when communities, organizations, corporations, governments and all parts of global society work together. For collective impact to work everyone needs to share a common goal and have a shared understanding of the systems they are operating and the principles agreed on.

AGENDA Isolated VS Collective Impact Preconditions Five conditions Five conditions in greater detail Backbone organizations Backbone types Backbone purposes Case study: GAIN Case study: Communities That Care

ISOLATED VS COLLECTIVE Funders select individual grantees that offer the most promising solutions. Nonprofits work separately and compete to produce the greatest independent impact. Evaluation attempts to isolate a particular organization’s impact. Large scale change is assumed to depends on scaling a single organization Corporate and government sectors are often disconnected from the efforts of foundations and nonprofits. Funders and implementers understand that social problems, and their solutions, arise from the interaction of many organizations within a larger system. Progress depends on working towards the same goal and measuring the same things. Large scale impact depends on increasing cross-sector alignment and learning among many organizations. Corporate and government sectors are essential partners Organizations actively coordinate their action and share lessons learned.

PRECONDITIONS AN INFLUENTIAL CHAMPION ADEQUATE FINANCIAL RESOURCES A SENSE OF URGENCY FOR CHANGE

FIVE CONIDITONS OF COLLECTIVE IMPACT

COMMON AGENDA All participants have a shared vision for change including a common understanding of the problem & a joint approach to solving it through agreed upon actions. Collecting data and measuring results consistently across all participants ensures efforts remain aligned and participants hold each other accountable. Participant activities must be differentiated while still being coordinated through a mutually reinforcing plan of action. Consistent and open communication is needed across the many players to build trust, assure mutual objectives, &create common motivation. Creating and managing collective impact requires a separate organization(s) with staff and a specific set of skills to serve as the backbone for the entire initiative &coordinate participating organizations &agencies. SHARED MEASURES BACKBONE SUPPORT MUTUALLY REINFORCING ACTIVITES CONTINUOUS COMMUNICATION

IN GREATER DETAIL COMMON AGENDA SHARED MEASUREMENT BACKBONE SUPPORT

COMMON AGENDA Creating Boundaries Developing a Strategic Action Framework Description of problem with solid research A clear goal regarding change A portfolio of key strategies for change & for larger scale change in the future A guide for behaviour Evaluation KEY COMPONENTS

SHARED MEASURE SYSTEMS A COMMON SET OF MEASURES BETWEEN ALL STAKEHOLDERS TO MONITOR PERFORMANCE + TRACK PROGRESS. DIFFICULT because… BENEFICTIAL because… Competing purposes+ fear of being under performing Hard to agree Helps mutually reinforcing activities run + contributes to collaborative problem solving

PROVIDING OVERALL STRATEGIC DIRECTION FACILITATING DIALOGUE BETWEEN PARTNERS MANAGING DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS HANDLING COMMUNICATION COORDINATING COMMUNITY OUTREACH MOBILIZING FUNDING BACKBONE ORGANIZATIONS SERVE 6 ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS:

BACKBONE ORGANIZATIONS FUNDER BASEDNEW NON PROFIT EXISITING NON PROFIT GOVERNMENT SHARED ACROSS MUTIPLE ORGANIZATIONS STEERING COMMITTEE DRIVEN

COMMON AGENDA SHARED MEASURES MUTUALLY REINFORCING ACTIVITIES CONTINUOUS COMMUNICATION BACKBONE SUPPORT EWB

CASE STUDIES GLOBAL ALLIANCES FOR IMPROVED NURITION (GAIN) COMMUNITIES THAT CARE COALITION OF FRANKLIN COUNTY AND THE NORTH QUABBIN (COMMUNITIES THAT CARE) +

GAIN WHO + WHAT IS GAIN? Created in 2002 at a special session of the United Nations General Assembly Focused on the goal of reducing malnutrition by improving the health and nutrition of nearly 1 billion at risk people in the developing world.

GAIN EXAMPLES OF COLLECTIVE IMPACT PRINCPLES “ GAIN has created and coordinated the activity of 36 large- scale collaborations that include governments, NGOs, multilateral organizations, universities, and more than 600 companies in over 30 countries. ” “ GAIN has built in a robust feedback loop and over the past eight years has incorporated best practices and lessons learned as a fundamental component of its fourth annual strategic action framework. ” “ “ Influential Champions: four individuals with deep experience in the development field came together Bill Foege, the former director of the US Centers for Disease Control Kul Gautam, a senior official at UNICEF Duff Gillespie, head of the Office of Population and Nutrition at USAID ” Sally Stansfield, one of the original directors at The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation ” 1 2 3

PROOF OF SUCCESS GAIN “ GAIN’s work has enabled more than 530 million people worldwide to obtain nutritionally enhanced food and significantly reduced the prevalence of micronutrient deficiencies in a number of countries.” “ Micronutrient deficiencies dropped between 11 and 30 percent among those who consumed GAIN’s fortified products. ” “ GAIN has also raised $322 million in new financial commitments from its partners and leveraged many times more from its private sector and government partners. ”

COMMUNITIES THAT CARE WHO + WHAT IS CTC? Founded in 2002 after a regional meeting involving then a surprising 60 people to discuss teen drug and alcohol abuse Now it includes more than 200 representatives from human service agencies, district attorney’s offices, schools, police departments, youth serving agencies, faith-based organizations, local elected officials, local businesses, media, parents, and youth.

“ Communities That Care has revised its community action plan three times in the last eight years. ” COMMUNITIES THAT CARE EXAMPLES OF COLLECTIVE IMPACT PRINCPLES “ Boundaries can and do change over time. After nearly a decade of addressing teen substance abuse prevention, Communities That Care is launching a second initiative to address youth nutrition and physical activity, applying the existing structure and stakeholders to a closely related but new topic area within their mission of improving youth health in their region. ”

PROOF OF SUCCESS COMMUNTIES THAT CARE “ Over an eight-year time frame, Communities That Care has resulted not only in reducing binge drinking, but also in reducing teen cigarette smoking by 32 percent and teen marijuana use by 18 percent. ” “ Communities That Care has made impressive progress toward its more local goals, reducing teenage binge drinking by 31 percent.” “The coalition has also raised more than $5 million of new public money in support of their efforts.”

SO WHAT ?

HOW EWB BENEFIT FROM COLLECTIVE IMPACT? What are your first impressions of these ideas? What is intriguing? Is there potential in these ideas to change or influence your strategies? How well are you doing on the conditions within your venture/program (if you think of staff as the backbone, and members/chapters being the network)? How well is the sector doing with regards to these conditions? For example, is there strong communication between the venture and other parties? What questions come to mind when listening to this?