Collective impact: a game-changing model for the social sector
One of the key distinctions between a for-profit and a non-profit organization is that the former focuses on increasing shareholder value, while the latter focuses on creating value or impact in the community. Creating a lasting impact in the social sector, let alone measuring that impact, is one of the biggest challenges facing nonprofits these days. Past practices often focused on measuring outputs rather than measuring results. A new model called Collective Impact is rapidly changing the way nonprofits view their work.
The idea of Impacto Colectivo (CI) made waves when the Stanford Social Innovation Review published the article “Collective Impact” in its Winter 2011 issue. It then followed with a more detailed article, “Channeling Change: Making Collective Impact Work,” in 2012. In the first article, the authors suggest that the industry Funders, in particular, need to shift their focus from one of isolated impact to one of collaborative impact. For CI to be successful, the following five conditions must be met:
- Collaborating organizations must create a common agenda.
- These organizations must also share a measurement system that tracks indicators of success.
- Stakeholders must work together on activities that are mutually reinforcing.
- They must also engage in ongoing communication.
- There must be a backbone support organization that coordinates, supports and facilitates the collective process.
The second article describes more details about the implementation of the CI model. In particular, it describes the following three phases:
- Phase I: Initiate Action
- Phase II: Organize for Impact
- Phase III: Sustain action and impact
Within those three phases, the following components for success must be continually assessed:
- Governance and Infrastructure
- Strategic planning
- Community involvement
- Evaluation and Improvement
While the social sector has been enthusiastic about CI, it is important to note that it is not the answer to every nonprofit’s dream. Here are some questions to ask to determine whether or not CI is the right approach for your particular situation:
- Is this a complex problem, that is, one that can only be solved by involving multiple stakeholders?
- Do we have the capacity to create the five conditions of Collective Impact?
- Do we have community support on this issue? Will we be able to successfully engage stakeholders in this effort?
- Can we find support for the spine support organization?
If you’re convinced that CI is the right approach, here are some questions to ask about preparing your group for each of the three phases listed above:
Phase I:
- Governance and Infrastructure: Who would be willing partners and agree that Collective Impact would be effective?
- Strategic Planning: What data do we currently have and what else do we need to assess the current reality? it’s possible?
- Community involvement: Are the stakeholders receptive to this idea? How well interconnected are they?
- Evaluation and Improvement: What currently exists to measure impact? Do we have the capacity and systems to track progress?
Phase II:
- Governance and infrastructure: What do we need in terms of infrastructure and governance to keep this effort moving forward? What are we all willing to let go of regarding control, territory, etc. and what is not negotiable?
- Strategic Planning: What have we identified as possible common objectives? Is it backed by the data? Does that align with the missions of all partner organizations?
- Community Engagement: Who are all the stakeholders and how can we fully involve them in this process?
- Evaluation and Improvement: Do we all agree on what are the best measures of impact? How will we track it and communicate progress?
Phase III:
- Governance and Infrastructure: What is working well? What more do we need to do to improve governance and infrastructure?
- Strategic planning: How do we keep up with implementation? How do we deal with unforeseen setbacks or problems? How do we communicate progress?
- Community Engagement: How do we continue to engage stakeholders? What does meaningful engagement look like over time?
- Evaluation and Improvement: What do our measurement systems tell us? How do we know when to correct course?
While these questions only scratch the surface of implementing a CI effort, they will help create the thinking necessary to dig deeper as the process evolves. Collective impact is a practice, something that will deepen over time as you gain more skills and with that you will see more impact.
