Collective Impact Forum
79 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 1 month ago -The Collective Impact Forum is here to share resources, tools, and stories to support social change makers working in cross-sector collaboration.
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Episodes
Pivoting to Build a Stronger Collaborative
March 20, 2024 21:02 - 59 minutes - 54.5 MBWe welcome back members of the Healthy Food Community of Practice to hear what they learned from their multi-year collaboration and how the way they worked together changed over time. Launched in 2020, the Healthy Food Community of Practice is a network of more than 50 organizations working toward a shared goal—that communities of color across the country can access and consume nutritious food. Through their collaboration, they came to understand that to be successful, the community of prac...
Shifting from Competition to Partnership in Private Sector Collaboration
March 06, 2024 22:07 - 55 minutes - 51 MBThe Millers for Nutrition coalition is working with 100+ millers and other partners to achieve an ambitious goal—getting nutritious, fortified food to 1 billion people by 2026. One of the critical questions that Millers for Nutrition has grappled with is how to get private-sector partners, many of whom may be in competition with each other, to find common ground, build sustained, trusting relationships, and ultimately work together to support healthy food access for millions of people. To ...
The Ongoing Practice of Building Movements and Solidarity
February 22, 2024 22:49 - 47 minutes - 43.3 MBWhat does it mean to build a movement? How is movement building connected to organizing and practicing solidarity with others? And why are these concepts important to make progress on collective work? In this deep dive conversation, we discuss core aspects of movement-building with Adaku Utah, senior manager at Building Movement Project. In this discussion, we review definitions of movement-building, organizing, and solidarity. We also explore what it means to be doing movement work and why...
Exploring the Four Voices of Design to Solve Complex Problems
February 06, 2024 23:06 - 46 minutes - 42.8 MBGetting to the heart of complex problems can be tricky. How does one untangle the many threads that can be involved? How do you uncover what the real pain points are so that you can address them? In this discussion, we explore the approach of human-centered design and how it can be used to both discover and uplift perspectives to help find community-focused solutions. To learn more about human-centered design, we talk with Michelle Carrillo and Leslie Tergas of ThinkPlace West. The discus...
How Community Leads the Way with Participatory Action Research (PAR)
January 22, 2024 23:58 - 53 minutes - 48.5 MBCommunities can be “researched,” engaged, and surveyed to explore a variety of questions such as what barriers are preventing students from graduating? What are the local economic and health impacts of having only a few grocery stores in the area? It’s important to rigorously explore these types of questions, but there can be danger in taking data and stories from a community for the purpose of research. You can fall into the trap of “community extraction” if the research is not deeply conne...
What Collective Change Can You Make in 100 Days?
January 08, 2024 22:30 - 57 minutes - 52.2 MBAddressing homelessness in rural areas has multiple complexities including scarcity of funding, support services, and shelter options, as well as facing a common misconception that rural homelessness does not exist. To better understand how homelessness was affecting their community, partners working in Mercer County, IL came together to participate in their own “100-day challenge,” an organized collaborative event that supports communities in kick-starting complex change efforts. As part ...
(Replay) The Role of Narrative Change in Collective Action
January 01, 2024 23:00 - 59 minutes - 54.4 MBDuring the winter break, we're replaying some of our favorite past episodes. This replay episode features a dynamic discussion from the 2021 Collective Impact Action Summit, and focuses on the importance of narrative in collective social change efforts. This discussion is led by Melody Barnes of the Aspen Institute Forum for Community Solutions, and features Crystal Echo Hawk from IllumiNative, Rashad Robinson from Color of Change, and Nayantara Sen from Real Food Real Stories. Resources ...
(Replay) Leading From ‘Languishing’ to Beloved Community with Rev. Dr. Starsky Wilson
December 26, 2023 01:48 - 1 hour - 61.2 MBDuring the winter break, we're replaying some of our favorite past episodes. In this episode from 2022, 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 experienced earlier in the pandemic, 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 ...
Achieving Transformational Results in Housing Through Partnerships
December 18, 2023 22:54 - 56 minutes - 52.2 MBIn a time when many cities across the United States are facing a growing housing crisis, one community has challenged the status quo, working across divides to bring partners together to raise millions of dollars - with a goal of building 10,000 housing units by 2028 in California’s Coachella Valley. What sounds like success now, with 1,600 units already under production, didn’t start out that way. The region faced both a lack of funding and a lack of belief that significantly increasing ho...
What Makes an Effective Backbone Leader
December 06, 2023 21:40 - 48 minutes - 44.6 MBTo find out what contributes to an effective and sustainable backbone, the EdRedesign Lab at Harvard University interviewed backbone leaders and field-building organizations about their experiences. Earlier this year, they released a report on the most critical skills and competencies required for a backbone leadership team to succeed when doing collective impact work. We talk with Tauheedah Jackson, Judy Touzin, and Rob Watson from the Harvard EdRedesign Lab to learn more about these essen...
(Replay) The Power of Parent Engagement
November 21, 2023 22:44 - 1 hour - 55 MBDuring this holiday week, we're replaying one of our favorite episodes from last year that focused on the power of parent engagement. In this 2022 podcast conversation, we learned about the parent engagement work of Child Safety Forward in Hartford, CT - one of five demonstration sites for the federal demonstration initiative Child Safety Forward. In the discussion, we learned about how the Hartford project has worked with parents to become more comfortable owning and exercising their power...
Sustaining Impact for the Long-Term with Child Safety Forward
November 16, 2023 19:22 - 48 minutes - 44.7 MBHow does a collaborative effort start planting the foundation for sustainability early on? In this podcast episode, we learn about the work of Child Safety Forward, a four-year demonstration initiative that engaged five sites across the U.S. in research, planning, and implementation around place-based strategies aimed at reducing child injury and fatality from abuse and neglect. The initiative, funded by the Department of Justice (DOJ) was launched in October 2019 by the DOJ’s Office for V...
System Catalysts - The Moth: Storytelling Leads to Change
November 06, 2023 20:39 - 32 minutes - 30 MBWe’re excited to share with you an episode of another podcast that we think you’ll find very valuable for your social change work. System Catalysts is a show that shares compelling stories from philanthropists and change-makers who are promoting systems change in their communities. They just concluded their first season of stories and we wanted to give them a shout-out and share with you one of their most recent episodes that we think Collective Impact Forum listeners might appreciate. In t...
Centering Equity in Challenging Times
October 23, 2023 21:04 - 42 minutes - 39.3 MBIn this episode, Director of Programs and Partnerships Courtney W. Robertson talks with Jamilica Burke and Melody Freeman from Seeding Success, an organization focused on supporting the wellbeing of children and families in Memphis, Tennessee. In this conversation, they discuss how Seeding Success continues to keep equity at the center of their work, even as they navigate uncertainty and turmoil following the rise of opposition against efforts that specifically address equity disparities. W...
Partnering with Local Governments to Advance Collective Goals
September 25, 2023 22:32 - 54 minutes - 49.8 MBLocal governments can play a critical and necessary role in advancing system and policy changes to support communities, but it can be challenging to understand the complexities within local government and how best to work together. In this episode, Forum Director of Programs and Partnerships, Courtney W. Robertson explores how to partner with local and city governments to advance collaborative work in a conversation with Anthony Smith, Executive Director of Cities United. Cities United i...
How Homelessness is Solvable with a Collective Approach
September 18, 2023 22:42 - 47 minutes - 43.4 MBComplex issues like homelessness can feel unsolvable or intractable, but that does not have to be the case. Through a commitment to a collective approach and strategies, communities can end homelessness. We take a deep dive into this collective approach required to solve homelessness with Community Solutions, a nonprofit that is dedicated to ending homelessness. As part of their mission, Community Solutions leads Built for Zero, a movement of more than 100 cities and counties that are apply...
Measuring What Matters With Community-Led Monitoring
September 11, 2023 22:20 - 55 minutes - 51.2 MBIn this episode, we discuss the practice of community-led monitoring, and how this practice can help inform and influence collaborative change efforts. To learn more about community-led monitoring, we talk with the International Treatment Preparedness Coalition (ITPC), a global network that works to achieve universal access to HIV treatment and other life-saving medicines. One of ITPC’s core strategies is to "watch what matters," which includes supporting data gathering and analysis that’s ...
Heeding the Call for Community Partnerships
August 28, 2023 21:22 - 42 minutes - 39.3 MBIn this episode, we discuss the power of community partnerships, and how necessary they are when working to support better outcomes for the whole community. In this discussion, we learn about the community partnership work of JumpStart, a service organization that focuses on supporting folks re-entering society after incarceration. Partnerships are a critical factor to support JumpStart’s participants in finding what they need so they can more fully rejoin their communities, including empl...
Building Capacity to Support Community Listening
August 21, 2023 21:48 - 1 hour - 62.6 MBWhat can it look like to build capacity to support authentic community listening? In this podcast discussion, we learn about the community listening work supported by Foundation for a Healthy St. Petersburg, based in St. Petersburg, Florida. We hear from a group of partners that worked together to establish community listening to support the South St. Petersburg CRA (Community Redevelopment Area), and what they learned along the way, including supporting community members’ capacity for list...
Krista Tippett: Collectively Remaking Our World
August 14, 2023 20:15 - 1 hour - 55.9 MBHow can you imagine and create a world for everyone? In this new podcast episode, we’re sharing our conversation with Krista Tippett, which was the closing keynote conversation from the 2023 Collective Impact Action. Krista is a journalist, a National Humanities Medalist, a bestselling author, and founder of the On Being Project—a groundbreaking media and public life initiative that uplifts and celebrates deep thinking and conversations around what it means to be here together in this world...
Imani Barbarin: Creating Accessible Spaces for Belonging
July 24, 2023 21:38 - 1 hour - 67.8 MBWhat does it mean to create truly accessible spaces within your collective work? At the 2023 Collective Impact Action Summit, we explored this question and more in a keynote conversation with Imani Barbarin (Crutches and Spice), who is a disability and inclusion activist, speaker and content creator. In this fireside chat, Imani Barbarin and Miya Cain (FSG) discuss what components can create a truly accessible culture of Belonging, including how directly addressing the inequities experien...
Creating Purposeful Spaces of Inclusion and Belonging: A Conversation with Ruchika Tulshyan
July 10, 2023 20:36 - 51 minutes - 46.7 MBWhat does it mean to create a culture of “belonging” within your collective work? At the 2023 Collective Impact Action Summit, we explored this question and more in a keynote conversation with Ruchika Tulshyan, award-winning inclusion strategist, speaker, and author of the bestselling book, Inclusion on Purpose: An Intersectional Approach to Creating a Culture of Belonging at Work. In this fireside chat, Ruchika Tulshyan and Melody Barnes (Aspen Institute Forum for Community Solutions) di...
Strengthening Relationships through a Community of Practice
June 22, 2023 22:01 - 48 minutes - 44.7 MBCommunities of practice are a valuable way of bringing partners together to connect and learn from each other to strengthen their collective work. It can also be very challenging to navigate the complexities that come with bringing a wide spectrum of partners together. Founded in 2020, the Healthy Food Community of Practice has become a space for connection, learning, resource sharing, and action centered around the goal of helping to ensure that Black, Indigenous, and other people of color...
Learning to Share Power Within an Organization
June 08, 2023 18:52 - 47 minutes - 43.5 MBIn this episode, we explore the topic of sharing power, which is a key component and strategy when advancing equity in collective impact work. But what can sharing power look like in practice? How are decisions made, and how is power distributed amongst a broad set of colleagues? To explore this topic, we learn about the work of Civic Canopy, a nonprofit that focuses on supporting collaborative efforts across Colorado. As part of their own commitments to supporting equity within their work...
Centering Parent Voice and Leadership to Support Early Relational Health
May 25, 2023 23:26 - 53 minutes - 48.8 MBIn this episode, we learn about how to build and strengthen partnerships with parent leaders so that the wide spectrum of parent voices and needs are kept at the center when supporting early relational health for families. To explore this topic and more, we learn from the national collective Nurture Connection and how their partnership with a diverse group of parent leaders has helped evolve and advance their work to support early relational health for all families. Joining us for this con...
Building Collective Power to Strengthen Collaboration
May 11, 2023 21:21 - 46 minutes - 42.4 MBIn this episode, we talk about building “collective power,” including what it means to build collective power and what factors can contribute to building it. To explore those questions and more, we learn about the Child Care NEXT coalition and how through advocacy work, they have developed a culture of collective power amongst their wide spectrum of partners and advocates. Joining us for this conversation is Alissa Marchant from Innovation Network and Jacy Montoya Price from Alliance for E...
Supporting a Sustainable and Resilient Collaboration – Part 2
April 27, 2023 01:00 - 39 minutes - 36.5 MBThis episode is the second part of a two-part discussion that explores what practices can help a collaborative be more sustainable and resilient. For part 2, we welcome back our colleagues from the Tamarack Institute, Liz Weaver and Mike Des Jardins, who recently authored a new, free-to-access resource called “10: A Guide for Building a Sustainable and Resilient Collaboration.” In this second part, we discuss the practices and resources that can help support resiliency for collective impact ...
Supporting a Sustainable and Resilient Collaboration – Part 1
April 13, 2023 21:54 - 44 minutes - 40.3 MBThis episode is the first of a two-part discussion that explores what practices can help a collaborative be more sustainable and resilient. For this conversation, we welcome our colleagues from the Tamarack Institute, Liz Weaver and Mike Des Jardins, who recently authored a new, free-to-access resource called “10: A Guide for Building a Sustainable and Resilient Collaboration.” In this first part, we discuss tips, stories, and resources that support sustainability practices for collective im...
Trusting the Messiness in Collective Impact
March 30, 2023 22:35 - 57 minutes - 52.5 MBIn 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 McManus and Andrea Silverstone who share how organizational values help them navigate through comp...
Exploring How to Use the New Racial Equity Toolkit
March 16, 2023 21:38 - 40 minutes - 36.7 MBWe 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 toolkit and the ways that teams can explore it to advance their own equity work. References and...
How to Collaborate in Polarized Times
August 11, 2022 22:35 - 1 hour - 65.8 MBIn 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 Kristen Cambell (Philanthropy for Active Civic Engagement - PACE), Wendy Feliz (American Immigration ...
Leading From 'Languishing' to Beloved Community with Rev. Dr. Starsky Wilson
July 12, 2022 19:43 - 1 hour - 60.7 MBIn 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, and our communities. Introducing this keynote are Jennifer Splansky Juster, executive director o...
The Power of Parent Engagement
June 08, 2022 23:17 - 59 minutes - 54.3 MBParents 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 Hartford, CT - one of five demonstration sites for the federal demonstration initiative Child S...
Building Community Authority in Place-Based Collaboration
June 02, 2022 00:01 - 44 minutes - 40.9 MBWhat 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 from Matt Biggar (Connected to Place), Vanessa Morrison (Open Design Collective), and naturalist...
Mobilizing Innovative Partnerships for Community Investment
May 19, 2022 23:14 - 45 minutes - 41.7 MBHow 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 progress and real community outcomes in their Columbus neighborhoods. Sharing their experience...
Building System Leadership Skills with Advance Together
May 05, 2022 22:43 - 49 minutes - 45.6 MBWhat 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 Charitable Foundation, Advance Together cohort members participated in a capacity-building program dedicated...
Exploring Backbone Staffing and Peer Support Models with United Way of Salt Lake
April 08, 2022 02:10 - 44 minutes - 17 MBHow 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 adjusting their staffing models to build in more peer support and mentorship. To share their exper...
Building Clarity of Purpose with a Project Charter
April 01, 2022 02:25 - 40 minutes - 15.9 MBHow 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 from Staci Anderson, Angie Medina, and Rachel Minnick from PRO Youth and Families, and Keya Be...
Core Principles to Support Anti-Racism in Collective Impact
March 11, 2022 03:19 - 56 minutes - 21.4 MBIn 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 initiatives that want to go deeper into their racial equity work. Resources and Footnotes Resource: Equi...
Avoiding the 10 Dangers to Collective Impact
March 04, 2022 04:35 - 43 minutes - 40.1 MBIn 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 article “10 Dangers to Collective Impact,” which was featured online in the Stanford Social In...
Strategies for Using Data Effectively
February 18, 2022 17:39 - 30 minutes - 12.5 MBIn 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 using data effectively to support collective impact work as well as ways collective impact funders ...
How Collective Impact Funders Can Build Trust
February 11, 2022 04:24 - 34 minutes - 14 MBWhat 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. Listeners can check out more in the recent article that Victor, Fay, and John wrote, titled, “How ...
Roundtable Discussion: Embracing Collective Impact at United Way
January 10, 2022 14:18 - 53 minutes - 46.1 MBIn 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 collaborative community partner. Leading this discussion is Ayeola Fortune who serves as interim seni...
Roundtable Discussion: Reflecting on Collective Impact for Place-Based Social Change
November 29, 2021 14:01 - 1 hour - 54.7 MBIn 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 and economic mobility, supporting the success of every child from cradle to career; Geoffrey Canada, f...
Bringing an Anti-Racist Approach to Collective Impact: Interview with Dr. Zea Malawa
November 29, 2021 13:57 - 59 minutes - 54 MBHow 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, building on their time working together on the early stages of the initiative. This interview is an...
Strategies to Support Centering Equity in Collective Impact
November 11, 2021 17:13 - 37 minutes - 34.5 MBIn 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 arose through the process. Moderating this discussion is Cindy Santos of the Aspen Institute Forum ...
Connecting to Community Organizing and Advocacy with Frontline Solutions
October 25, 2021 22:18 - 51 minutes - 41 MBHow 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 Solutions senior partner and founder Marcus Littles discuss the report’s recommendations, research met...
How Funders Can Embrace the Original Collective Impact
October 20, 2021 22:59 - 1 hour - 43.9 MBWe 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 in this discussion is Aaron Dorfman of the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy, Kiyo...
Join Us at Our Upcoming Virtual Office Hours this September
August 25, 2021 21:19 - 1 minute - 1.18 MBHello, 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 3pm Eastern, where we will answer questions around how to embed equity practices in collective ...
Shifting Power with Participatory Grantmaking
July 30, 2021 01:27 - 1 hour - 49.6 MBWe’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 solutions they want to see. Participating in this discussion is Bonnie Chiu of The Social Investmen...