Collective Impact Summary Sheet
At its core, Collective Impact is the collaboration of members from different institutions working together to promote a common agenda to help solve an adaptive social problem. For example, in order to improve student achievement in public schools with the collective impact model, it would be necessary for community leaders, parents, school district representatives, university presidents, directors of education-focused non- profits, and others to come together to form a collective plan in order to help make a bigger impact in addressing the issue.
Collective Impact is a strategy for solving adaptive social problems and there are five main conditions necessary for success:
· Common Agenda: Participants must have a shared vision for change or a common agenda that includes a mutual understanding of the problem as well as a shared approach to solving it.
· Shared Measurement System: In order to bring consistency, clarity, and legitimacy to the endeavor, it is necessary to form a shared measurement system for data collection.
· Mutually Reinforcing Activities: Collective Impact requires that each participant undertakes a specific set of activities that support and synchronize with the actions of others.
· Continuous Communication: Participants need to be in constant communication to use Collective Impact effectively, and it may take months to build the trust required to efficiently work together.
· Backbone Support Organization: A backbone organization is needed that can plan, manage, facilitate, organize, coordinate, communicate, provide technology and communications support, data collection and reporting, handle administrative and logistical issues, and provide adaptive leadership such as framing the issue in a way that presents opportunities and difficulties.
Broadband Collaborative and Housing & Community Solutions hope that by spreading the word of Collective Impact it will encourage collaboration between a variety of groups including government, non-profit, institutions, funders, and other organizations and be a catalyst for moving the community forward.We are working on all of our programs in a Collective Impact approach. We introduced this concept to Jack Galmiche, the president of KETC, the PBS Station in St. Louis, and they are now working with FSG on all their programs.