Collective Impact

Substantially greater progress could be made in alleviating many of our most serious and complex social problems if foundations, nonprofits, governments and businesses focused on achieving broad cross-sector coordination, instead of focusing on the isolated interventions of individual organizations. Collective Impact happens when a group of cross-sector actors commit to a common agenda for solving a specific social problem and agree to each be accountable to a single overarching goal. The New York Times has called the Collective Impact approach “one of the most important experiments occurring in the social sector today”. Stanford Social Innovation Review first featured this approach in the Winter 2011 Issue, in an article published by FSG managing director John Kania, with FSG co-founder Mark Kramer. Since the article, the concept has been shared at the White House and named a top philanthropy buzzword.

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Research, Reports & Publications

Collective Impact in Emergency Response
In the new case study Collective Impact in Emergency Response, Paul Schmitz shares how a cross-sector team of leaders from government, philanthropy, and nonprofits came together to support their community through the COVID-19 crisis.

Philanthropy & Cause Initiatives

Collective Impact Without Borders
Since publishing the original collective impact article in 2011, the majority of FSG’s work supporting cross-sector collaboration has been focused on communities or regions in the U.S.—like supporting the Early Matters coalition in improving early childhood education in Houston, Texas, or working with leaders across New York State to transform their juvenile justice system—and we have explored how to find the right geographic scope for a collective impact initiative.

Education

Three Reasons to be Optimistic about Early Care and Education
“Where do we even start?” “How can we expand access when we don’t have good quality?” “How do we build a skilled workforce when we can’t pay them what they deserve?” “How do we reach the informal providers who are caring for half of our community’s children?”

Innovation & Technology

Tackling Complex Problems through Collective Impact

Social Impact & Volunteering

Collective Insights on Collective Impact

Social Impact & Volunteering

Shape Up Somerville: Building and Sustaining a Healthy Community with Collective Impact

Philanthropy & Cause Initiatives

Blog - Who Should Be at the Table? Lessons from Collective Impact Role Play

Philanthropy & Cause Initiatives

Blog - The Types of Problems Suited for Collective Impact

Social Impact & Volunteering

Join the Collective Impact Forum Online Community and Resource Center
FSG Reimagining Social Change

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