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Presentation to:

Collective Impact

July 17, 2012

2012 Children’s Cabinet SymposiumForum for Youth Investment

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FSG Overview

• Nonprofit consulting firm specializing in strategy, evaluation and research with offices in Boston, Seattle, San Francisco, DC, Geneva, and Mumbai

• Partner with foundations, corporations, nonprofits, and governments to develop more effective solutions to the world’s most challenging issues

• Recognized thought leader in social impact, philanthropy and corporate social responsibility

• Staff of 100 full-time professionals with passionand experience to solve social problems

• Advancing Collective Impact via publications, conferences, speaking engagements, client projects

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FSG is Playing a Leadership Role in Accelerating Disciplined Collective Approaches to Solving Large-Scale Social Problems

FSG and Collective Impact

• Client work in Collective Impact: FSG understands how to enable and sustain cross-sector partnerships through our work with clients in sectors including:

• FSG articles paved the way for Collective Impact:‒ Leading Boldly (2004)‒ Breakthroughs in Shared Measurement (2008)‒ Catalytic Philanthropy (2009)‒ Collective Impact (2011)‒ Channeling Change: Making Collective Impact Work (2012)

• Additional research and field-building:‒ New article [Channeling Change: Making Collective Impact

Work] published by SSIR on the three phases of initiating, creating, and sustaining Collective Impact

‒ Juvenile justice‒ Teen substance abuse

‒ Economic development‒ Education reform‒ Environmental sustainability

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Juvenile Justice in New York

$286,000 89% recidivism rate=

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Actors In the New York Juvenile Justice System

Source: FSG interviews and analysis; State of NY Juvenile Justice Advisory Group, “State of NY, 2009–2011: Three-Year Comprehensive State Plan for the JJ and Delinquency Prevention Formula Grant Program.”

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There Are Several Types of Problems

Source: Adapted from “Getting to Maybe”

Simple Complicated

Baking a Cake Sending a Rocket to the Moon

Social sector treats problems as simple or complicated

Complex

Rehabilitating a Youth

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Traditional Approaches Are Not Solving Our Toughest – Often Complex – Challenges

IsolatedImpact

The Premise

• Funders select individual grantees • Nonprofits work separately and

compete• Evaluation attempts to isolate a

particular organization’s impact• Large scale change is assumed to

depend on scaling organizations• Corporate and government sectors

are often disconnected from foundations and non-profits

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Imagine a Different Approach – Multiple Players Working Together to Solve Complex Issues

• All working toward the same goal and measuring the same things

• Cross-sector alignment with government and corporate sectors as essential partners

• Organizations actively coordinating their action and sharing lessons learned

Isolated Impact

The Premise

Collective Impact

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Collective Impact Requires Four Big Mindset Shifts

• Adaptive vs. Technical Solutions

• Silver Buckshot vs. Silver Bullets

• Credibility vs. Credit

• Coordination vs. Competition

Strategy + Process + Trust

Context

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Five Elements of Collective Impact

Common Agenda

Shared Measurement

Mutually Reinforcing Activities

Continuous Communication

Backbone Organizations

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Successful Backbones Tend to Manage 6 Functions

Guide Vision and Strategy

Support Aligned Activities

Establish Shared Measurement Practices

Build Public Will

Advance Policy

Mobilize Funding

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A Champion, Funding, and Urgency for Change Are All Key to Launching a Collective Impact Initiative

Influential Champion

Financial Resources

Urgency for Change

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• Commands respect and engages cross-sector leaders

• Focused on solving problem but allows participants to figure out answers for themselves

• Committed funding partners• Sustained funding for at least 2-3 years• Pays for needed infrastructure and planning

• Critical problem in the community• Frustration with existing approaches• Multiple actors calling for change• Engaged funders and policy makers

Source: Channeling Change: Making Collective Impact Work, 2012; FSG Interviews