Seeds Taking Root
No one who’s done real collaborative work would ever tell you that it’s easy. But most people who’ve done this kind of work would say that it can be unbelievably rewarding, pleasantly surprising, and very impactful.
The Foundation has long been a supporter of seeding, nurturing, and growing collaborative efforts. Especially since the rollout of our strategic direction, the Foundation has looked for ways to foster collaboration – it’s in our mission, it’s one of our core values, and it’s one of the roles the Foundation plays to affect change in the community.
At the Foundation’s recent 2024 Funded Partner Convening, we focused on the Power of Collective Impact and Collaboration. We enlisted the support of one of the best experts in this field to provide us with some hands-on training around one model for collaboration. Courtney Robertson, the Director of Programs and Partnerships with the Collective Impact Forum, led us through a two-part workshop – first focused on the nuts and bolts of Collective Impact as a model, and then he worked with local collaborative groups (some established and some just getting off the ground) on how to put it into practice. I’ve been following CIF’s work for some time now, and the thing I love most about them is that they make Collective Impact real – it’s not just a concept or a heady academic theory, it’s a real way to organize around big, hairy issues that we can’t solve on our own as single entities or organizations.
Now, I’ve had conversations with many of you about potential proposals in which I’ve said, “This is a great idea, but what if you came in with a request that included multiple partners…?” Or, in some of our group conversations, you’ve heard me ask, “What are the things that this group can do better together than we can as individual organizations?” We know that collaboration is not as easy as it sounds – it’s messy and challenging, and frankly it takes more time and planning than doing things on our own as organizations. That said, while not everything requires a collaborative approach, most of the issues that the Foundation is looking to impact really do.
So, I was especially heart-warmed to find at the Convening that some of the seeds planted even years ago are starting to sprout. Courtney used a wonderful matrix depicting how collective impact efforts unfold over five phases (see image), and he asked the groups to rate themselves as far as where they fell on this continuum. Two of the groups really got my attention when they described their collaborative work together:
- Youth Enrichment Programs/Youth Serving Organizations: Two years ago, the Foundation brought together a small cohort of youth serving organizations over two mini-convenings to ask the question about what they could do better together. Subsequently, the High Point Schools Partnership (within Guilford Education Alliance) pursued a small grant from the Foundation to deepen those conversations. The group pursued leadership development opportunities and identified the need for shared measurement systems to describe the impact they are collectively having in our community. Now, they’ve identified a backbone organization and are talking through the beginnings of a governance structure and how to put the principles of collective impact into practice.
- Behavioral Health Advocacy Workgroup: Over three years ago, the Foundation invited nonprofit behavioral health service providers in High Point to collectively identify ways to increase access to behavioral healthcare. Over time, this group has evolved to focus on shared advocacy issues – like decreasing the stigma around seeking help for mental health issues and addressing the lack of transportation as a significant barrier to receiving care. Most recently, because of their ongoing work together, this group was poised to respond to a funding opportunity announced by Guilford County focused on transportation barriers – and they submitted a collaborative proposal, which, if funded, would support and benefit each of the partners in some way AND develop a system-level solution for clients who don’t have access to transportation.
The thing that was the most heart-warming and attention-getting to me about these two groups is that they didn’t used to see themselves as collaborative efforts at all, and now they do. There is a shared momentum within each initiative and an interest in strengthening the groups’ capacity to collaborate. There’s also a new level of trust and excitement that wasn’t there before. The seeds have taken root, and I can see some sprouts emerging. And I’m especially excited to see what comes next.
