Ideas

Collective Impact

One of the biggest challenges facing community change leaders is impacting systems and policies to improve the well-being of citizens.  Over the last twenty years, community change leaders have engaged in single and cross-sector collaboration to begin to uncover and address some of the largest challenges they are facing like poverty, homelessness, educational attainment and environmental impact.  In 2011, FSG in the United States defined an approach to community change called Collective Impact. 

The Collective Impact framework contains five core conditions including the development of a common agenda; using shared measurement to understand progress; building on mutually reinforcing activities; engaging in continuous communications and providing a backbone to move the work forward. 

Since 2011, Tamarack has collaborated with colleagues in Canada, the United States and internationally as a co-catalyst in advancing Collective Impact as a framework for community change.  Tamarack also recognizes that Collective Impact is one mechanism for community change and that collaboration takes many forms and approaches.  The Collective Impact idea provides a useful framework for community change and is situated within the broad frame of collaborative efforts focused on systems and policy change.  Tamarack actively works with collaborators including the Collective Impact Forum and the Harwood Institute in the United States; Inspiring Communities in New Zealand and Collaboration for Impact in Australia to intentionally build the field of practice in Collective Impact and collaborative community change efforts.