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Collective Impact Approach for Solving Complex Social Problems

Learn about the Collective Impact approach, its principles, implementation steps, and evaluation methods for tackling complex social issues effectively.

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Collective Impact Approach for Solving Complex Social Problems

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  1. Collective Impact1 1Kania, J. & Kramer, M. (2011). Collective impact. Stanford Social Innovations Review, 9(1):36-41.

  2. Why Use a Collective Impact Approach? • A single service program may be quite appropriate to addressing problems that are simple or only somewhat complicated. Collective impact, however, is an approach to solving complex social problems. • Taking a collective impact approach requires moving away from the traditional, more isolated ways that service organizations attempt to solve problems.

  3. What is Collective Impact? • Collective impact refers to the commitment of a group of important actors from different sectors to a common agenda for solving a specific social problem at scale.

  4. Five Conditions for Collective Impact: • Common Agenda • Shared Measurement • Mutually Reinforcing Activities • Continuous Communication • Backbone Support

  5. When Is a Collective Impact Approach Appropriate? • You can use the following readiness assessment to determine if a collective impact approach is appropriate for your situation: • Is a collective impact approach appropriate for pursuing your goals? • Do the pre-conditions exist for the potential success of a collective impact approach? • Are the nuts and bolts for a collective impact approach already in place?

  6. How Do You Implement a Collective Impact Approach? • Before implementation of this approach can begin, the organizations and individuals involved must embrace the logic of collaborative, adaptive and servant leadership. • Pay attention to adaptive work, not just technical solutions. • Look for silver buckshot instead of the silver bullet. • Sharing credit is as important as taking credit.

  7. Phases of a Collective Impact Approach • Phase 1: Assess Readiness • Phase 2: Initiate Action • Phase 3: Organize for Impact • Phase 4: Begin Implementation • Phase 5: Sustain Action and Impact

  8. Who Should Be Engaged By Your Collective Impact Effort? • Complex problems can be solved only by cross-sector coalitions that engage those outside the nonprofit sector (or any other single sector). • The main key structural components of a collective impact approach are the steering committee, working groups, backbone support, and community engagement.

  9. Steering Committee • Collaborative action almost always begins with the establishment of an oversight group, often called a steering committee or executive committee. • The composition of the steering committee is vital to the success of the initiative, as they will set the initiative’s strategic direction.

  10. Working Groups • Once the strategic action framework is agreed upon, different working groups—also known as action committees—are formed around each of its primary leverage points or strategies.

  11. Backbone Support • Backbone support is provided by an independent funded staff and dedicated to the collective impact initiative. • It is vitally important that a backbone is viewed as neutral by the stakeholders on the steering committee and in the wider community.

  12. Community Engagement • When considering community engagement, it is important to do both broad based community engagement and targeted community engagement. • How the community is engaged depends upon the goals of the initiative and how the community can best plug into those goals. 

  13. Shared Measurement • Creating and using shared measures is a key component of a rigorous collaborative effort. • Shared measurement means identifying a targeted set of indicators that everyone signs onto and pursues and then using that data both to track progress and also to improve efforts over time.

  14. Evaluating Collective Impact • Typically involves three stages of development, each of which requires a different approach to performance measurement and evaluation: • Early Years: understanding context and designing and implementing the initiative. • Middle Years: partners should expect to achieve some significant changes in patterns of behavior. • Later Years: partners should expect to achieve meaningful, measurable change with regard to the initiative’s ultimate goal(s).

  15. In Summary • Collective offers a  promising approach to addressing complex social problems at scale.

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