Over the past 10 years, thirteen cities across Canada have been involved in an action-learning experiment to reduce poverty.  These cities have been applying the five conditions of collective impact and along the way, learned many lessons.  This post will look at each of the conditions and share a lesson or approach to consider. 

In their ground breaking article in the Stanford Social Innovation Review, John Kania and Mark Kramer of FSG Social Impact Consultants identified 5 critical conditions of Collective Impact: 

•     Common Agenda
•     Shared Measurement
•     Mutually Reinforcing Activities
•     Continuous Communication
•     Backbone

At Vibrant Communities we agree, but want to add in these 5 lessons. 

A Common Agenda needs a compelling Community Aspiration

A compelling community aspiration takes the collective common agenda to the next level.  Done right, this aspiration is be both inspirational and motivational, drawing individuals and organizations beyond the leadership table to the collective work.  'Making Hamilton the best place to raise a child' has become more than just the mantra of the Hamilton Roundtable for Poverty Reduction, it has become a component of the City of Hamilton's mission statement and is often cited by citizens and organizations across the city. 

Shared Measurement is enhanced when groups build Learning as a key component

Vibrant Communities partners were encouraged to join together in a learning community and spent a good amount of time reflecting on their successes and miscues.  This learning together had a significant impact on the individual cities and on their collective experiences.  Learning together helped them build a common evaluation framework and identify their individual and collective impacts.  Shared measurement must include learning and sense-making opportunities which build capacity and show collective achievement.

Mutually Reinforcing Activities and identifying Policy Influence and Change opportunities

A collective impact approach can be used to uncover the barriers or roadblocks preventing all citizens from achieving their potential.  These barriers or roadblocks can be shifted for many if the policies holding them in place also shift.  Vibrant Communities partners have uncovered a wide range of policy blocks - both within organizations in their communities and also within political systems.  Using the power of the collective to shift or influence policy barriers can have a significant impact for many. 

Continuous Communications must include broad community engagement

The needle on an issue like poverty moves much quicker when the community is engaged in the collective effort.  Leveraging the assets that already exist in the community and moving organizations and individuals in the same direction can build momentum.  A focus on broad community engagement can also uncover opportunities or partners previously not considered. The issues being tackled through collective impact efforts are complex and require the knowledge and engagement of the many to scale change. 

Backbones benefit from the support of a strong, community-based convening organization

Many Vibrant Communities have benefited from an established organization (community foundation, United Way, business or non-profit, local government) stepping into the role of convener.  The convening organization usually invites partners to the table and hosts the staff team of the backbone.  This is a complicated role, but the convener is always a respected community organization with klout, and is also invested in the success of the collaborative.  While convening organizations may shift over time, their value as a stable and influential partner for collective impact initiatives has been critical to the growth of Vibrant Communities across Canada.

As collective impact efforts evolve and new collaborative tables use the collective impact framework to design their work, sharing knowledge and lessons learned help other efforts scale more quickly.  For more perspective and information about Vibrant Communities, I invite you to check out the Vibrant Communities website and the resources in the library.

Your comments are also welcome.  Let me know if you agree or have anything more to add to this post.