Collective Impact fundamentally changes the way community partners work together by focusing on intentional, measurable collaboration.
At its simplest level, Collective Impact happens when a core group of people or organizations come together around a shared goal with a common set of strategies and metrics. No individual agendas. No duplication. Everyone bringing their strengths to the table to solve a social issue that cannot be solved alone.
Collective Impact must meet five conditions: shared understanding of the work (common agenda), common progress measures (shared measurement plan), coordinated plan of strategies/activities (mutually reinforcing activities), communication plan between partners (continuous communication), and supporting infrastructure of staff or a central organization (backbone support).
Sector Integration The local human services sector achieves greater integration and meaningful collaboration.
Culture Transformation By using two-generation (2Gen) best practices, the human services culture transforms its service delivery practices from transactional and single-domain focused to holistic and family-focused, working to offer the supports families need to achieve greater economic security.
Transitions to Success Promotion of a common framework and tools to track customers’ movement toward self-reliance – The Transitions to Success (TTS) model of service delivery and the secure online shared database and referral tool have been adopted to unify the efforts of individual agencies in addressing the broad, multifaceted social needs people in poverty face.
Shared Outcomes & Measures Partner agencies develop and adopt shared data to measure outcomes and inform collective action.
Expanded Services for Families Network Partner Agencies are able to serve more families in a comprehensive, holistic manner aligned with a two-generation approach, which leads to greater economic security for those families.
Adapted from Creating Open Roads to Equity (CORE), a Collaborative Approach of United Way of Snohomish County, United Way of Northern California, and Collective Impact Forum
