Whether you’re working on a local collective impact initiative or a national public-private partnership; whether you’re a practitioner or a researcher; whether you’re looking for basics or a detailed look at a particular topic, our Resource Library can help you find the information and tools you need for your cross-sector thinking and practice. The Library — which includes resources from research organizations, advisory groups, training organizations, academic centers and journals, and other sources — spans issue areas, sectors, and partnership types.
Learn More
There are a number of academic courses, programs, and certificates offered in the United States in which cross-sector collaboration is a major theme. We hope this list will be useful for educators who are interested in how this topic is being taught at universities across the country…
In this paper, Living Cities offers “a strategic framework for cross-sector partnerships including describing and defining the traits that make up a strong foundation, factors that influence success, and behaviors of high-impact efforts. In addition to the theory, the paper steeps these ideas in four…
This landmark SSIR article introduced the concept of collective impact and its five conditions of collective success. “Collaboration is nothing new. The social sector is filled with examples of partnerships, networks, and other types of joint efforts. But collective impact initiatives are distinctly different. Unlike…
✴︎ Available only with purchase from publisher “Theoretical and empirical work on collaboration has proliferated in the last decade. The authors’ 2006 article on designing and implementing cross-sector collaborations was a part of, and helped stimulate, this growth. This article reviews the authors’ and others’…
“This report focuses specifically on a cross-sector collaborative effort to significantly reduce traffic congestion in the Twin Cities metropolitan area of Minnesota. The organizers of the program concluded that a collaborative, multi-modal approach was crucial to making real headway on a longstanding, costly, nearly intractable…
In this SSIR article, authors John Kania and Mark Kramer write that while “the solutions we have come to expect in the social sector often involve discrete programs that address a social problem through a carefully worked out theory of change, relying on incremental resources…
The Building an Accountability Structure Toolkit aims to help members of a cradle-to-career partnership: Understand the importance of an accountability structure. View different types of structures and their respective advantages and disadvantages. Understand and outline the roles and responsibilities that need to be accommodated in…
“Foundations have a long tradition of convening and funding collaborative groups with the hope that this will lead to large-scale impact. Although funder-driven collaboration sometimes leads to breakthrough solutions, foundations have also pushed the participating organizations into artificial, awkward, and unsustainable efforts. This article argues…
✴︎ Available with free registration “E3 Alliance is a collective impact initiative designed to align the region’s education systems so all students succeed and lead Central Texas to economic prosperity. This case study provides collective impact backbone organizations, funders, and partners with an overview of…
✴︎ Available with free registration “Memphis Fast Forward is a multi-layered collective impact initiative focused on increasing economic prosperity and quality of life in Greater Memphis, Tennessee. A resource for collective impact backbone organizations, funders, and partners, this case study provides an overview of the…
✴︎ Available with free registration “Opportunity Chicago is a collective impact initiative that successfully helped over 5,000 public housing residents prepare for and find quality jobs in Chicago, Illinois from 2006-2011. This case study provides collective impact backbone organizations, funders, and partners with an overview…
✴︎ Available with free registration “Franklin County Communities that Care Coalition is a collective impact initiative to reduce substance use and improve the ability of youth to reach their full potential in rural Franklin County, Massachusetts. A resource for collective impact backbone organizations, funders, and…
✴︎ Available with free registration This Working Group Reporting Template is intended to assist with identifying indicators and/or key data points for shared measurement and should be used with the Instructions for Developing Shared Metrics. Specifically, the resource guides partners in considering whether a potential indicator…
“The purpose of this resource is to provide a guide for partnership staff in addressing common challenges while building an accountability structure, particularly ensuring the structure is suited to meet local, contextual needs. It provides questions to consider when building your unique accountability structure to…
✴︎ Available with free registration “The Guide to Evaluating Collective Impact … [offers] practitioners, funders, and evaluators a way to think about, plan for, and implement different performance measurement and evaluation activities. This guide’s three goals are to: Discuss the role of continuous learning and…