The Intersector Project (TIP@PSI) is a resource hub dedicated to advancing effective collaboration among the business, government, and non-profit sectors in the United States.
What is the Intersector?
“Perhaps more than ever before, addressing the serious problems that our society faces today requires navigating across the government, business, and non-profit sectors. While each sector has its limitations, it also has unique assets; if the sectors work together toward a common purpose, they can accomplish far more than any one can alone. There is a need for an intersector — where government, business, and non-profit sectors share expertise, resources, and authority to address problems together.” — Frank Weil, Founding Chair TIP@PSI
Our Approach
U.S. Focus
The Intersector Project’s commentary, research, and thinking focuses particularly on the United States.
Issue- and Sector-Neutral
The Intersector Project's work is both sector- and issue-neutral — created for practitioners from all sectors, working on a range of issues, across the United States.
Broad Array of Collaborative Approaches
Because the models and methods for cross-sector collaboration are proliferating, The Intersector Project’s resources speak to the broad array of collaborative approaches that practitioners in the field are actively using to solve problems.
How We Work
Creating Resources for Practitioners
The Intersector Project is committed to creating accessible, credible, and practically valuable resources and research that are publicly available in full through our website.
A Toolkit for Intersector Collaboration
The Intersector Project’s Toolkit draws from extensive research to highlight tactics that enable leaders in every sector to design and implement successful collaborative initiatives. The Toolkit is unique in the field in its comprehensiveness, simplicity, and inclusivity of practitioners from all sectors working in all issue areas. The Toolkit is a starting point guide, simply and clearly articulating the essential ingredients of collaboration — an ideal resource for partners to establish a shared understanding of their process and a common language for their work.
Case Studies
One of the leading libraries on cross-sector collaborations in the United States, our case studies were created specifically for a practitioner audience. They are brief and focus on illuminating the key contributions and collaborative tactics of partners from successful intersector collaborations across the United States in a variety of issue areas — including community revitalization, health and wellbeing, infrastructure, education, and environmental conservation. Our case studies were developed through research and interviews with the leaders who drove these collaborative efforts.
Ongoing Research Projects
The Intersector Project researches topics relating to the diagnosis, design, implementation, and assessment of intersector collaboration. Recently completed research projects explore how the press covers collaboration and consider how the public thinks about cross-sector collaboration. Ongoing research projects examine the costs and benefits of intersector collaboration and analyze media coverage of cross-sector collaboration in the U.S.
Resource Library
The Intersector Project continually seeks out the leading thinking on the topic of cross-sector collaboration from other organizations and individuals, including research organizations, advisory groups, training organizations, academic centers and journals, and more. Employing our connectedness to researcher and practitioner communities, The Intersector Project curates and updates a Resource Library — a leading hub of resources related to cross-sector collaboration in the United States. The Library comprises hundreds of quality resources relevant to users of many backgrounds: practitioners and researchers; those working on a local collective impact initiative or a national public-private partnership; those working in education, transportation infrastructure, public health, and more; those looking for assistance with collaboration essentials or a detailed look at a particular topic. Topic-specific lists curated from our Resource Library tackle issues ranging from cybersecurity to infectious disease management to food security and more.
Bridging the Research to Practice Divide
While progress has been made, there remains a need for advancement in both scholarship and practice of government, business, and non-profit collaboration in the United States. The Intersector Project has a unique commitment to connecting research to practice by maintaining active relationships with both groups and working to produce content that brings them together. Our Research Briefing highlights the latest research relevant to cross-sector collaboration; our Research to Practice section provides in depth examinations of scholarly articles to highlight key facts, actionable takeaways, and additional resources practitioners can turn to for guidance in their cross-sector work; and our Researcher Insights series features contributions from scholars invited to distill their research for our practitioner audience.
Communicating Our Work to Practitioners in Every Sector
The Intersector Project engages with a wide variety of thinkers and practitioners on this topic — from designers of innovative public-private partnership mechanisms at NASA to local government managers pursuing improved service delivery for their constituencies.
Leading and Facilitating Meaningful Convenings
The Intersector Project provides thought leadership on cross-sector collaboration and related topics through:
- Convening, designing, leading, and participating in panels
- Facilitating interactive learning group workshops and meaningful small-group discussions including an upcoming roundtable for journalists to engage with our media learning module
- Simulating case studies of cross-sector collaboration
- Delivering keynote addresses and thoughtful lectures and presentations in academic and practitioner settings
You can see a full list of our recent event engagements on our Newsroom page.
Thought Leadership Through Publications
The Intersector Project frequently authors commentary articles and speaks to reporters on the topic of cross-sector collaboration. Our work has been published by SSIR, the National League of Cities, the Alliance for Innovation, Route Fifty, Landscape Architecture Magazine, PA Times, City & State Reports, CEOs for Cities, Living Cities, and more. Our publications have reached an audience of more than 1.4 million. You can see a full list of our recent publications on our Newsroom page. The Intersector Project is also supporting a forthcoming book with Brookings Institution Press on the future of government, business, and non-profit sector collaboration in the U.S.
Engaging With Our Network Through Digital Platforms
The Intersector Project runs an active blog where we publish research and commentary on the field of cross-sector collaboration. We also maintain an active social media presence, where we communicate our most recent insights to our audience of practitioners, researchers, and others interested in cross-sector collaboration.