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…
This tool from Collaborative Leaders Network guides partners in systemically building toward consensus in cross-sector collaboration “by having participants analyze the issue, hear from experts, generate and evaluate options, review draft documents, and revisit group agreements at every stage.”
This Living Cities’ article features highlights from an interview with former three-term Mayor of Minneapolis, R.T. Rybak, who is now a part-time Senior Advisor to Living Cities. As Mayor, R.T. participated in several collective impact initiatives focusing on an array of issues including youth violence,…
“Community food security (CFS) is a relatively new food security-promoting strategy that considers all the factors within a region or community’s food system that influence the availability, cost, and quality of food to area households, particularly those in lower income communities. Since CFS focuses on…
“This toolkit provides rural communities with the information, resources, and materials they need to develop a community health program in a rural community. Each of the toolkit’s six modules contains information that communities can apply to develop a rural health program, regardless of the specific…
This website from Nonprofit Finance Fund provides an overview of pay for success basics, a glossary, FAQ page, discussion of issue areas, and learning paths divided by role (service providers, government, and investors), along with links to additional resources. This tool is included in our…
“Collaboration Assessment Tool helps individuals and coalitions identify specific strengths and areas of growth and enables partnerships to subsequently establish a baseline and gauge their progress via periodic checks on domains of effective collaboration.”
“This paper discusses various styles of city hall leadership, studying participating mayors in order to identify issues and processes. The goal of the paper was to provide useful information for public officials interested in exploring and developing similar relationships. In particular, the paper explores the…
“Throughout the United States, communities are struggling to meet the demands of stormwater management requirements. EPA recognizes the need for new and innovative solutions to finance and manage stormwater runoff, especially in urban areas, to achieve and maintain the water quality goals of the Clean…
Apolitical is a global platform for policymakers and their partners. It lets them read about what’s working and connect with their peers and colleagues around the world. It specializes in the actual processes and systems of government, with a newsfeed on government innovation. “Just as…
This article from the Government Business Council (GBC) describes the vulnerability of critical infrastructure and the role of public-private partnerships in protecting critical infrastructure in cyberspace: “As cyber threats continue to grow in number and sophistication, U.S. critical infrastructure remains extremely vulnerable, and what makes…