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 article is a Q&A with Elizabeth Frawley Bagley, the first Special Representative for Global Partnerships for the Global Partnership Initiative established by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2009. The goal of the GPI was “to enhance the ability of the State Department…
“Collaboration, governing-by-network, public-private partnerships, shared authority — whatever you call it, it’s a hot topic in government circles. … But is collaboration the right solution in every case? Is it readily achievable? Not necessarily, says a team of researchers from the University of Minnesota led…
In this research brief for McKinsey, Benjamin Cheatham and Walter Oblin look at the opportunities and risks of public-private partnerships for transportation. “Opportunities for the private sector to invest in public-transportation infrastructure through public-private partnerships are likely to be worth more than $300 billion from…
The author of this SSIR piece urges readers to be more realistic about partnering’s potential and its risks. “There is a tendency in the philanthropic world to assume that collaboration has intrinsic value and effectiveness, and to expect partnership to serve as a solution, often…
“Measuring the effectiveness of partnerships between different sectors proves particularly challenging. Different interested and affected groups will measure the success of the initiative according to different sets of criteria. Partnership elicits qualitative values such as trust, responsiveness and flexibility that are more likely to be…
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,…
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…