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.
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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…
✴︎ Available only with purchase from publisher In this contribution to SSIR, urban planner Elwood M. Hopkins discusses how “Detroit’s experiences hint at a model where philanthropy and business routinely supplement and complement government.” He writes, “prior to Detroit’s bankruptcy, the city had already established…
In this contribution to Government Executive, collaborative governance scholar John D. Donahue discusses two examples to illustrate that public-private partnership sometimes “makes sense and sometimes it doesn’t.” He also offers “guidelines for making partnership work for the people,” including approaching partnership as one governance option…
“The convergence of shifting CSR trends, untapped NGO value, and pressing development challenges holds tremendous potential for driving social impact and business innovation. … The public sector and civil society are increasingly looking to the private sector to play a larger role. This is particularly…
“Over the last few decades, the world has had several near-misses on a true global pandemic, from the Ebola outbreak in West Africa to various strains of avian influenza to, most recently, the rapid spread of Zika. We’re also facing a new and perilous generation…
“Over the years, more and more funders, program directors, public officials, and scholars have pushed for collaborative approaches to achieve significant social change. The impetus for this has largely been the realization that despite multitudes of initiatives dedicated to issues such as improving educational outcomes…
“Successful social innovation at scale requires partners from the public, private, and social sectors to work together through flexible models that evolve to meet shifting requirements and address changing risks.”
“When it partnered with Kentucky for new bridges across the Ohio River, Indiana exercised its authority to use a public-private partnership (P3) contract, as explained in this article that discusses this groundbreaking deal. The Lewis and Clark Bridge is a cable-stayed tolled bridge that is…
In this blog post for The Intersector Project, Kirsten Foot looks at the tensions that can arise from uneven power dynamics in cross-sector collaboration, drawing from her research on partnerships to counter human trafficking. “The communication in and through which collaboration occurs is simultaneously interpersonal…
“Changing how we do things isn’t just about reworking laws, policies, and systems; it means rethinking the very act of problem-solving,” write Karen Abrams Gerber and Andrea Jacobs in SSIR. They outline what they believe are the five basic tenets of successful collaboration (engaging unlikely…
From The Intersector Project’s “Research to Practice” series, this article looks closely at scholarly research and highlights key facts, actionable takeaways, and additional resources practitioners can turn to for related guidance. Much research on cross-sector collaboration captures only a snapshot of a partnership’s work, but…