Funding a Collective Impact Initiative After the Start-Up Phase

Monday, October 13, 9:50am – 10:50am

Organized and presented by Ellen Ray, Grants Director, Still Water Foundation.

Collective Impact represents an exciting trend in collaborative change efforts. Funders increasingly recognize the wisdom in investing in these cross-sector partnerships to address persistent community problems. However, very little data exists about the affordances and challenges associated with funding these large multi-partner efforts. When a Collective Impact Initiative leaves the start-up phase, many of the typical success indicators become more difficult to assess. If the Collective Impact is successful, it is harder to assign programmatic accountability or to determine where investments might make the most impact. We will use interactive creative learning strategies to explore, discuss, and analyze how funders have navigated these issues in a successful collective impact model in Austin, Texas. You will leave with a framework that can be used to inform funding decisions of collective impact models in your own community.