When collaborative partners come together to tackle complex challenges, learning must be part of the work itself and not an afterthought. In this new podcast episode, we talk with Lauren Gase of Mindful Metrics and Lori Fuller of Fuller Impact about Emergent Learning and how the principles and practices that are part of Emergent Learning can support collaboratives that are navigating uncertainty, complexity, and change. This discussion offers practical insights for anyone working in collective i...
Jan 09, 2026•59 min•Ep. 101
What does it look like for a collaborative to shift from nearly sunsetting to achieving a vibrant renewal? We tackle this challenging question in the 100th episode of our podcast, where we dive into the realities of what it means to rebuild collective work from the ground up. To explore this topic, we talk with Annie Burke , the executive director of Together Bay Area , a regional coalition focused on climate resilience and equity in the Bay Area of California. Annie details the difficulties the...
Oct 22, 2025•36 min•Ep. 100
What does it look like for a collaborative to balance planned strategies with new and rising needs? In this new podcast discussion, we talk with Melissa Darnell, Heather Equinoss , and Luzette Jaimes from the organization CoCreative , and learn how they work with collaboratives to blend structured and emergent strategies when doing collective work. Listen in as we explore: How to navigate complex challenges by embracing uncertainty while maintaining clear purpose and shared goals. What methods c...
Sep 11, 2025•47 min•Ep. 99
In a time when so many are grappling with division and polarization in their communities, where does one start to build connections to better understand when and why do you feel like you “belong” in your community? In this new podcast conversation, we talk with Anjum Rahman and Atarau Hamilton-Fuller from Inclusive Aotearoa Collective Tāhono, based in Aotearoa New Zealand. In the aftermath of the horrific Christchurch mosque attacks in 2019, their collective’s work focused on visiting communitie...
Jul 23, 2025•1 hr 21 min•Ep. 98
A backbone’s role in a collective is often to facilitate collaboration among partners and help the group make progress toward a shared goal. This can be a complex challenge, as the backbone doesn’t hold formal authority or decision-making power. Instead, it must rely on its central coordinating position to influence, build alignment, and advocate for the collaborative’s mission. In this new podcast episode, we explore how a backbone can influence partners to take action, without holding a positi...
May 21, 2025•48 min•Ep. 97
How can a community shift their economic future? In this episode, we explore how communities heavily reliant on a single industry can come together to diversify and build a more resilient economy. This kind of transformation is complex and requires collaboration across a broad range of partners to support the wellbeing of the whole community. We discuss what it looks like to diversify single-industry communities with Heidi Binko of the Just Transition Fund and Sherene Hess , an Indiana County Co...
Apr 07, 2025•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 96
Collaboratives based in the U.S. that are working to solve for and reduce disparities in their communities are facing compounding challenges with the current chaotic sociopolitical climate, including sudden funding cuts, mass job losses, mis- and disinformation campaigns, demoralizing messaging from national leaders and those they have deputized, and vigorous attacks on both equity and democracy. When everything seems to be coming down at once—overwhelming by intention, it feels like a tsunami o...
Feb 26, 2025•1 hr 22 min•Ep. 95
Listening to community members and tapping into community expertise are key factors when trying to understand why social issues are happening, and what potential solutions may be best to address these challenges. This is especially true for philanthropy, a sector committed to traditionally funding social change through more “top down” strategies, rather than seeking and empowering community-driven solutions from the beginning. Over the last 10 years, the funder collaborative Fund for Shared Insi...
Feb 18, 2025•41 min•Ep. 94
What are the skills and mindsets necessary to be a backbone leader for a collaborative? In this new podcast discussion, we talk with Paul Schmitz and Dominique Samari , authors of the recent report, “Backbone Leadership Is Different.” We explore how backbone leadership is unique and why It differs from traditional, more hierarchical leadership styles. In the discussion, we dive into: The specific mindset shifts required in backbone leadership; The skill sets that are crucial for effective backbo...
Jan 16, 2025•42 min•Ep. 93
Companies can be a critical partner in collective impact work. However, working with companies can pose unique challenges, from understanding how to initiate these partnerships to understanding how to best partner to sustain these relationships over time. To learn more about how collaboratives can engage and partner with the private sector to advance social change work, we talk with Nikhil Bumb , Managing Director at the social change consulting firm FSG . In this conversation, we discuss the mu...
Nov 20, 2024•45 min•Ep. 92
Achieving long-term change requires having government—whether local, state, or federal—at the collaborative table as a key partner. However, many collaboratives share that building these partnerships can be challenging, intimidating, or confusing. To better understand how to build and sustain effective relationships with public sector partners, we talk with Caroline Whistler , CEO and co-founder of Third Sector , a nonprofit technical assistance provider that advises U.S. government agencies on ...
Oct 30, 2024•46 min•Ep. 91
Later this fall, Tamarack Institute’s Co-CEO Liz Weaver will retire, closing a chapter that includes many decades supporting community change, collective impact, and poverty-reduction work across Canada and beyond. Liz is a long-time collaborator and dear friend of the Collective Impact Forum, and it has been a true honor to work alongside her as she has served so graciously and thoughtfully as a change leader, mentor, catalyst, partner, and a lifelong learner. In this special podcast episode, L...
Oct 17, 2024•52 min•Ep. 90
Last year, Independent Sector published research on how advocacy by the nonprofit sector has evolved over the last 25 years, and specifically, how it has severely declined, with only 31% of nonprofits reporting advocacy activities over the last 5 years. Compare that to the year 2000, where more than double that—74% of the nonprofit sector--was participating in advocacy activities. That dip in advocacy has multiple rationales, including increased confusion about what counts as advocacy and experi...
Oct 02, 2024•59 min•Ep. 89
How can inclusive design spur community connections and build stronger partnerships in the process? During the COVID pandemic, the Van Alen Institute and the Urban Design Forum collaborated to launch Neighborhoods Now , a program shepherding resources, both funding and people, toward pandemic recovery and strengthening community partnerships across four boroughs in New York City. One notable community partnership was with Think!Chinatown , an intergenerational non-profit based in Manhattan’s Chi...
Sep 13, 2024•53 min•Ep. 88
When building a collaborative strategy or working through your implementation plans, it might feel like what you need most is a crystal ball (or a mystically accurate Magic 8 ball) to reveal which activities will work, which won’t, and where you can pivot so you and your partners can keep making progress. Moving ahead while surfing through ambiguity and questions like, “what will happen if…” can make the process of working together even more uncertain and stressful. The practice of futurism can ...
Aug 28, 2024•58 min•Ep. 87
Without proactively removing the structures and systems that have contributed to inequity, place-based collaboratives can not make a meaningful impact on the lives of those most excluded and underestimated in communities. However, given the increasing anti-DEI political and cultural headwinds unfolding in the US and several other countries, communities are facing increased challenges pursuing their equity work. To explore this topic, we share an audio recording from the Day 3 opening panel discu...
Aug 22, 2024•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 86
Navigating and managing change is key to a collaborative’s journey, but it’s also one of the most challenging as each partner’s relationship, personal history, and ability to participate in change can vary. Differences in how partners navigate change, if not recognized and explored, can make it difficult for the collaborative to achieve meaningful progress towards shared goals. How does one lead and navigate through these varying responses to change? In this new podcast episode, we explore this ...
Aug 07, 2024•47 min•Ep. 85
Addressing issues related to disability and access are often cordoned off within the social sector and philanthropy. Disability is often deemed as “separate” from issue-specific systems change work, such as education, climate, economic mobility, or health equity. Funders supporting causes like these may think that their focus does not require including disability, or that addressing disability may make things “too complex” and “out of scope” for their issue-focused grantmaking efforts. This excl...
Jul 17, 2024•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 84
Understanding a community’s “context” and its readiness for complex change work is a critical factor for launching and advancing collective impact work. Knowing the local context is necessary to support work with and within a community--who is part of the community, what are they experiencing, and what are their challenges, needs, assets, and opportunities? Where do relationships exist, and is there enough trust among participants to support a foundation for long-term work? Without a basic under...
Jul 02, 2024•51 min•Ep. 83
A core element of collective impact is changing systems in the pursuit of equity. Pursuing policy change and advocacy efforts are some of the key levers to effectively change how systems operate. But how can cross-sector partners within a collective impact initiative work together to co-create a policy agenda that addresses inequities and closes disparities? In this discussion we learn how a policy agenda can drive collaborative action and strategy to support collective impact work, how it can c...
Jun 20, 2024•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 82
May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and we wanted to highlight the importance of recognizing and supporting mental health as a critical and necessary element of a robust and sustainable collective impact effort. We frequently receive questions from a wide variety of collaboratives that are experiencing challenges related to the mental health of their team and partners, and the impact that this has on the collaborative’s work. For this episode, we invited the national nonprofit Mind Share Partn...
May 16, 2024•45 min•Ep. 81
For more than a decade, The Opportunity Youth Forum at the Aspen Institute’s Forum for Community Solutions has been working with a growing network of urban, rural, and tribal communities across the U.S. to build and scale reconnection pathways that achieve better outcomes in education, employment and overall well-being for opportunity youth. (Opportunity Youth are young adults, age 16-24, who are not engaged in work or education.) Based on their work with a network of 40 communities, along with ...
May 09, 2024•43 min•Ep. 80
We welcome back members of the Healthy Food Community of Practice to hear what they learned from their multi-year collaboration and how the way they worked together changed over time. Launched in 2020, the Healthy Food Community of Practice is a network of more than 50 organizations working toward a shared goal—that communities of color across the country can access and consume nutritious food. Through their collaboration, they came to understand that to be successful, the community of practice ...
Mar 20, 2024•1 hr•Ep. 79
The Millers for Nutrition coalition is working with 100+ millers and other partners to achieve an ambitious goal— getting nutritious, fortified food to 1 billion people by 2026. One of the critical questions that Millers for Nutrition has grappled with is how to get private-sector partners, many of whom may be in competition with each other, to find common ground, build sustained, trusting relationships, and ultimately work together to support healthy food access for millions of people. To learn...
Mar 06, 2024•56 min•Ep. 78
What does it mean to build a movement? How is movement building connected to organizing and practicing solidarity with others? And why are these concepts important to make progress on collective work? In this deep dive conversation, we discuss core aspects of movement-building with Adaku Utah , senior manager at Building Movement Project . In this discussion, we review definitions of movement-building, organizing, and solidarity. We also explore what it means to be doing movement work and why st...
Feb 22, 2024•47 min•Ep. 77
Getting to the heart of complex problems can be tricky. How does one untangle the many threads that can be involved? How do you uncover what the real pain points are so that you can address them? In this discussion, we explore the approach of human-centered design and how it can be used to both discover and uplift perspectives to help find community-focused solutions. To learn more about human-centered design, we talk with Michelle Carrillo and Leslie Tergas of ThinkPlace West. The discussion ex...
Feb 06, 2024•47 min•Ep. 76
Communities can be “researched,” engaged, and surveyed to explore a variety of questions such as what barriers are preventing students from graduating? What are the local economic and health impacts of having only a few grocery stores in the area? It’s important to rigorously explore these types of questions, but there can be danger in taking data and stories from a community for the purpose of research. You can fall into the trap of “community extraction” if the research is not deeply connected...
Jan 22, 2024•53 min•Ep. 75
Addressing homelessness in rural areas has multiple complexities including scarcity of funding, support services, and shelter options, as well as facing a common misconception that rural homelessness does not exist. To better understand how homelessness was affecting their community, partners working in Mercer County, IL came together to participate in their own “100-day challenge,” an organized collaborative event that supports communities in kick-starting complex change efforts. As part of the...
Jan 08, 2024•57 min•Ep. 74
During the winter break, we're replaying some of our favorite past episodes. This replay episode features a dynamic discussion from the 2021 Collective Impact Action Summit, and focuses on the importance of narrative in collective social change efforts. This discussion is led by Melody Barnes of the Aspen Institute Forum for Community Solutions, and features Crystal Echo Hawk from IllumiNative, Rashad Robinson from Color of Change, and Nayantara Sen from Real Food Real Stories. Resources and Foo...
Jan 01, 2024•59 min•Ep. 73
During the winter break, we're replaying some of our favorite past episodes. In this episode from 2022, we hear from Rev. Dr. Starsky Wilson , who serves as President and CEO of the Children’s Defense Fund. Dr. Wilson reflects on the challenging times that many of us experienced earlier in the pandemic, and the ways we can reground ourselves and move forward, so that we can shift from states of languishing, disconnection, and numbness to a place where we can better connect to ourselves, our purp...
Dec 26, 2023•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 72
