Resource Spotlight: Collective Impact Forum Website
The Collective Impact Forum (CIF) is a one-stop resource shop for all things Collective Impact. At once a community, a resource library, and a publication, collectiveimpactforum.org belongs in your “favorites.” Launched in 2014, the Collective Impact Forum is a force in both the online and offline worlds. On the Forum, you can find articles and discussions from a mix of CI subject matter experts, new adopters, and seasoned practitioners.
Here are three suggestions for how to use CIF’s website as a resource:
1) Simplify CI: Use CIF’s interactive, cleverly illustrated “What is Collective Impact” page to explain the concept to others. The page summarizes the problem of siloed, isolated work, posits Collective Impact as a solution, and breaks down the five conditions of success with the aid of some simple, memorable illustrations. By introducing the concept in a disciplined 198 words, CIF piques reader interest without overwhelming. If you’d like to bring the idea of Collective Impact to your community, but your counterparts are overworked and under-resourced as you are, familiarizing yourself with this one-minute explanation is a great place to start.
2) Connect to Collaborate: Think you’re alone in your struggles to make positive change in an overwhelming system? Think again. Peruse the Community Discussion on CIF’s website to find out what innovative strategies other communities are adopting to fix similar problems. Get more out of the discussion by signing up. You can sort discussions by issue area, region, and more.
3) Get Tools for Your Community: If you sign up on CIF’s website, you’ll also get access to their robust suite of support resources (planning materials, group problem-solving exercises, case studies). There are also free videos and webinars led by SMEs. Some of the most exciting resources are the ones that help you apply Collective Impact in your community, for example, this “How to Lead Collective Impact Working Groups” toolkit. A lot of the best products are members-only, so we suggest taking the 30 seconds to sign up.
Take our five-minute resource challenge: Browse collectiveimpactforum.org for five minutes, and let us know what you learned on over on our LinkedIn page!
