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Collective impact (CI), a framework for influencing systems change, was launched in the winter of 2011. The CI approach has been deployed by community collaboratives across Canada, the US and internationally to move the needle on a wide variety of complex issues from decreasing homelessness and poverty to improving health and education outcomes for children and youth.

As part of Tamarack’s 2016 Community Change Series, Tamarack thought leader, Mark Cabaj, and myself decided to review the collective impact framework with a new perspective.

A closer look at the diversity of collective impact efforts reveals a diversity of backbone infrastructure designs as well. Depending on the size and scope of the collective impact effort, and the unique context it is operating in, the backbone may look and be structured differently.

This week was bookended with facilitated discussions in Alaska and Collingwood on the topics of Collective Impact and community transformation. While, both conversations were productive, engaging and challenging, a couple of things stuck out for me.

Beginning in 2002, collective impact roundtables in 13 cities across Canada began a consolidated effort to reduce poverty for low income citizens. This movement of cities, called Vibrant Communities Canada has been working diligently by bringing together business, government, voluntary sector and citizens with the lived experience of poverty to develop strategies and influence policies which move the needle.

A very interesting meeting happened in Montreal in July. The J.W. McConnell Family Foundation, Ontario Trillium Foundation and the Lucie and Andre Chagnon Foundation invited foundation colleagues from Canada and the United States to a workshop focusing on Evaluation and Learning for Aligned Action.

This weekend, I had the pleasure of watching couples dance the tango in a public square in London. The intricacies of the dance, coupled with the individual styles of each dance partner made for an intriguing couple of hours. As each new song filled the square, the couples would wait for a few strands of the music and then proceed to move together. Often with their eyes closed, each couple moved around the dance floor.