Collective Impact Forum

What is the Role of the Backbone in Collective Impact?

Episode Summary

In this “deep dive” discussion, Jen, Robert, and Tracy explore the various roles that the backbone plays in collective impact, including what organizations are best set-up to be the backbone.

Episode Notes

What does it mean to play the backbone role for a collective impact initiative? What approaches to identifying the backbone tend to set the work up for success? In this episode, we’re focusing on the various ways the backbone works, and a few things to avoid when establishing a new backbone role.

Featuring Jennifer Splansky Juster, Robert Albright, and Tracy Timmons-Gray.

Resources and Footnotes

Report: When Collective Impact Has Impact: A Cross-Site Study of 25 Collective Impact Initiatives

Resource: Backbone Starter Guide: A Summary of Major Resources about the Backbone

More on Collective Impact approach to collaborate for social change:

Infographic: What is Collective Impact?

Resource List: Getting Started in Collective Impact

The Intro music, entitled “Running,” was composed by Rafael Krux, and can be found here and is licensed under CC: By 4.0.

The outro music, entitled “Deliberate Thought,” was composed by Kevin Macleod. Licensed under CC: By.

Have a question related to collaborative work that you'd like to have discussed on the podcast? You can send it to our short podcast listener survey or at info@collectiveimpactforum.org.