5-17+Benefits+and+Risks+Funders+Guide

=The "Ask" **//We'd love your thoughts / reflections on the preliminary outline of the guide, specifically://**=
 * 1) General reactions: what works? what didn't?
 * 2) What’s missing?
 * 3) What's not needed / what can we drop?
 * 4) What additional examples / experiences from your work or others might we include to illustrate ideas?

** Benefits & Risks **

Funders and social changemakers of all kinds care about concrete results and real tangible progress on tough problems—a policy win, more under-privileged youth graduating, less homeless, cleaner air. At the same time, softer, less tangible measures are also critical—less social isolation, better access to information, opportunities for citizens to make their voices heard. Similarly, catalyzing networks for good can be a //means// for making progress on complex social and environmental issues and achieving concrete results, and, the process of connecting people and growing networks can be an //end// in itself. Stronger webs of relationships create new—and sometimes unexpected—possibilities and social capital that fuel systems change.

Not surprisingly, grantmakers’ “theories of change” for catalyzing networks span a spectrum of “networks as a means” and “networks as an end” with most efforts in the middle, valuing the development of relationships in the near term and results in the field in the long term. Here are five ways that nurturing networks can help social changemakers achieve near and long-term results, direct and indirect impact: weaving community, accessing diverse perspectives, building and sharing knowledge, mobilizing people, and coordinating resources and action. In most cases, catalyzing networks delivers multiple of these benefits. In the end, all of these are about pathways to scaling impact and acting bigger.

Weaving community**. ** Building community and strengthening social capital have long been at the core of neighborhood revitalization and organizing efforts. Now, an understanding of network dynamics is helping community organizers and grassroots grantmakers amplify their place-based efforts, and its helping change makers writ large work with communities that span geographies. For example, the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s decade-long “Making Connections” initiative has been deliberately weaving community as a core strategy for improving the lives of children and families in many of America's toughest neighborhoods. Built on the belief that a person can get the strongest form of support through family and friends, the initiative seeks to strengthen that web of relationships and use them as a springboard for long-term community growth. Similarly, the Boston-based Barr Foundation has been channeling resources toward weaving connections among the after school community in Boston in an effort to decrease fragmentation in the sector and increase the quality of after school programs city-wide.

[Include Reboot here – a non-place based example]

Accessing diverse perspectives. Relying on our social connections for advice and inspiration is nothing new. However, social media tools are making it possible to dramatically increase our social connections and our ability to tap into the ideas and expertise of many individuals, rather than relying on an elite few. For example, The Peery Foundation opened up their internal strategic dialogue to the public, by asking for targeted input through Twitter. In a more ambitious effort, the Wikimedia Foundation engaged their worldwide community of Wikipedians in a year-long process to develop a strategic direction for the Wikimedia movement. All who wanted to help were invited to participate, in the belief that an open process that engaged a broad base would result in smarter, more effective strategy, while activating the community around agreed-on goals.

Building and sharing knowledge**. ** Network structures and platforms are creating opportunities for building and sharing knowledge among loose and tight-knit groups. Nonprofits that use a federated or affiliate model have long known the benefits of sharing best practices across their networks. Now people not part of the same organizational structure are learning to do the same through communities of practice and other collective mechanisms, as capacity builders in Illinois can now do through the goodWORKSconnect community and online space. The Lumpkin Family Foundation, a small foundation dedicated to work in East Central Illinois wanted to expand access to nonprofit professional and organizational development services in the region. They recognized that services were being made available by intermediaries throughout the area, but they weren’t building off of each others’ good work. So, they created “goodWorksconnect.org”—a virtual space for the nonprofit capacity building community, connect, share information and learn from one another. The network has grown to 1,000 members in less than 18 months, quickly expanding beyond East Central Illinois to the nonprofit community statewide, and the interest continues to grow.

The Hawaii Community Foundation (HCF) is supporting a more tightly-knit “Community of Learners” as part of their Schools of the Future initiative. The initiative is helping educators in Hawaii bridge the gap between curricula focused on standardized tests and helping youth develop 21st century skills. During the proposal review process, the Foundation noticed that educators from different schools were struggling with similar issues related to implementing new curriculum and teaching methods, and they were addressing these issues in isolation. HCF saw an opportunity to create a learning network through which these educators could make accelerated progress on their issues collectively. Through the Community of Learners, grantees take part in quarterly gatherings to address shared problems of practice. They also have an online space for communicating among themselves and a broader community of educators interested in developing 21st century skills.

Mobilize people**. ** Network connections can be channeled towards motivating people to act and mobilizing collective action. The new social tools and platforms combined with network weaving strategies are making it possible to catalyze public action on a large scale because activity can spread quickly without being routed through a central authority.

For instance, in its efforts to ignite greater civic engagement, the Knight Foundation is investing in a number of platforms for connecting people with each other, with ideas and with actions they can take to make a difference in their communities. DoSomething.org is one such space that’s connecting teens online so they can do “good stuff offline,” like assisting seniors, teaching cooking classes, and donating clothes.

[other possible examples to include: Marguerite Casey Equal Voice campaign, California Endowment Building Healthy Communities, RWJF PrecentObesity.net]

Coordinate resources and action**. ** Once groups of people are connected together there’s opportunity to coordinate resources and action. This might happen through an intentional process with a central backbone or it can be a less structured and more opportunistic approach. On the more formal end of the spectrum, the RE-AMP Energy Network, a group of 125 funders and activists, is coordinating efforts across eight states in the U.S.’s upper Midwest to reduce global warning emissions by 80% by 2050. They’ve been very intentional about creating a network with collective infrastructure, rather than a centrally controlled organization. In just the past few years, the network has helped legislators pass energy efficiency policies in six states; promoted one of the most rigorous cap-and-trade programs in the nation; and, halted the development of 28 new coal plants. The network has also built the capacity of regional activists, increased funding for its cause, created a number of shared resources, and developed stronger relationships between funders and nonprofits. [fn - Transformer]

On the less formal end of the spectrum, strong ties among community based environmental organizations working along the Mystic River are making it possible to coordinate and strengthen advocacy efforts. The Barr Foundation had been receiving funding requests from several different organizations working along the Mystic River. The requests made it apparent that the groups weren’t in touch with each other. So the foundation invested in helping them get to know one another better. The groups came together for a series of facilitated discussions and, over time, they developed a better understanding of what each organization was bringing to the table. So when one of the participants heard that a $4.6 million settlement for the 2006 Exxon-Mobil spill in the Mystic was not going to benefit any of the groups and the issues they cared about, the network was suddenly activated. Within six weeks they were able to coordinate action and win $1 million of the $4.5 million settlement. [fn +6 mo. to navigate bureaucracy and get funds ]

** [To be Drafted – discussion of risK] **

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