Build+and+Share+Knowledge


 * //What are networks good for?//**

We have observed five common reasons that leaders tap the power of networks: to weave community, access many and new perspectives, build and share knowledge, mobilize people, and coordinate resources and action. Just as most social change efforts have multiple purposes, many network solutions are designed to capture several of these benefits at once. As a result, the descriptions of network purposes that follow are archetypes, rather than mutually exclusive or exhaustive categories.

__Build and Share Knowledge__ The network mindset and tools are changing the way individuals and organizations develop and share knowledge and best practices. It is becoming increasingly commonplace for people not part of the same organizational structure to share best practices and learn together through communities of practice and other collective mechanisms. This is the work of the Network of Network Funders. It’s what Grantmakers for Effective Organizations leverages its network to do in a range of different settings and structures. This is also the work of massive decentralized models of collective learning and content creation, like Wikipedia; in the case of Wikipedia, the Wikipedians are connecting and learning from one another through the //act// of editing and the comments logged along side collaboratively edited articles.

There are a number of exciting new funder-led initiatives underway for building and sharing knowledge. The Packard Foundation’s Organizational Effectiveness program has created a resources site where they’re openly sharing resources on organizational and network effectiveness and, by using the wiki format, inviting others to add and amend. It’s a simple, well-bounded effort that creates the potential for building knowledge while modeling an important network leadership trait: openness.

On the more ambitious end of the spectrum, LearningPhilanthropy.net is an online space (launched in the spring of 2010) and initiative for dialogue and coordination around grantmaker education. They are listening to grantmakers’ learning needs and working to create a shared curriculum and set of resources for grantmaker education.