4-6+Convening+--+Overnight+Thoughts

// **After Day 1, participants got to share their overnight thoughts in an** open conversation about new connections they're making, patterns emerging, insights surfaced, and questions coming up. //
media type="custom" key="9009078"Graphic recording by Lynn Carruthers. Download file on SlideShare to view in higher resolution. //**Additional discussion:**//

//Empowerment: //
 * The Network of Network Funders group knows a lot more than what it gives itself credit for. It needs to celebrate this, own this, and not fear leading. [For more on this, see 6 April entry on Eugene's blog at [] )
 * Conversations surrounding networks toggles between tension / need for balance between clear articulation and linearity, finding answers and getting it right, spreading control, intuiting, it’s not an either or but a both and… What does it mean for us to “own what we know and not fear leading?”
 * “Oh my god, it’s my people!” - It’s empowering to overcome the feeling of isolation and to come to the realization that there is an actual network of people who are working through the same issues.
 * What we’re doing cannot be done alone. We can only be evangelists for networks so far without having a lot of company.

//Aspirations://
 * We need to always ask ourselves, //what time is it? Is it time for being intentional about this practice? Is it for the evolution of the support tools (e.g., social media technology)? Do the tools need to reach a certain maturity before the practice becomes part of the mainstream?//
 * When will the concept of connectedness and working in a networked way become so ubiquitous that there’s no need for an NNF CoP?
 * Are we ready to start being a network for funders worldwide, and for the field as a whole? Is it time to start thinking about how other funders can learn about what we’re doing? What will it take? What are the leverage points? It’s a question about our readiness / ability / willingness to start acting for the whole field vs. what’s needed for our individual foundations.
 * <span style="display: block; margin: 0.1pt 0in; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd;"><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt;">It’s important not only to break down silo’s within and across organizations, but also between funders and nonprofits. At the end of the day, we all care deeply about the same thing, but we stay in our boxes.
 * <span style="display: block; margin: 0.1pt 0in; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd;"><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt;">How many foundations have sought out other foundations that are giving out similar grants and compared their portfolios to try to share learnings about what’s worked and what hasn’t?
 * <span style="display: block; margin: 0.1pt 0in; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd;"><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt;">Packard is trying to share and connect learning through their Goldmine OE Wiki.

//Emergence://
 * <span style="display: block; margin: 0.1pt 0in; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd;"><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt;">Some members of the group were ambivalent about emergence. They still struggle with the idea of having to wait 10 years to see field-level outcomes.
 * <span style="display: block; margin: 0.1pt 0in; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd;">__<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt;">Compost Theory of Grantmaking __<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt;">: Sharing failures can create fertile ground for other things to happen later (metaphor: to make compose you throw all kinds of things together and make sure air comes in). This is the opposite end of intentionality.
 * <span style="display: block; margin: 0.1pt 0in; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd;">__<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt;">Termite Castles __<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt;">: While network theory is much simpler than complexity science, the time may be ripe for this group to go back and look at “termite castles,” much more sophisticated concepts of self-organizing that are the basis for all natural systems.

//Risk Taking://
 * <span style="display: block; margin: 0.1pt 0in; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd;"><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt;">We should not presume that network funders have some sort of engineering control over the outcomes of their grants. At the end of the day, network funders – like other investors – are placing bets. Rather, we should think of networks as helping to increase the likelihood that some outcome may occur, that systems may foster emergence, etc.
 * <span style="display: block; margin: 0.1pt 0in; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd;"><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt;">There’s a need to distinguish foundation failure, grantee failure, and a failure that could not have been predicted.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt;">Things can look like a failure when you’re in the middle of it. There’s a difference between something that won’t work vs. something that may not have had enough time to work yet. For instance, many businesses take a decade to perfect their business models.
 * <span style="display: block; margin: 0.1pt 0in; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd;"><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt;">Many funders find that their board wants them to think like investors and take risks, and they themselves think about risk often. Some even have a section in their grants addressing risks inherent to the grant and how to work around them (e.g., it’s possible that the political environment will change and that as a result we’ll need to re-write the grant). While we all seem to be thinking about risk, it’s possible that we’re too nervous to speak about it, particularly with our board.
 * <span style="display: block; margin: 0.1pt 0in; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd;"><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt;">To overcome our aversion to discussing risk, funders could “reward risk” (e.g., program officers are rewarded for including a certain number of risky grants in their portfolios).
 * <span style="display: block; margin: 0.1pt 0in; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd;"><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt;">While most foundations view themselves as risk takers, they may not be bold enough in the risks they take. The real objective should be, “We’re bold enough in the risk and the problems we determine to take on.” Only through risk taking will real breakthroughs happen.
 * <span style="display: block; margin: 0.1pt 0in; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd;"><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt;">We have to remind ourselves that, in philanthropy, the worst that could happen – aside from violating some IRS code – usually isn’t all that bad.

//Tools + To-Do's://
 * <span style="display: block; margin: 0.1pt 0in; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd;"><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt;">There’s a hunger for practical tools. Currently, organizations feel like they have to invent them as they go. We should put the RE-AMP case study on a wiki and invite people to drill down on some of the principles. We should make it a living document.
 * <span style="display: block; margin: 0.1pt 0in; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd;"><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt;">It’s important to give foundation staff time + space to learn about the broader systems they are trying to influence and the interconnectedness of elements within that system — this is a huge learning curve that cannot be taught in the span of a day, in addition to all other day-to-day tasks. Part of what’s missing is an institutional culture that promotes systems thinking as part of the job description. This takes a different type of buy-in. While people are loosely weaving networks and working with a network mindset, it may be necessary to do more than connect people to harvest the power of networks. The challenge is how to integrate this framework into institutional cultures that are averse to change?
 * <span style="display: block; margin: 0.1pt 0in; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd;"><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt;">It’s helpful for people to visualize the system (e.g., the actors, the process, and the problem that they were dealing with). //What are tools we can use to help people – many of who are linear thinkers – to visualize the system, and to recognize that they are actually part of it?//
 * <span style="display: block; margin: 0.1pt 0in; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd;"><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt;">What will it take to effect a change in language such that networks go from being what we do to get from A to B, to what we do?

//Resources://
 * <span style="display: block; margin: 0.1pt 0in; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd;"><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt;">Learn from improvisation. <span style="color: blue; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt;">The Applied Improvisation Network <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt;">teaches skills that are critical for working with a network mindset (e.g., being comfortable of uncertainty, trusting your colleagues, and sharing control). They believe that holding tightly to one idea as the only way to succeed is not going to succeed — for example, if one actor pretends like he is in a spaceship, and another on the same stage pretends she’s on a horse, they won’t be able to work together; they must compromise. At some point, all they have on stage is each other. This might be an interesting resource for us to explore.
 * <span style="display: block; margin: 0.1pt 0in; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd;"><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt;">Beth and others have created a Google Doc for network weavers that has “lived” for over a year and a half, in which people go back and forth. To access the Sandbox Google Doc, click here.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt;">There is a Greenpeace site that highlights failures in international development, where people post in exquisite detail what isn’t working. To access the site, click here.

Go back to April 5-6 Convening Notes