How+do+networks+grow+and+change+over+time?

A frequent topic of conversation in the Network of Network Funders community of practice has been: How do networks grow and change over time? What do networks need at different stages in their life cycle(s)? What growth and evolution challenges might be anticipated for networks? And, how does all of this relate to the role of grantmakers as network initiators, conveners, and weavers, and as sources of capacity building funding?
 * //How do networks grow and change over time?//**

The answer: it depends. Networks are all around us. They are the messy social webs of relationships we are all embedded in. As such, networks couldn’t possibly have a well-defined evolutionary pattern. At the same time, there are more formal, purpose-drive networks that, while they exist within this larger messier social web, they do have clear boundaries and some commonalities in how they grow and change.

The following network life cycle model describes such a common—but not universal—evolution pattern. The model was adapted from the work of iScale, with input from the work of June Holley and Valdis Krebs.