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Collective Impact Toolkit

Welcome to the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation’s online resource library for communities. These resources from the Community Tool Box and other online sources are oriented around the collective impact model, a framework for collaboration to advance equity and achieve systems change.

What is Collective Impact?

Collective impact is a network of community members, organizations, and institutions who advance equity by learning together, aligning, and integrating their actions to achieve population and systems-level change.

Sewing Labs

Five Phases of Collective Impact

Although rooted in the local context, collaborative action can generally be categorized by five phases: Assess Readiness, Initiate Action, Organize for Impact, Begin Implementation, and Sustain Action and Impact.

To explore the entire collection of chapters and associated toolkits for the five phases of collective impact, visit the Collective Impact Forum Table of Contents.

The group explores whether the community and relevant stakeholders have the capacity, resources, and interest to engage in a collective impact effort. This phase helps determine if conditions are right for collaborative action.

Some recommended actions for Phase 1:

  • Through collaboration with community, conduct a readiness and landscape assessment (assess complexity and urgency of problem, assess history of collaboration, identify existing local collaborations, identify potential champions, determine resources).
  • Create baseline landscape and data mapping.

Resources for Phase 1:

To explore the entire collection of chapters and associated toolkits, visit the Collective Impact Forum Table of Contents.

The group identifies and convenes key community members, leaders, and stakeholders to launch the shared effort. Community engagement and initial meetings generate early momentum, align expectations, and encourage meaningful participation.

Some recommended actions for Phase 2:

Resources for Phase 2:

To explore the entire collection of chapters and associated toolkits, visit the Collective Impact Forum Table of Contents.

The group formalizes its strategic direction through defining a common agenda, clarifying its goals, and establishing the structures to support impactful collaboration.

Some recommended actions for Phase 3:

  • Create a common agenda: clear problem definition, common vision, population level goal, basic theory of change.
  • Develop high-level population goal.
  • Select backbone organization.
  • Ongoingly, engage community perspective/voice.

Resources for Phase 3:

To explore the entire collection of chapters and associated toolkits, visit the Collective Impact Forum Table of Contents.

The group begins implementation of coordinated strategic activities to achieve their shared goals.

Some recommended actions for Phase 4:

Resources for Phase 4:

To explore the entire collection of chapters and associated toolkits, visit the Collective Impact Forum Table of Contents.

The group sustains the initiative through ongoing participatory evaluation, adaptation, and community engagement. The initiative continues to evolve, and strategies are adjusted to meet changing needs and conditions.

Some recommended actions for Phase 5:

  • Continue implementing strategies.
  • Collect and use data to learn and refine strategies.
  • Evolve steering committee and working group composition to match adaptive strategies.
  • Continue ongoing activities to share initiative progress and gain community input.

Resources for Phase 5:

To explore the entire collection of chapters and associated toolkits, visit the Collective Impact Forum Table of Contents.

Five Conditions of Collective Impact

To drive systems change, organizations engaged in collective impact work must address five conditions: Common Agenda, Shared Measurement, Mutually Reinforcing Activities, Continuous Communication, and Backbone Support.

To explore the entire collection of chapters and associated toolkits related to the five conditions of collective impact, visit the Collective Impact Forum Table of Contents.

KC Can Compost

All participants share a vision for change that includes a common understanding of the problem and a joint approach to solving the problem through agreed-upon actions.

Resources for Common Agenda:

To explore the entire collection of chapters and associated toolkits, visit the Collective Impact Forum Table of Contents.

Participating organizations agree on the ways success will be measured and reported, with a short list of common indicators identified and used for learning and improvement.

Resources for Shared Measurement:

To explore the entire collection of chapters and associated toolkits, visit the Collective Impact Forum Table of Contents.

A diverse set of stakeholders, typically across sectors, coordinate a set of differentiated activities through a mutually reinforcing plan of action.

Resources for Mutually Reinforcing Activities:

To explore the entire collection of chapters and associated toolkits, visit the Collective Impact Forum Table of Contents.

All players engage in frequent and structured open communication to build trust, assure mutual objectives, and create common motivation.

Resources for Continuous Communication:

To explore the entire collection of chapters and associated toolkits, visit the Collective Impact Forum Table of Contents.

An independent, funded staff dedicated to the initiative provides ongoing support by guiding the initiative’s vision and strategy, supporting aligned activities, establishing shared measurement practices, building public will, advancing policy, and mobilizing resources.

Resources for Backbone Support:

To explore the entire collection of chapters and associated toolkits, visit the Collective Impact Forum Table of Contents.

To explore the entire collection of chapters and associated toolkits, visit the Collective Impact Forum Table of Contents.

2024 Capacity Building grantee, Police Athletic League

Kauffman Collective Impact grant

The Kauffman Foundation Collective Impact grant is a two-part grant for coalitions of high-capacity organizations to create a systems-change strategy to close economic mobility gaps in the Kansas City region aligned with our strategic priorities and focus areas.