What is collective impact?
“Large-scale social change comes from better cross-sector coordination rather than from the isolated intervention of individual organizations…” –– John Kania & Mark Kramer, Stanford Social Innovation Review: Collective Impact (2011)
The Collective Impact Forum describes “collective impact” as a network of community members, organizations, and institutions advancing equity by learning together, aligning, and integrating their actions to achieve population and systems level change. Facilitating the Five Conditions of collective impact requires centering equity by weaving the Five Equity Strategies into the process.
Five Conditions of Collective Impact
Developing a common agenda means bringing people together in a structured way to collectively define a problem and create a shared vision to solve it.
Establishing shared measurement means tracking progress in the same ways, allowing for continuous learning and accountability.
Fostering mutually reinforcing activities means integrating participants’ many different activities to maximize the end results.
Encouraging continuous communications means building trust and strengthening relationships among participants.
Having a strong backbone means a team dedicated to aligning and coordinating the work of the collaborative.
Equity strategies supporting emergence of collective impact conditions to achieve social change involve grounding the process by providing data and context to support targeted solutions; focusing on systems change, along with programs and services; shifting power within the collaborative by listening to and acting with community; and building equity leadership and accountability.
our roadmap
We’ve been using and adapting the framework outlined by John Kania and Mark Kramer in the Stanford Social Innovation Review as a guide for our process. We’re in the early phases of a long journey, with a current focus on bringing people together across sectors, building trust, mapping resource networks, and sharing data as we chart our course through Phase III.
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Participants are the heart of our organization. Since organizing ourselves in 2014, more than 1,300 service providers have participated in the collaborative. Over half of us are veterans or family members ourselves. We share space, directories, tools, events, trainings, information, and resources.
Unique participants over time through October 2023. Data identifying service providers who are also veterans and family members is not complete. Participants were affiliated with more than 627 unique organizations and agencies. Slack Connect data last updated in May 2022, which includes participants from more than 100 additional unique organizations using shared channels to collaborate via Slack Connect.
What are impact networks?
Converge – The Network Mindset: Scaling Out, Not Up
Interaction Institute for Social Change – Why Networks for Social Change
Stanford Social Innovation Review – Fostering Self-Organization
Stanford Social Innovation Review – Social Change Increasingly Requires Networked Action
GEO – What Role Can Grantmakers Play in Supporting Networks?
Food Security Direct Action
The Veterans Collaborative responded food insecurity among service members and veterans to increase access to targeted cash assistance during the pandemic. We received five $10,000 grants to purchase $50 grocery store gift cards through BWF’s Got Your 6 Network, along with individual donors and other grants totaling around $15,000.
With virtually no overhead as an all volunteer organization, nearly all of the funds went directly to purchasing gift cards. From January 2021 to January 2023, more than 55 organizations joined the fight for food security, distributing gift cards across the state to the households of more than 2,785 service members, veterans, survivors, and dependents, a third of which were children under age 18.
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After receiving notice of the $10,000 stimulus grants from BWF, we sent an email to our list with a brief Needs Assessment. The majority of service providers interested in offering food support to those in need completed the assessments within a few hours; nearly all completed them within a day.
In total 106 needs assessments were completed by service providers in our network between January 2021 and November 2022.
Generally, everyone who completed a needs assessment by the deadline was offered anywhere from a few to twenty $50 dollar gift cards to distribute (based on their assessment, funds, and demand) during each round of distributions with nearly half participating in multiple distribution rounds, each with an initial needs assessment.
We coordinated distribution to the various organizations by pickup, drop off, or mail, with some participants helping to get gift cards to other participants in their area. Service providers were asked to distribute gift cards as soon as possible, completing a survey to allow us to report back to BWF by the given deadline.
Prior to settling on $50 gift cards, we had asked service providers how much we should put on each card. The general consensus was to start with $50 per card with the intent of having a more significant impact on each person’s situation – as opposed to more people receiving a small amount.
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Fifty service providers from 46 unique organizations distributed gift cards at least one time and completed a follow up survey. Around 46% participated in multiple distributions, so a total of 92 follow up surveys were completed by participants between February 2021 and January 2023.
Who Participated in the Distribution?
Service providers who were service members or veterans themselves were the most likely to participate in the food security direct action:
At least 60 percent of participating service providers had served or were currently serving in the military and 47 percent of this group participated in 2–5 distributions.
An additional 26 percent of participating service providers identified as a military or veteran family member (without military service themselves) and 53 percent of this group participated in 2–4 distributions.
Only 14 percent of participating service providers were not military/veterans or family members themselves and 28 percent of this group participated in 3 distributions.
Who Received Grocery Gift Cards Distributed by Participants?
We asked service providers generally where they distributed gift cards, including what type of household and how many adults and children under age 18 were in each.
We also asked open ended questions about how service providers evaluated the need and prioritized which clients to offer the gift cards to if there were not enough to provide them to all clients.
We also asked service providers to share stories about the impact they had on the gift card recipients.
Where Were Grocery Gift Cards Distributed?
Overall, service providers reported distributing gift cards in at least 85 different cities and towns, with some participants only reporting at the county or region/area level.
Service providers distributed gift cards in 11 of 14 counties. The network did not reach Dukes, Nantucket, or Berkshire County.
Distributions were most often in Northeast and Southeast Massachusetts, except Dukes and Nantucket County.
Distributions in Central and Western Massachusetts reached most areas except Berkshire County.
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An optional survey for grocery gift card recipients in 2021 was distributed by placing a sticker on the gift cards with a QR code. We also created a paper form that 17 veterans who were unhoused or transitioning from homelessness completed for service providers to return via email.
Who Completed the Survey?
From February 2021 to December 2021, 53 households who received gift cards from participants with 10 unique organizations completed the optional anonymous survey, including 27 veterans and 20 current service members in households comprised of 93 people, 42 of which were children.
Around 60 percent identified as white or caucasian; 13 percent as black and/or African American; and 4 percent as hispanic and/or Latinx, with around 22 percent not writing in a race or ethnicity). Around 68 percent identified as men and 28 percent identified as women, with around 4 percent not writing in their sex or gender.
What was the financial situation like for gift card recipients?
43 percent were employed
21 percent were receiving SSDI or VA compensation
11 percent were using SNAP benefits
7.5 percent were receiving unemployment, worker’s compensation, or paid leave
7 percent were using food pantries or other programs
7 percent applied for benefits but were not approved, assistance fell short, or the program they were using ended, was temporary, or limited what they could offer
5.7 percent were receiving VA education benefits
5.7 percent were receiving SSI, VA pension, or Chapter 115 benefits
Did the gift cards have an impact on the recipient’s household?
We asked recipients whether the $50 gift card would make a meaningful difference in their ability to make ends meet and obtain a sufficient amount of food for their household for the next week.
58 percent reported the gift would make a meaningful difference; for many, it was just the right amount and/or would free up enough funds to purchase necessities they couldn’t otherwise afford.
34 percent reported the gift lifted their spirits and made them feel supported/cared for.
4 percent reported the gift would help somewhat, but they would still have to identify additional resources due to the larger size of their household.
4 percent reported the gift would not make a meaningful difference because they were really struggling financially or with budgeting and planning for their food costs overall.
Under 2 percent reported preferring to receive groceries, fresh food, or pantry items.
At the end of the online version of the survey, respondents were shown a page with links to the calendar of upcoming free meals and food distributions embedded on this page, along with a brief description and link to the MassVets Benefits Calculator and Coordinated Veterans Services.
“Never confuse movement with action.”