Backbone Starter Guide: A Summary of Major Resources about the Backbone

For collective impact efforts, backbone support plays a critical role in helping a collaborative achieve its results, but it can be difficult to know where to start when building the backbone. What role should the backbone play? How can it be structured? How does it sustain itself?

The Backbone Starter Guide is a new resource for those thinking about how to start a backbone, or for established backbone teams who are bringing in new members and partners. The starter guide includes a short overview of the collective impact approach, as well as addresses:

• The backbone’s purpose and functions
• Different types of backbone structures
• Leadership skills for backbone staff
• The importance of centering equity within a backbone’s work
• The role of the funder in supporting a backbone’s sustainability

Click on the download link to access the Backbone Starter Guide: A Summary of Major Resources about the Backbone. (Logging in to your CIF account will be necessary to download the guide.)