The research study “When Collective Impact Has an Impact: A Cross-Site Study of 25 Collective Impact Initiatives,” conducted by a research team from the organizations ORS Impact and the Spark Policy Institute, looks at the question of “To what extent and under what conditions does the collective impact approach contribute to systems and population changes?”
To explore these questions, the research team studied 25 sites and has generated a rich set of findings that we hope will be useful for the field of collective impact practitioners, community members, funders, researchers, and evaluators.
The research team looked at how the collective impact approach contributed to each initiative’s ability to achieve systems changes to population changes, including:
- What population level, systems change, and early outcomes were found across the participating initiatives,
- How implementation of the collective impact approach contributed to outcomes, and
- How embedding an equity approach contributed to equity results within their work.
A key finding of the report is that “the role of the collective impact initiatives in contributing to population change alongside other efforts or enablers is a critical and valuable aspect of social change.”
Download the full report and executive summary with the download links on this page.
MORE ABOUT THE REPORT
Read more from ORS Impact and Spark Policy to learn more about what went into the study.
Read a summary of the findings in the Collective Impact Forum blog.
Watch a webinar explaining the report’s findings.
