Collective Impact – Progress Assessment
Is There a Common Agenda?
_____ Do we have all of the necessary stakeholders at the table?
_____ Does the group have an explicit definition of the problem in agreed-upon language to refer to?
_____ Has the group agreed upon the scope of the landscape it is focusing on? (i.e., Which stakeholders need/do not need to be involved?)
_____ Has the group written a vision and mission statement?
_____ Does the group have agreed upon goals, and measurable targets related to those goals?
Does Backbone Support Exist?
_____ Has a structure for the backbone been clearly decided (e.g., existing organization, new organization, hybrid)?
_____ Is there a funder willing to fund the creation of backbone infrastructure over several years?
_____ Is the backbone actively supporting aligned activities through convening partners, providing technical assistance, and recruiting new partners?
_____ Has the backbone organization begun to build public will with consensus and commitment through communications management, articulating the call to action, and supporting community member engagement activities?
Is a Shared Measurement System in Place?
_____ Is ongoing staffing assigned and funding allocated to develop and implement a shared measurement strategy?
_____ Have we decided what metrics and benchmarks to use to gauge our progress?
_____ Have we established processes to ensure that measurement remains aligned to hold all organizations accountable? Is this data accessible enough so that organizations can easily course-correct?
_____ Have we established a web-based technology tool for bringing shared measurement to scale?
_____ Is that web-based tool easily accessible to stakeholders, customizable, and inexpensive?
_____ Are stakeholders sharing results and learning from each other using the tools and processes we’ve created?
Have Mutually Reinforcing Activities Been Established?
_____ Is there an up-to-date map of the players, strategies and work underway?
_____ Is it clear who is responsible for the different strategic elements of the initiative?
_____ Has overlap and redundancy between organizations been identified and minimized?
_____ Have sub-groups been established by locality and type of activity?
_____ Has a list of prioritized activities and next steps been written so that the different groups are coordinated around common agenda?
Is There Continuous Communication?
_____ Have meeting schedules been established for activity-focused sub-groups? Will these meetings occur yearly? Monthly? Weekly?
_____ Have meeting schedules been established for community-focused sub-groups? Will these meetings occur yearly? Monthly? Weekly?
_____ Have vertical and horizontal reporting processes been established? (i.e., How will sub-groups report out to the steering committee? How will groups report to each other?)
_____ Have decision-making processes been established?
Collective Impact – Readiness Assessment
Use the following gauges to determine “readiness” for Collective Impact by identifying which preconditions the group is well prepared for or will need further investment in:
Progress Gauges:
Significant Investment Needed – The group does not currently have these elements/processes in place. There is an incomplete or unclear plan to accomplish this goal and/or significant time and resources will need to be allocated to either begin or complete this process.
Some Investment Needed – While these elements/processes are not fully in place, significant thought and planning has gone into these elements. Time and resources have been allocated and clear progress is being made.
Current Situation Strong – These elements/processes are either fully in place or sufficient progress has been made in them so that they are operationally functional in the context of the initiative.
