Research Study of Collective Impact

We are currently conducting a large-scale qualitative study of collective impact, co-funded by the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, Robert Woods Johnson Foundation, McCormick Foundation, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Houston Endowment.

The study is a qualitative analysis of how collective impact conditions and principles are implemented across 26 collective impact communities across the country and Canada. The primary analytic approach is process tracing to investigate causal hypotheses about how collective impact contributes to intended changes and outcomes. Data includes extensive document review, interviews with key stakeholders, and case studies of a sub-set of communities, including interactive dialogues to confirm and disconfirm hypotheses generated through initial data collection. 

Many collective impact efforts have reported achieving positive results through their work, and have a personal, intuitive understanding of why this approach to collaboration has enabled positive progress in communities. Until now, however, there has not been a methodologically rigorous study of the approach's impact across multiple efforts on multiple social issues. 

For this reason, the Collective Impact Forum (a partnership of the Aspen Institute and FSG) commissioned ORS Impact and Spark Policy (two independent, third party research organizations) to conduct a study of collective impact. The intent of the study is to understand the ways in which collective impact has contributed to population level and system change outcomes in a sample of collective impact efforts across the U.S. and Canada. The study approach relies on three major methods to examine whether or not CI conditions and principles of practice can be reliably linked to system-level and population changes:

• A set of analytic rubrics to allow us to capture how well the CI approach is being implemented and to what extent systems-level and population changes are occurring in CI sites.
• Process tracing to explore competing hypotheses about different plausible explanations or causes of outcomes or results by assessing the extent to which each of the explanations identified are supported or not supported by the available evidence. The focus is on establishing the causal link between CI conditions and systems changes, and systems changes and population changes.
• Additional thematic analysis of qualitative data that falls outside the rubrics and process tracing, but is critical for answering the questions (e.g. understanding other positive impacts of the work, exploring barriers).

The study will highlight where and how population level and system change outcomes are being achieved, and what is contributing to these changes. More specifically, the research has the potential to highlight findings related to:

1. How the structure and infrastructure of cross-sector collective impact collaboratives can drive toward positive change
2. How a focus on equity in process and outcomes relates to systems changes and other positive changes
3. The types of system changes that are achievable through these collaborations, and how they relate to ultimate population level change

Spark and ORS's study will be completed by January 2018. While findings are not yet determined, the study will be identifying specific implications for funders related to the three areas mentioned above, and potentially others.