Collective Impact Conference

On April 14-16, Jan Garbett, the two EPIK Deliberate Digital staff members (Michelle Linford and Aubrey Lee) and a board member (Stephanie Hibbert) attended the Champions for Change conference in Calgary. The conference was hosted by Tamarack and FSG, two organizations leading the worldwide conversation about collective impact.

This conference was for people in organizations filling a backbone function in collective impact efforts. Backbones are there to provide support for cross-sector collaborations around complex social issues.

It was exciting to engage with people from various countries who are passionate about community change. More than one person at the conference commented on how they’d found their last job in this world of collective impact. It’s a great work to be involved in.

EPIK was thrilled to be invited to participate in a panel of backbone organizations on the first day of the conference.

Participants had a lot of thoughts and questions that were captured on the Learning Wall. (See? EPIK isn’t the only organization that loves sticky notes!)

It’s difficult to capture all that happened, and all that we learned. But this Storify page is a great way to catch a big-picture glimpse of what kinds of topics were discussed at the conference. The hashtag #c4ccalgary is also a good resource.

Some of our favorite Tweets follow, and highlight some of the concepts that were discussed:

@weaverworks: The need of the #coĺlectiveimpact movement requires a deeper understanding of how social change happens @johnvkania #c4ccalgary

@VBorgonovi @johnvkania: No one leader controls enough to make change happen alone. Multiple, systems leaders working together can

@jack_lori: John Kania “to move from incremental change to transformative change then systems MUST change. #c4ccalgary #collectiveimpact

@lisaattygalle: “We need to shift our perspectives from deficit-based to asset-based” @johnvkania #c4ccalgary

@bkumpula: Many people who have power and resources don’t understand how social change happens #c4ccalgary

@tricofoundation: Speaking of quality questions, a good start is “what are your own blind spots?” #c4ccalgary

@ihearthomeyyc: “Effective collective impact initiatives require system leaders.” #collectiveimpact #c4ccalgary

@Tamarack_Inst: Those who sometimes annoy us the most are those we sometimes need to pay the most attention to. @SylviaCheuy #c4ccalgary #reducingignorance

@kathysrules: A birds eye view AND a worms eye view needed for #collectiveimpact #c4ccalgary

@Tamarack_Inst: We need to take the time to slow down ask questions and ask questions of ourselves.-@SylviaCheuy #c4ccalgary #collectiveimpact

@tricofoundation: The ‘math’ of #collectiveimpact: does what your group is doing add up to more than the sum of its parts? #c4ccalgary