UWNCO Impact Partners & Funded Coalitions Participate in Collective Impact & Backbone Training Workshop

Over the past five years, United Way of North Central Ohio has committed to utilizing a Collective Impact framework and RBA (Results-Based Accountability) throughout our organization but especially in our application, allocation, and reporting processes. Collective impact requires a network of community members, organizations, and institutions who advance equity by learning together while aligning and integrating their actions to achieve population- and systems-level change.

On Monday, December 12 the Collective Impact Forum presented a virtual workshop, Introduction to Collective Impact and the Backbone Role. As part of our commitment to training partners and community members in the Collective Impact framework, we provided the registration costs so that our funded partners and coalitions to participate with us. The workshop was attended by more than 250 nonprofit organizations from around the world, including United Way of North Central Ohio, twenty participants from 15 of our impact partner organizations, and two of our local community foundations.

The training gave an overview of the five conditions of Collective Impact with a focus on the fifth – Backbone Support. As the administrative support arm of a collective impact coalition, the Backbone organization guides the development of common agenda goals and facilitates steering committee and work group meetings, gathers data to support the coalition efforts, and ensures equity, transparency, and community engagement to ensure that diverse voices guide and participate in every level of the coalition.

UWNCO will be hosting a debrief session in January for local attendees of the workshop so that we can hear feedback from our partners and discuss strategies and improvements for existing coalitions.