Collaboration Done Right
Feather O'Connor Houstoun
"The Lodestar Foundation, founded in 1999 and based in Phoenix, has set for itself what many may consider a quixotic journey: to foster, encourage, and celebrate collaborative partnerships among nonprofit and public-sector enterprises that advance social good," writes Feather O'Connor Houstoun in this piece for…
Effective Partnerships
Saphira M. Baker
✴︎ Available only with purchase from publisher In this contribution to SSIR, Saphira M. Baker — former Deputy Chief Administrative Officer for Human Services for the City of Richmond, Virginia — asks the question, "What is it that makes collaborative community change efforts involving nonprofits…
The Wrong Question about Business and Government
John D. Donahue
In this Governing article, John Donahue warns against asking how much involvement the private sector should have in solving public problems. "The right question concerns not 'how much' but rather 'how' the private sector should be involved. There is a vast, variegated, and under-examined menu…
On Public-Private Partnerships: A conversation with Ambassador Elizabeth Frawley Bagley
William D. Eggers
This article is a Q&A with Elizabeth Frawley Bagley, the first Special Representative for Global Partnerships for the Global Partnership Initiative established by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2009. The goal of the GPI was "to enhance the ability of the State Department…
Collaboration: First Step or Last Resort?
Jonathan D. Breul
"Collaboration, governing-by-network, public-private partnerships, shared authority — whatever you call it, it's a hot topic in government circles. … But is collaboration the right solution in every case? Is it readily achievable? Not necessarily, says a team of researchers from the University of Minnesota led…
Private-investment opportunities in public transport
Benjamin Cheatham and Walter Oblin
In this research brief for McKinsey, Benjamin Cheatham and Walter Oblin look at the opportunities and risks of public-private partnerships for transportation. "Opportunities for the private sector to invest in public-transportation infrastructure through public-private partnerships are likely to be worth more than $300 billion from…
The Reality Underneath the Buzz of Partnerships: The potentials and pitfalls of partnering
Francie Ostrower
The author of this SSIR piece urges readers to be more realistic about partnering's potential and its risks. "There is a tendency in the philanthropic world to assume that collaboration has intrinsic value and effectiveness, and to expect partnership to serve as a solution, often…
Measuring the effectiveness of multi-sector approaches to service provision
Business Partners for Development, Water and Sanitation Cluster
Ken Caplan and David Jones
"Measuring the effectiveness of partnerships between different sectors proves particularly challenging. Different interested and affected groups will measure the success of the initiative according to different sets of criteria. Partnership elicits qualitative values such as trust, responsiveness and flexibility that are more likely to be…
A Mayor's View: The Effect of Collective Impact Initiatives on City Hall
Ronda Jackson
This Living Cities' article features highlights from an interview with former three-term Mayor of Minneapolis, R.T. Rybak, who is now a part-time Senior Advisor to Living Cities. As Mayor, R.T. participated in several collective impact initiatives focusing on an array of issues including youth violence,…
Government Innovation Newsfeed
Apolitical is a global platform for policymakers and their partners. It lets them read about what's working and connect with their peers and colleagues around the world. It specializes in the actual processes and systems of government, with a newsfeed on government innovation. "Just as…