Beyond Collaboration: Building a Community of “We” in Philanthropy
posted on: Wednesday, October 26, 2011
By Yna C. Moore
It’s hard to imagine work that does not involve some form of collaboration, be it among our own organization’s staff or among members of other organizations. Many times, these collaborations take place around specific issue areas or a problem that everyone at the table would like to help solve. From these collaborative efforts, one would expect participants to feel like they are a part of something bigger than themselves. A collective. A community. But do they really?
In “The Power of ‘We’: A Journey Through Collaboration,” Frank Baiocchi of Polk Bros. Foundation shares his experience with other arts education funders in Chicago and their efforts during the past several decades to promote effective arts education to Chicago Public Schools.
He describes his “Ah-ha” moment during a conference on the Arts for All Initiative, when he and his Chicago-based colleagues realized, “This is what was missing at home. A number of exciting, creative ventures were occurring in arts education throughout our city, but we did not have a cohesive community reaching toward the accomplishment of mutual goals.”
From this realization, Baiochhi and his colleagues deliberately worked to build this missing sense of community, taking on the challenge to cultivate the “We” in their efforts among the foundations, nonprofits, students, teachers and other stakeholders they were working with.
So it seems that the act of collaboration itself doesn’t necessarily result in that “community” that many seek to develop as we work with each other around issues that matter to us.
From Baiocchi’s experience, creating that sense of “We” has to be part of a strategy, deliberately sought and cultivated. And in this age of social media, I can’t help but wonder if Twitter, Facebook and other social sites have really helped make it easier for us to build and nurture that community.
What’s been your experience? Let us know in comments and the poll below.
Yna C. Moore is communications director of the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP).Labels: arts philanthropy, collaboration, Poll, Responsive Philanthropy
It’s hard to imagine work that does not involve some form of collaboration, be it among our own organization’s staff or among members of other organizations. Many times, these collaborations take place around specific issue areas or a problem that everyone at the table would like to help solve. From these collaborative efforts, one would expect participants to feel like they are a part of something bigger than themselves. A collective. A community. But do they really?
In “The Power of ‘We’: A Journey Through Collaboration,” Frank Baiocchi of Polk Bros. Foundation shares his experience with other arts education funders in Chicago and their efforts during the past several decades to promote effective arts education to Chicago Public Schools.
He describes his “Ah-ha” moment during a conference on the Arts for All Initiative, when he and his Chicago-based colleagues realized, “This is what was missing at home. A number of exciting, creative ventures were occurring in arts education throughout our city, but we did not have a cohesive community reaching toward the accomplishment of mutual goals.”
From this realization, Baiochhi and his colleagues deliberately worked to build this missing sense of community, taking on the challenge to cultivate the “We” in their efforts among the foundations, nonprofits, students, teachers and other stakeholders they were working with.
So it seems that the act of collaboration itself doesn’t necessarily result in that “community” that many seek to develop as we work with each other around issues that matter to us.
From Baiocchi’s experience, creating that sense of “We” has to be part of a strategy, deliberately sought and cultivated. And in this age of social media, I can’t help but wonder if Twitter, Facebook and other social sites have really helped make it easier for us to build and nurture that community.
What’s been your experience? Let us know in comments and the poll below.
Yna C. Moore is communications director of the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP).
Labels: arts philanthropy, collaboration, Poll, Responsive Philanthropy
posted by National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy at
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