Collective Impact Insights

If your team is struggling with silence in meetings, guarded language, or chronic exhaustion, you are dealing with the biological baseline of trauma. Trauma, whether individual, collective, or historical, reconfigures how people perceive themselves and the world. In the intimate and private realms, from the family home to the prison cell, trauma dictates a person’s ability to feel safe in a room with others.

State surveillance in red states represents more than policy; it is the operationalization of power to erase trans identities. In Rooted Together, we call for a Mycelium of Resistance. Nonprofits must move beyond advocacy to build Parallel Governance—decentralized systems of safety, digital sovereignty, and mutual aid. By creating infrastructure the state cannot track, we peacefully undermine authoritarian control and move from survival to sovereignty.

To become a savvy steward, you must move beyond these three expressions of ‘power over’ and begin cultivating ‘power with’ – the shared strength that emerges when power is distributed rather than hoarded.

A critical tension is shaking nonprofit journalism: the pursuit of community-centered reporting clashes with the 'power over' dynamics of institutional donors. A recent Prism report reveals how coverage of Palestine has become a high-stakes litmus test for newsrooms — one that threatens both their financial stability and their editorial integrity. In this ecosystem, we see all three types of power at work through administrative control, deciding which truths are allowed to re

Nonprofit collaborations are a powerful way to amplify impact, share resources, and create meaningful change. However, they can also be incredibly challenging. While the goal of working together for a common good is inspiring, many partnerships fall short of their potential or fail entirely. Why? It often comes down to leadership, power dynamics, and a lack of clear communication.

It's a perplexing question that often plagues observers of institutions, big or small: Why do some organizations seem to languish in incompetence rather than embracing necessary change? Why do they cling so fiercely to outdated models, even when it's clear these no longer serve their purpose or the very people they claim to protect? This isn't just about inefficiency; it's about a profound resistance to evolution, often with real consequences for those who depend on these o

In times of crisis and systemic oppression, our resources — our time, money, and energy — must be deployed with maximum impact. Institutional philanthropy won't keep the lights on, nor will it meaningfully dismantle a powerful, oppressive system. Relying solely on traditional philanthropic models fails to address the root causes of systemic vulnerability. They cannot, by their nature, confront an actively hostile state apparatus determined to control every aspect of life.

The systems we operate within are of our society's own design. The architects of these systems designed them in a way that is beneficial to themselves and people like them. As we move toward building new systems that are mindful and inclusive of the unlimited types of diversity that exist in the human experience we must: -Reflect on our role in perpetuating old systems -Define our new role in rebuilding these systems -Leverage data to create tools that hold institutions acco

Systemic gender bias and sexism are pervasive in the nonprofit sector. It is a myth that the “do-gooder” nature of nonprofits means an organization is more self-aware or better equipped to challenge power imbalances that exist in society. The racial, gender, and class power structures we see in the wider world are common in the nonprofit world.

he Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade threatens the lives of everyone who can become pregnant, removes personal autonomy over the bodies of people with uteruses, and forces pregnancies onto people who do not want to be pregnant.

Mega giving is a consistent and continuing American giving tradition, ultimately making mega-foundations more powerful now than they were 100 years ago, due to their greater number and the societal context in which they operate. The public is more reliant on the nonprofit sector to meet critical needs as government budgets continue to whittle away at social service programs over the past several decades.

Understanding that equity is impossible until we address structural/systemic and institutional racism entrenched in our nation's history and culture is not the most exciting way to spend your free time. You are deliberately making yourself so uncomfortable it feels like you are dying. But we can't wait until people feel comfortable talking about racism to acknowledge the harm that is occurring every day across America.

Our country is in the midst of a democratic crisis. It is the responsibility of White folks to clean up this mess and dismantle our country's white supremacist infrastructures. What does that mean for nonprofits?

We are in the midst of a lifelong fight - one that must upend current nonprofit beliefs and practices by resetting the power dynamic. That means rethinking philanthropy, advancing structural change in organizations, and creating accountability frameworks for foundations and endowments - in particular, those who earned their money on the backs of underpaid, undervalued, and unprotected laborers.

This post was originally shared on June 14, 2020 by Jeff Olivet at jo consulting's blog. Jeff has worked in homelessness, behavioral health, and public health for more than 25 years. As a speaker, writer, and policy leader, he has shaped new directions for organizations across the United States and internationally. In addition to his work with jo consulting, Jeff is a Founding Partner at Racial Equity Partners.

I see the broad strokes of the evolution of my beliefs, choices, and actions. It's the micro-evolution; the day-to-day changes that are more difficult to track. Recently, I began concluding my workshops with three statements: I used to think ________. But then I learned ________. So now I ________. This encourages folks to qualify their learning at a micro-level.

It has been 10 weeks since the death of George Floyd and 21 weeks since the death of Breonna Taylor. Since their deaths, we have seen a wave of protests across the country with Black people at the forefront calling for justice in the deaths of Floyd and Taylor as well as countless others at the hands of the police. Yet, as of today, there has been little police accountability and the escalating police force against protesters has created even more violence.

Our call to educate is intertwined with making actionable change; as we discuss how we, as consultants, can incorporate these activists' insights into our own consulting firms, the nonprofits, and movements we serve. I'm sharing the discussion questions and action items I've drafted for The Revolution Will Not Be Funded in hopes that other nonprofit professionals will take this opportunity to critically think about the long-term consequences of the "nonprofit industrial compl

When we examine where donations have gone, we begin to ask if the communities being hit the hardest are the ones receiving the resources.

If you are a reimbursing employer you must pay 100% of unemployment costs before you are eligible for 50% forgiveness.