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.

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

Starting a movement requires more than a lone dancer on a hillside; it requires the courage of a first follower and the strength of a shared foundation. To move beyond a fleeting moment toward a self-sustaining ecosystem, we must shift from 'power over' to 'power with.' Discover how to transform individual action into collective agency by creating relational safety, distributing leadership, and building a 'person-proof' root system that ensures your mission thrives long after

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 Why do they cling so fiercely to outdated models, even when it's clear these no longer serve their purpose or the very people they claim to protect?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

Who are the power players in your community? Are they charismatic, creative leaders who get things done for the community? Is it sustainable, shared power that brings people together or is it authoritarian power sustained through coercion and fear?

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.

It's exhausting to always swim upstream, codeswitch, and uphold "respectability politics" to be accepted and succeed in White dominant workplace culture. As part of Talem's ongoing effort to uplift the leadership and voices of women of color leaders in the nonprofit community, we are building a space where BIPOC women (including non-binary and gender non-conforming women) in nonprofit leadership roles are able to have honest and authentic conversations.

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.

The nonprofit sector often operates as a "white space"—an environment where an implicit racial order demands that leaders of Color "pass inspection" for provisional acceptance. Following Cyndi Suarez’s critique of how these spaces sanitize racial justice into "diversity," Talem Consulting is launching two parallel governance initiatives.

It's difficult to predict how grassroots nonprofit organizations will be affected by COVID-19 as an event of this nature hasn't been measured during our lifetimes. We invite you to participate in a survey that will help us compile data about the short and mid-term impact of what organizations are facing.

The country is still reeling from the aftermath of the presidential elections. There is a lot at stake for marginalized communities. Many are grieving, fearful, and anxious for their and their children’s future. It’s ok to process this outcome in a way that is best for you. For the nonprofit community, the consequences that will unfold from this are still unknown. What we do know is that while we cannot control other people’s behavior we can control our response to it.