View the Resource By Brint Milward, Katherine R. Cooper, Michelle Shumate Agreeing on a common agenda is one of the chief tenets of collective impact—and one of the prerequisites for moving collaboration forward. However, our experience working with collective impact initiatives and other similar networks suggests that collective impact leaders often struggle to get buy-in from various community stakeholders in the crucial early stages. Specifically, we’ve seen that insistence on

View the Resource By Sophia Fu, Michelle Shumate Nongovernmental organization (NGO) hyperlink networks are institutionalized connective public goods. They influence which actors and what aspects of social issues are made visible to the public in search engine results. To understand how contextual forces and institutional pressures influence who hyperlinks to whom online, this research examines a hyperlink network of 410 NGOs with various social missions operating across China. It suggests

View the Resource By Michelle Shumate, Yannick Atouba, Katherine R. Cooper, Andrew Pilny Interorganizational communication describes the structures, forms, and processes created by the exchange of messages and the co-creation of meaning among organizations and their stakeholders. Research in this area has its roots in the study of organizational interlocks and boundary spanners and, more recently, in the field of communication, especially when conceptualized as networks. Several theories have been

View the Resource By Michelle Shumate, Katherine R. Cooper This report summarizes what we really know about collective impact from a variety of perspectives. The information is primarily drawn from the Collective Impact Summit, convened by the Network for Nonprofit and Social Impact at Northwestern University in November 2015. The Summit brought together thought leaders from national networks that support collective impact initiatives and scholars from business, community development, communication,

View the Resource By Michelle Shumate, Andrew Pilny, Yannick Catouba, Jinseok Kim, Macarena Peña-y-Lillo, Katherine R. Cooper, Ariann Sahagun, Sijia Yang Communication network research is increasingly being used across the communication discipline. However, most social network research is limited in its generalizability because it focuses on either a single network case or ego-centric network data. In order to generate knowledge across network studies, a mechanism is needed to synthesize. This

View the Resource By Michelle Shumate, Yuli Patrick Hsieh, Amy O’Connor Using the symbiotic sustainability model as a framework, this research investigates how many and with which businesses top nonprofit organizations report partnerships. We examined the websites of the 122 largest, most recognizable U.S. nonprofits. These websites included information about 2,418 business–nonprofit (B2N) partnerships with 1,707 unique businesses. The results suggest key differences with previous research on how U.S. Fortune