Volunteering may look different now than it did before the pandemic. After being forced to continue operations remotely for the better part of 2020 and 2021, some organizations are now leaning into the use of virtual volunteering as a way of gathering volunteers regardless of physical location. But how does this influence the ways that volunteers give their time? And how does this affect the “why” behind volunteering? Volunteering rates

View the Resource By Joshua-Paul Miles, Anne-Marie Boyer, Michelle Shumate As pressure increases to support social justice, coalitions try to understand their role in oppression while implementing practices to create equitable environments. Twenty-six education-focused community coalitions in the United States participated in the study. Coalition interviews and membership rosters are used to evaluate the degree to which these coalitions engage in community engagement practices conducive to empowerment. Involvement practices emphasize

View the Resource By Michelle Shumate, Rong Wang, Katherine R. Cooper, Jack L. Harris, Shaun Doughtery, Joshua Miles, Anne-Marie Boyer, Zachary Gibson, Miranda Richardson, Hannah Kistler This resource describes the networks that participated in the national education network study conducted by NNSI. Each network identified includes a mini-description and classification based on a typology that includes governance and cross-sector engagement. 

View the Resource By Michelle Shumate, Rong Wang, Katherine R. Cooper, Jack L. Harris, Shaun Doughtery, Joshua Miles, Anne-Marie Boyer, Zachary Gibson, Miranda Richardson, Hannah Kistler This report focuses on managing networks in a changing environment. Although the research described concludes during the emergence of COVID-19, the findings suggest that dramatic disruption is not exceptional. We focus on three activities that are essential to managing change:Managing changing network membership. One

View the Resource By Michelle Shumate, Rong Wang, Katherine R. Cooper, Jack L. Harris, Shaun Doughtery, Joshua Miles, Anne-Marie Boyer, Zachary Gibson, Miranda Richardson, Hannah Kistler In Networks that Create a Social Impact (Report 1), we highlighted two network designs associated with social impact. One of those network designs combined learning and systems alignment theories of change. Learning theories of change make a social impact by improving existing programs and

View the Resource By Michelle Shumate, Rong Wang, Katherine R. Cooper, Jack L. Harris, Shaun Doughtery, Joshua Miles, Anne-Marie Boyer, Zachary Gibson, Miranda Richardson, Hannah Kistler Do cross-sector networks make education inequity worse? This question has been the topic of significant debate in the sector, particularly around whether the collective impact model of crosssector network interaction is redeemable.1 In the years since this debate emerged, education coalitions across the United