From technology to fashion to social-issue intervention, nothing stays stagnant. As COVID highlighted, organizations need to be ready to adapt quickly to changing circumstances. How can organizations, especially those in social impact networks, prepare for a changing landscape? One strategy that social impact organizations can use to prepare for change is to enhance their organization’s absorptive capacity. As our previous two blogs have shown, a network’s ability to manage change—both

Networks are similar to suspension bridges. They are held together and supported by the organizations that compose them. Our previous blog covered changes in the whole network, but impactful change can happen among organizational members. Change within a member organization can upset the balance of the network, impacting one or many organizations in the network.  Consider a scenario where a critical participating organization undergoes a management change. A new manager

In 2018, the Westside Infant-Family Network (WIN) received $16 million to aid their efforts to increase trauma resilience across west-central and south Los Angeles. WIN is a nonprofit network comprised of eight agency partners established in 2006 to provide mental health resources to families with generational mental health challenges. At first glance, an unknowing onlooker might never know that WIN came from humble beginnings. But, when they started, WIN faced

A group of 19 literacy organizations were at a meeting in Chicago that was late to start. Two of the organizations’ leaders got to talking about how they were having trouble getting the principal of Schiller Elementary to call them back. Ears perked up and unsolicited utterances of “us too” rang out. Finally, one leader asked the question: “how many of us have a literacy program at Schiller Elementary?” All

This blog will outline The VOICE Heuristic, another tool from Michelle Shumate and Katherine R. Cooper’s book, Networks for Social Impact. The VOICE Heuristic is a helpful way for network instigators to manage ongoing conflict within a nonprofit network. What is the purpose of The VOICE Heuristic? The VOICE Heuristic provides a backup plan for times when conflict management fails to rectify a conflict between disagreeing parties in a nonprofit

In this blog, the NNSI team outlines a helpful tool for nonprofit networks to keep track of stakeholder attendance and participation in meetings. The Stakeholder Participation Tool comes from Michelle Shumate and Katherine R. Cooper’s book, Networks for Social Impact.  What is the purpose of a Stakeholder Participation Tool? A Stakeholder Participation Tool keeps track of who attends and participates in nonprofit network meetings. Many nonprofit stakeholders are part of