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Contact Peter Plastrik on LinkedIn or at Innovation Network for Communities .

Contact Madeleine Taylor on LinkedIn or at Network Impact .

Contact John Cleveland on LinkedIn or at Innovation Network for Communities .

From the Blog

Introducing “Investing Strategically in Social-Impact Networks”

Peter Plastrik
“Networks have tremendous power to drive social change. While networks off... Read more

A Network of Networks?

Peter Plastrik
In talking the other day with a mature national-scale network leader about its f... Read more

Network Leadership: A Net-Centric Point of View

Peter Plastrik
It’s commonplace to note that in a generative network no one is in charge. But... Read more

F2F: Designing the Network Meeting

Peter Plastrik
There’s probably no more important event in a network’s life than th... Read more

Proliferation of Network Building

Peter Plastrik
“There’s something happening here…” When Madeleine Taylo... Read more

Misconceptions and Essentials in Network Building

Peter Plastrik
An insightful post from the folks at FSG, the organization that developed and pr... Read more

Network Leadership Succession: 3 Steps You Can Take

Peter Plastrik
Network leaders and funders of networks often worry about the problem of success... Read more

Under Production: A Guide for Funders Investing in Social-Impact Networks

Peter Plastrik
With support from the Kresge Foundation, we’ve been writing a “Playb... Read more

Investing in Networks Grows Funder’s Impact

Madeleine Taylor
In a blog for Stanford Social Innovation Review, Madeleine Taylor uses the c... Read more

Emerging Social Dynamics in a Network

Peter Plastrik
In the early life of a network—the first year, say—how can you tell how well... Read more

Necessary Conditions for Transitioning A Network

Peter Plastrik
Working with a large network that is transitioning from being a grantee network ... Read more

Network Evolution Assessment

Peter Plastrik
When Maggie Ullman was asked to assess the condition of eight regional networks ... Read more

Watching Networks Evolve

Peter Plastrik
We emphasized in Connecting that networks are dynamic and evolve, sometimes ra... Read more

“Networks Are the New Innovation Drivers”

Peter Plastrik
Ascend at the Aspen Institute–a national network of 58 organizations, two ... Read more

(Not) Perfecting Network Governance

Peter Plastrik
We’re often asked about the design of network governance. A funder of seve... Read more

Measuring Reciprocity

Peter Plastrik
In Connecting we emphasize that reciprocity–giving and taking, mutual ex... Read more

Uncertain Problems and Solutions: A Reason to Invest in Generative Networks (4)

Peter Plastrik
Fourth in a series about investing strategically in generative networks. In ear... Read more

Strategic Complexity: A Reason to Invest in Generative Networks (3)

Peter Plastrik
Third in a series about investing strategically in generative networks. In earl... Read more

System Change: A Reason to Invest in Networks (2)

John Cleveland
Second in a series on investing strategically in generative networks.  In an ea... Read more

Investing Strategically in Generative Networks (1)

Peter Plastrik
First in a series We’re often asked by funders and network builders whethe... Read more

What Makes Generative Networks Tick?

Peter Plastrik
Networks of individuals and organizations that aim to solve a difficult problem ... Read more

Bringing in Other Funders to Invest in a Network

Peter Plastrik
A funder of a network has several ways to help the network connect with other ph... Read more

When Networks and Funders Meet

Peter Plastrik
Lessons for Funders Investing in Networks A funder’s money is a powerful force... Read more

What’s So Special About Networks?

Peter Plastrik
What networks can do especially well–better than organizations– is w... Read more

Diversity in Networks

Peter Plastrik
Networks are a natural way of bringing together like-minded people and excluding... Read more

3 Tensions of Leading a Network

Peter Plastrik
The last chapter in our book focuses on how to be a leader in a network. We figu... Read more

Going Together — Page by Page

Peter Plastrik
I heard the African proverb again at a retreat held by a team building a nationa... Read more

Is it a Network?

John Cleveland
There are many structures for organizing collaboration among individuals and/or ... Read more

The “Engine” of a High-Performing Network

John Cleveland
The main characteristics of a generative social-impact network–a social-re... Read more

Don’t Follow Jacques Cousteau

Peter Plastrik
Back in The Sixties Rob “Birdlegs” Caughlan was a young surfer in Ca... Read more

Collaboration? Grantmakers Love It, But Most Don’t Fund It

Peter Plastrik
Most grantmakers believe it’s important for funders to coordinate funding ... Read more

Networking (Dogs Do It!) vs. Network Building

Peter Plastrik
We found this depiction of networking at Dog Mountain in Vermont, where Stephe... Read more

Colbert Nation Meets Our Book

Peter Plastrik
“You should go on the Colbert Report,” everybody told me. “If you want a y... Read more

We Are What You Read. Here’s What Our Readers are Reading

Peter Plastrik
One of the challenges of marketing a book about building networks for social imp... Read more

Addressing the Problems of Network Building

Paul Lipke
Paul Lipke is Senior Advisor, Energy & Buildings, Health Care Without Harm... Read more

Study of Government Roles in Building an Energy Conservation Network

Peter Plastrik
We haven’t worked with many government-instigated networks, so we were qui... Read more

Starting a Network? Eight Design Issues to Consider

Madeleine Taylor
As more social change agents and philanthropic funders consider building network... Read more

Network “Backbones”: The Three Levels of Coordination

Peter Plastrik
At a network’s start-up it’s useful to think through what sort of su... Read more

A Guidebook that (surprise!) is Useful

Suprotik Stotz-Ghosh
Very few guidebooks are actually useful. Most provide lists of things to do that... Read more

A Glowing Review — Our Network “Gift Economy” At Work

Peter Plastrik
“The book is fantastic. I have it all marked up with notes, stickies, and ... Read more

Profiling a Network

John Cleveland
We’re often asked to check out an existing social-impact network and to provid... Read more

Does Our Book Cover Tell the Truth?

Peter Plastrik
Our book cover has been praised by many and criticized by one. People like the i... Read more

Social Media vs. Social-Impact Networks

Peter Plastrik
When we first discussed with our publisher, David Miller, our interest in writin... Read more

How Do You Know When You Have a “Generative” Network?

John Cleveland
Our book is focused on the design, development and management of “generative s... Read more

Leading a Network By “Making It Up As You Go”

Maggie Ullman
Maggie Ullman is co-founder of the Southeast Sustainability Directors Network Tw... Read more

What Makes Networks Generative?

Madeleine Taylor
Connecting to Change the World builds on an earlier resource that Pete and I de... Read more

Understanding a Network’s Development and Evolution

Julia Parzen
Julia Parzen (former Managing Director, Urban Sustainability Directors Network) ... Read more

Knowing Your Value Propositions

Peter Plastrik
Washington, D.C. – Recently worked with a network of about 60 organizations th... Read more

I Hadn’t A Clue About What Organizing Networks Really Required

Morley Winograd
I started reading Connecting to Change the World right after I had successfully ... Read more

Letting Go of Control

Peter Plastrik
Copenhagen—John and I came to this lovely city in June to help start a global ... Read more

Evaluating Networks

Madeleine Taylor
Changemakers everywhere are investing in and building new networks—from large-... Read more
Blog Posts »

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Social-Impact Networks

Generative social-impact networks featured in Connecting to Change the World include:
  • Urban Sustainability Directors Network
  • Partnership Fund for New York
  • Advanced Energy Economy
  • West Michigan Manufacturers Council
  • Rural People, Rural Policy
  • Reboot
  • Lawrence CommunityWorks
  • RE-AMP
  • The Learning Network of Greater Kalamazoo
  • The Massachusetts Interagency Council on Housing and Homelessness
  • The Network of Korean American Leaders
  • The Fire Learning Network

Resources

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