Page 23 - FGLN SC Onboarding Binder 2021

Backbone Organization / Network Structure
Institutional Partnership Model
Literacy coalitions (or networks) have been developed in more than 120 cities and regions nationwide as a catalyst for change. The Network’s selected governance structure is an Institutional Partnership model. In this model, either one local institution, or a consortium of organizations, provides the governance and leadership of the coalition. The leadership is representational of each stakeholder group with each member fulfilling a key role such as fiscal agent, funder, subject matter expert, etc. Partners might include Businesses, Community College, Rotary, City, County, Community Foundation, United Way, School District, Workforce Board, Chamber of Commerce, etc.
Network Staff / Backbone Role
Backbone organizations essentially pursue six common activities to support and facilitate collective impact which distinguish this work from other types of collaborative efforts. Over the lifecycle of an initiative, they:
1. Guide vision and strategy
2. Support aligned activities
3. Establish shared measurement practices 4. Build public will
5. Advance policy
6. Mobilize funding16t
16 Turner, S., Merchant, K., Kania, J. Martin, E., Understanding the Value of Backbone Organizations in Collective Impact. FSG. 2014.
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