Giving Compass' Take:

• The authors explore important questions for funders to think about before engaging with networks for social impact purposes. 

• Why are strategic networks and partnerships important for sustainable change?

• Read about building a global network for social change. 

In ENGAGE, a web-based guide we developed with the support of The Rockefeller Foundation, we present 10 of these questions as a way to provide some structure for funders choosing whether to launch and support networks—a process that is often fluid and can easily become confusing. Questions include:

1. Where is the network in its evolution?

We know networks come in different shapes and sizes, and there’s no one-size-fits-all path. But we also know that each network will move through certain lifecycle stages, from conceptualization (when you’re not even sure how best to frame the problem or opportunity) to action—including organization, growth, and ultimately transformation.

2. What network design is most useful?

Networks vary in so many ways that the possibilities can seem endless. Our research, however, identified eight particularly significant variables in network design: size, leadership, governance, purpose, alignment, sector, orientation, and geography.

3. What type of network funder could I be?

Funders typically provide two major types of support to networks. Financial support, of course, is one of them. But network funders also often provide their time, strategic guidance, and other non-monetary resources—otherwise known as “backbone support.”

4. What forms of financial and backbone support do networks need?

The network’s needs should drive the role a funder plays, not the other way around. And networks might need different kinds of support at each stage of growth. Like financial support, backbone support for a network does not need to come from a single organization, and funders can provide it in many forms.

Read the source article about joining a network by Anna Muoio & Kaitlin Terry  at Stanford Social Innovation Review