Tools & Resources

This resource provides an overview of the backbone role in collective impact, including: purpose and function; structure, staffing, and budget; selecting a backbone; leadership; and the backbone’s focus on equity.

This website contains links to a diverse range of tools spanning: community building; conversations and facilitation; Asset Based Community Development (ABCD); and more.

This resource features Sharon Fraser, CFI Network Member, explaining key concepts and strategies for building the foundations for collaboration, including collective impact, all in less than 35 minutes!

This resource provides a four-step process for articulating and tracking progress through the early stages of a collaborative project, by looking back and looking forward.

This resource provides a governance framework for those seeking to work collaboratively on a complex social or community challenge.

This resource provides a roadmap for effective collaboration based on five Cs: clarifying purpose; convening the right people; cultivating trust; coordinating existing activities; and collaborating for systems impact. 

Deep Collaboration is a way of working that was created by First Nations and other Multicultural Australians to find new ways to work and lead together. This handout outlines a reading, created by Micky Scott Bey Jones (for the Interaction Institute for Social Change) that can be used to frame the…

Shared principles around trust need to be explicit in this work. This video explores strategies for how you might create some shared principles together. Deep Collaboration is a way of working that was created by First Nations and other Multicultural Australians to find new ways to work and…

Step 1 of Deep Collaboration outlines a process of how to explore if readiness to work differently is really there – being realistic about investments of time, energy, level of drive, urgency and courage. Deep Collaboration is a way of working that was created by First Nations and other…

An overview of important things to consider (beyond Cultural Competency) before entering into partnerships between First Nations and Other Multicultural Australians. It includes concepts such as understanding the historical patterns of working, being aware and making decisions about language and…

Just ‘good enough’ common ground in shared purpose is all we need in this work and this video discusses what that might look like. Deep Collaboration is a way of working that was created by First Nations and other Multicultural Australians to find new ways to work and lead together.

This video discusses why the often counter-intuitive approach of actively seeking out difference is helpful in the context of cross-cultural partnering. Deep Collaboration is a way of working that was created by First Nations and other Multicultural Australians to find new ways to work and…

This resource describes seven elements of cross sector partnership formation.

This resource provides a process for developing questions that lead to new insights, ideas and solutions.

This tool will help you to identify how ready your system (group, community or organisation) is for collaboration and adaptation. It can also be modified to help you assess readiness for tackling complex challenges.