logo logo
Donate
    • Membership
    • Donate
  • Social Justice
    • Racial Justice
    • Climate Justice
    • Disability Justice
    • Economic Justice
    • Health Justice
    • Immigration
    • LGBTQ+
  • Civic News
  • Nonprofit Leadership
    • Board Governance
    • Equity-Centered Management
    • Finances
    • Fundraising
    • Human Resources
    • Organizational Culture
    • Philanthropy
    • Power Dynamics
    • Strategic Planning
    • Technology
  • CONTENT TYPES
  • Leading Edge Membership
  • Newsletters
  • Webinars

One Example of a Nonprofit Moving to Scale through a Collaborative Network

Derrick Rhayn
March 16, 2018

March 12, 2018; EdWeek Market Brief

Partnership, collaboration, and information-sharing are intrinsic values within the nonprofit sector. In fact, the exchange of tools and practices has contributed greatly to the evolution of the sector itself. As nonprofits look for emerging strategies to build upon this long history, one model to explore is the use of collaborative networks to overcome shared challenges, leverage collective wisdom and assets, develop new tools, and foster a culture of innovation. One striking example of the power of this type of collaboration is the use of Open Educational Resources (OER) as a critical tool for advancing equity in education.

Last week, the Department of Education (DOE) announced a national partnership focused on OER with the Institute for the Study of Knowledge Management in Education (ISKME), a California-based nonprofit whose mission is to improve the practice of continuous learning, collaboration, and change in the education sector. The partnership focuses on enhancing and expanding the #GoOpen network, an Obama administration initiative geared towards supporting “states and districts choosing to transition to the use of openly licensed educational resources to transform teaching and learning.”

Given this focus, ISKME is a perfect partner. Currently, the nonprofit manages the OER Commons, a “public digital library of open educational resources” that users can access to “explore, create, and collaborate with educators around the world to improve curriculum.” The OER Commons features tools for all grade levels, and users can easily search a database and contribute their own content. A noteworthy feature of the OER Commons is the use of hubs to connect collaborators on specific projects and microsites to customize digital libraries.

Sign up for our free newsletters

Subscribe to NPQ's newsletters to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

By signing up, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use, and to receive messages from NPQ and our partners.

OER as an educational strategy has been around since the turn of the century, and the #GoOpen network, consisting of twenty states and 114 districts, builds upon years of investment from foundations such as the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, who see OER as a strategy for supporting the “mainstream adoption and effective use of openly licensed educational resources that provide students around the world greater access to a world class education.” In January, the foundation published an article entitled “10 years of OER: What funders can learn from a historical moment,” authored by Cathy Casserly, the former director of the OER Initiatives at the Hewlett Foundation. This reflective piece looks back at the integral moment of the Cape Town Open Education Declaration, a shifting point for the OER movement towards the adoption of liberal open licenses, which today are a centerpiece of OER efforts around the globe. This shift towards openness and transparency was pivotal to advancing OER and is cited as a watershed moment for embracing the collaborative spirit inherent in OER.

In looking back at how this declaration ultimately influenced the adoption of more liberal licenses, Casserly looks ahead and challenges funders within the OER space to themselves explore ways of collaborating through efforts such as mapping the OER ecosystem and pooling resources and expertise. This challenge is rooted in good reason, as the use of networks is at a similar crossroads. More funders are looking to the power of collaborative networks as pathways for maximizing social impact and see themselves as critical players in the evolution of networks, both as funders and strategic conveners.

This embrace of network principles and mindset has led to new programs and tools. For example, in 2015, given the increase in attention to networks as key facilitating structures for social impact, the Rockefeller Foundation, in partnership with the Monitor Institute, launched ENGAGE: How Funders Can Support and Leverage Networks for Social Impact, an interactive guide to navigating networks, which has an extensive resource and reading list. Similarly, the Garfield Foundation has a program area dedicated to funding collaborative networks that supports the development of “highly strategic networks of diverse stakeholders working on complex sustainability issues.” In terms of network mapping, which is a useful visualization tool for creating a network weaving strategy, one of the most interesting projects to emerge recently is the Case Foundation’s Impact Investing Network Map, an interactive map of the impact investment sector which looks at publicly available transactions between investors and companies, with the goal of facilitating connections between impact investors to “foster a better understanding of the size, breadth, depth and, importantly, the enormous potential of this field.”

These shifts by funders to look more strategically at how networks can achieve larger scale social impact is reflected in the new DOE and ISKME partnership to grow the #GoOpen network, which focuses on four fundamental goals: 1) replicating good ideas, 2) documenting strategies, 3) building communities of practice, and 4) connecting researchers with K-12 officials to weave evidence on OER into educational policy. These activities will build the capacity of the #GoOpen network to achieve more by weaving connections, drawing upon the collective intelligence of the network, and using shared decision-making as a strategy for creating value and increasing participation.

Ultimately, this partnership will use the network lens to achieve the overall goal of making educational opportunities open to all learners. As more nonprofits and funders look to participate in networks, DOE and ISKME’s partnership is one example of a public-sector initiative that embraces the network mindset as a pathway to solving educational challenges in districts across the country. Learning from efforts like this can inform nonprofits about new collaboration methodologies and can plant the seed for how to look at collaborating through a broader lens than simply looking at collaboration programmatically.—Derrick Rhayn

About the author
Derrick Rhayn

Derrick Rhayn is the Chief Catalyst at Networks for Change, a Seattle consulting firm specializing in building the capacity of social change networks and nonprofit organizations through consulting, training, and coaching. As a ‘network weaver,’ Derrick focuses on facilitating increased connectivity within networks and nonprofits as a way of unleashing their potential, mobilizing their hidden assets, and generating innovative solutions with an orientation towards systems change. Derrick has spent his entire career in the nonprofit sector, and has a passion for fund development, emerging economic models, and food systems. He is currently working with groups focused on circular economy, regional food systems, cooperative economics, impact investing, and community development finance.

More about: Civic InfrastructureEducationEquity-Centered ManagementNonprofit News

Our Voices Are Our Power.

Journalism, nonprofits, and multiracial democracy are under attack. At NPQ, we fight back by sharing stories and essential insights from nonprofit leaders and workers—and we pay every contributor.

Can you help us protect nonprofit voices?

Your support keeps truth alive when it matters most.
Every single dollar makes a difference.

Donate now
logo logo logo logo logo
See comments

You might also like
How to Transform Strategic Planning for Social Justice
Nick Takamine
Advocates Seek to Protect Children with Disabilities from Federal Cuts
María Constanza Costa
What Happens When Your NSF Grant Is Canceled?
Nicole Walker
Amid Job Corps Cuts, HBCU Leaders Are Stepping Up
Rebekah Barber
Trump’s Authoritarian Spectacle: Corruption in US Governance and What Nonprofits Can Do About It
Zane McNeill
Burnout Among the Youngest Climate Activists
Alison Stine

Upcoming Webinars

Group Created with Sketch.
June 26th, 2:00 pm ET

From Performance Management to Mutual Commitment

Fostering a Culture of Joyful Accountability

Register
Group Created with Sketch.
July 24th, 2:00 pm ET

Organizing in Divided Times

The Relational Infrastructure We Need to Protect Democracy

Register

    
You might also like
Aurelio Diaz Tekpankalli’s allegorical “Liberation through Knowledge” shows people; two large, opened books; and animals.
How to Transform Strategic Planning for Social Justice
Nick Takamine
In foreground, three middle school students at Francis Hammond school in Alexandria, VA work together in a computer lab.
Advocates Seek to Protect Children with Disabilities from...
María Constanza Costa
A person in a white shirt and black pants, wearing headphones, sits reading a book in the front row of an empty lecture hall.
What Happens When Your NSF Grant Is Canceled?
Nicole Walker

Like what you see?

Subscribe to the NPQ newsletter to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

See our newsletters

By signing up, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use, and to receive messages from NPQ and our partners.

  • About
  • Advertise
  • Careers
  • Contact
  • Copyright
  • Donate
  • Editorial Policy
  • Funders
  • Submissions

We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website.

 

Non Profit News | Nonprofit Quarterly
Powered by  GDPR Cookie Compliance
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.