Guest post by Laura Efurd While we continue to grapple with some key questions around supporting, investing in and growing networks, on day two of the conference we got a bit more down and dirty with practical matters like “how to”. We started the morning by reflecting in small groups on emerging insight and strategies.   My favorite insight from this session was the comment that sometimes it is as simple as having conversations.   Though we might not have the whole networked world figured out, … [Read more...]

Guest post from Sande Smith During the first day of the Growing Social Impact in a Networked World conference, I had plenty of opportunities to have my mind blown. I wasn’t the only one. I heard my colleagues asking questions about the changes that would have to happen in their organizations for them to be able to truly embrace a new way of being  - a way that embraced network philosophy.   As my own mind began to reconstruct meaning, I found myself thinking about two presentations in … [Read more...]

Guest post by Adene Sacks As the GEO gathering comes to a close, funders are spending their morning on the practical consideration of how adopting a network mindset will change our day to day work.  One of the most interesting discussions I participated in this morning focused on what networks mean for those established field organizations whose names are often synonymous with the work we do.   Monitor Group senior consultant Heather Grant McLeod made the fascinating point that many of … [Read more...]

Guest post by Mary Manuel Movement: “A collection of persons or groups who come together around a common concern. Typically their mission is to bring about some type of societal change relative to their concern.”  They are characterized by the follow­ing elements: collective intentional action, continuity of sustained action, outsider status, scope and scale, and for­mation of collective identity. * In her article Unstill Waters: The Fluid Role of Networks in Social Movements, Robin Katcher … [Read more...]

Guest post by Eugene Eric Kim (http://eekim.com/) Over the past two days at the GEO / Monitor Institute conference, "Growing social impact in a networked world,"(http://www.geofunders.org/networksconference.aspx) I've heard several people ask some variation of the same question over and over again: What is the role of the funder in all of this?   This question has been bugging me, and I've been trying to figure out why. During Mary Manuel's session on movement and networks, it came to me. … [Read more...]