About Us
Collective Mind is a social enterprise focused on improving the practice and impact of networks. Solving the world’s most complex problems requires collective action and we believe that networks are the fit-for-purpose organizational model to foster that collective action.
Our mission is to support, equip, and empower networks and network practitioners to be more efficient, effective, and impactful in what they do.
Learn more about our approach below and meet the team of experts who help us achieve our mission.
What We Do
We support the people and organizations that work for and with networks — those that are committed to using collective action to solve social issues ranging from climate change to racial equity to human rights and many others. Our services and offerings are designed around different pathways and entry points for networks, practitioners, and donors, wherever they are in their network journey. Our goal is to equip them with the understanding, intention, actions, and practical knowledge to make collective action possible and effective, agnostic of the issue or complexity of the challenge. We do this in a number of ways:
By working directly with networks, their teams, and their leadership through advisory, consulting, diagnostic, and other services.
By supporting network practitioners with knowledge, training, professional development, and peer support spaces to help build their skills and capacity.
By conducting and sharing research and resources with donors and networks to improve their funding and fundraising approaches.
By providing a collection of curated resources, thought leadership, co-creation projects, and other knowledge products for networks and network practitioners.
Much of our approach and network philosophy is anchored around our proprietary Network Diagnostic Framework - a conceptual framework that provides a way to understand what a network is, how it functions, and what it needs in place to do so optimally. The framework serves as the foundation for how we think about and provide support to networks.
The framework is built around three core areas of networks:
Network capacities — a set of competencies and attributes required to help the network achieve its mission
Network functions — activities through which a network seeks to capture the combined value that lies within the network and, ideally, create value that is more than the sum of those combined parts by linking, connecting, synergizing, and integrating collective action across the network and perhaps beyond
Organizational functions — core operational activities that underpin network functions, structures, and processes
The network capacities in particular are the building blocks of effective networks:
Shared purpose — the visionary goal around which strategies are defined, people are mobilized, and activities are established and harmonized
Membership — the people and organizations that belong to the network in order to contribute to the shared purpose
Leadership — the function of guiding, directing, and facilitating the network and its members
Culture — the network’s operating philosophy including shared values, norms, attitudes, and practices of both individuals and groups
Infrastructure — the structural design and components of the network including structures and processes for core operations such as governance, member engagement, project implementation, management, and administration, etc.
Resources — contributions, financial and otherwise, that ensure the network’s functionality and the business model through which those contributions are received and put to use
Measurement — the tools and processes for monitoring and assessing the network’s efficiency, effectiveness, and impacts
Join an upcoming Introduction to Networks webinar to learn more about our Network Diagnostic Framework.