For this post you will need to compare and contrast Collective impact and the NSF Collaborative infrastructure. Begin by defining the two terms in your own words and then identify the key difference and common areas for these two ideas.

NSF Collaborative Infrastructure:

NSF INCLUDES is one of NSF's Ten Big Ideas for Future NSF Investment meant to catalyze interest and investment in fundamental research, discovery, invention and innovation. NSF INCLUDES is catalyzing novel approaches to broadening participation in STEM by creating the NSF INCLUDES National Network, composed of NSF INCLUDES Design and Development Launch Pilots, NSF INCLUDES Alliances, NSF-funded broadening participation projects, other relevant NSF-funded projects, scholars engaged in broadening participation research, and other organizations that support the development of talent from all sectors of society to build the STEM workforce. NSF INCLUDES incentivizes the building of collaborative infrastructure that will bring people and organizations together who might currently be working in isolation.

By collaborative infrastructure we mean the structures and facilities that enable collaboration across organizations and institutions with a shared goal or vision; map out mutually reinforcing activities; develop goals, objectives and measures to map their progress; engage in constant communication; and advance the potential for expanding, scaling and sustaining the collaborative efforts that would not be possible otherwise. For the NSF INCLUDES National Network, collaborative infrastructure fosters coordination and collaboration by emphasizing the following five characteristics: Vision; Partnerships, Goals and Metrics; Leadership and Communication; and the Potential for Expansion, Sustainability and Scale. Every NSF INCLUDES project and the NSF INCLUDES National Network engage a broad community in a shared vision of the importance and power of diversity for scientific innovation. Partnerships and networks are at the heart of the NSF INCLUDES National Network, and through the Coordination Hub, Alliances, Design and Development Launch Pilots, and other network building mechanisms like this Dear Colleague Letter, NSF hopes to provide platforms for partnerships and collaborative action. Partnerships and networks will be driven by shared goals and metrics that allow for robust data that facilitate evidence-based decision making. NSF INCLUDES is also designed to build capacity for leadership and communication among organizations and individuals to create opportunities in STEM education and careers. Finally, collaborative infrastructure should lead to expansion, sustainability and scale by encouraging more partners to join the movement, thus enabling more connections and opportunities for large-scale change to occur.

What are collaborative change strategies?

Examples of collaborative change strategies include Collective Impact, Networked Improvement Communities, and Research + Practice Partnerships. Collaborative change strategies are frameworks used to tackle deeply entrenched, complex problems, like broadening participation in STEM. Such strategies are designed to make collaboration work across government, business, philanthropy, non-profit organizations and individuals to achieve significant and lasting change. Other potential frameworks are possible, and we encourage projects to explore various ways to harness the power of collaboration.