Trends to Watch Out For -- Good to Great for Communities?

This month's issue of Worth magazine features Jim Collins' perspectives on what his sliver-thin monograph, "Good to Great and the Social Sectors", means for high-net worth donors. More to come on the rest of the article but let's start with the most fascinating part of the Q & A which occurs when Worth asks Collins what his work will focus on now. Collins answers:

I am continuing my interest in trying to understand more about the social sectors. If I do my own big study, I'm probably going to put the lens on the community. I'll look at how entire communities make the leap from good to great, in contrast to others that don't. Call me a philanthropy geek but my heart leapt when I read those lines.

The fact is that for the past decade (suggesting we start our timeline with the United Way/ Bill Aramony scandal) practitioners in the social sector have been stymied by growing demands that we better articulate and track our performance. Even more difficult (as I can attest from my tenure making "collaborative grants" in seven Chicago communities for the Chicago Community Trust) is the idea of tracking the impact of multiple agencies working together to advance a shared agenda. Maybe Jim Collins doesn't know enough to understand why what he is suggesting can't be done. Maybe he doesn't care because what he is talking about is the real deal that is: Which strategies actually work for real people, in the full context of their lives, in real communities?

Susan Herr