The OF/BY/FOR ALL Change Network is a fee-based, 99% online program for civic and cultural organizations of all sizes, regions, and sectors. It provides an intentional framework for partnering with communities to make your organization more inclusive, relevant, and sustainable.

The Change Network program is both structured and flexible. It starts with a one-year commitment. When you join, we’ll set your team up with your own dashboard of tools, progress reports, and coaching check-ins. With our guidance and support, your team will connect with communities of interest, strengthen institutional programs and policies, and get support from coaches and peers around the world.

Based on our members’ experiences and research by a third-party evaluator, we are confident the Change Network will help you:

• bring structure and clarity to community partnerships, engagement, planning, and progress tracking

• adopt new ways of working to become of, by, and for the communities who matter most to you

• dedicate space for reflection and growth based on lessons learned with your community

• build internal buy-in for change across different organizational departments and stakeholders

• connect with a global peer network of members facing similar challenges in other countries and sectors

Ready to go? Apply now to join the Spring 2020 Change Network cohort.

The Change Network program helps member organizations make concrete changes to institutional policies, processes, and programs—changes that are of, by, and for their communities. The program helps you go beyond one-off engagement projects to do more sustained and sustainable community work.

Change Network members have used the program to:

• Explore new ways to approach community work

• Hone and deepen existing community practices

• Build systems to spread effective community involvement practices across departments

• Learn more about the assets, goals, and barriers faced in communities of interest that are far from staff members’ own experience

• Build strategic alignment across staff, board, and stakeholders

• Launch community partnerships grounded in building shared value instead of value transaction or extraction

• Assess and transform practices across many work areas (i.e. hiring, marketing, board development, volunteering) for greater community impact

• Empower unlikely change agents in their communities and across their organizations

• Build more effective community advisory groups

• Conduct respectful community research that drives better decisions

• Grapple with power dynamics and issues of institutional oppression

• Rally community support for increased funding and recognition

• and much more…

Change Network members start by getting to know leaders in a specific community of interest. They listen and learn surprising ways to become more meaningfully of, by, and for their communities. And then they make it happen.

Here are two examples of the Change Network in action:

• In the Netherlands, the Stedelijk Museum Schiedam built relationships with Islamic women and leaders at local mosques. They worked together to increase relevance of an upcoming exhibition, co-create community programs, identify and remove barriers to museum enjoyment, and tackle tough issues related to belonging and discrimination. When an influential group of Islamic women threatened to boycott an exhibition over a provocative artwork, the museum director was able to sit down with key community leaders and transform the crisis into an opportunity for deeper partnership. The museum was named museum of the year (2019) in the Netherlands, largely due to its many experiments in creative community partnerships.

• In South Bend Indiana, St. Joseph County public librarians built relationships with Latinx artists and service organizations on the West Side. Together, they transformed several library programs to be more relevant and accessible, created a new internship pathway focused on Latinx creatives, and co-created public art in branches. They were surprised to learn that an existing, underutilized library ID card program was in high demand for Latinx families—so the library started offering it at West Side community events. This led to many new library users and relationships. When the library faced a major proposed funding cut in 2019, diverse community members rallied to support the library and preserve all funding.

Meet the Change Network members and read more stories about their experiences here.

We’ve tested the Change Network program with organizations in different sectors, budget sizes, and regions of the world. Based on our members’ experiences, we’ve discovered that successful Change Network teams have three things in common:

• They are ready to commit time and resources to the work. Change Network members build cross-functional project teams of 2-10 people who devote 1-4 hours per week to OF/BY/FOR ALL activities (on their own schedule).

• They have support from organizational leaders, executives, and/or the board. While not all leaders directly participate, they endorse the effort and make resources available as needed.

• They bring their own “why.” They have a compelling reason to make change, whether that be external (funding, demographics) or internal (leadership, strategic vision).

When you apply, you’ll be asked to share more about your team, support, and your “why.”

The Change Network program is designed to offer you a healthy balance of action, reflection, guidance, and accountability.

When you join, you’ll get access to:

1. An ever-evolving toolbank of concrete activities to help your team grow of, by, and/or for your community.

2. A community of helpful members around the world who meet up via videocalls, online chats, and an annual in-person retreat.

3. An experienced coach who will help you through rough patches and challenge you to go further.

4. A structured Change Plan template to enable you to set electrifying, achievable short- and long-term goals for community involvement.

5. Monthly progress reports to help you reflect, celebrate, and stay accountable to your commitments.

Take note: while we will provide structured support along your change journey, institutional change efforts are messy and confusing at times. All our members wrestle with setbacks and surprises as they grow. When we were leading change in community organizations, we struggled too. Many members use the OF/BY/FOR ALL Change Network program to reboot entrenched programs, dismantle oppressive power structures, or spread community work beyond the silos where it started. None of that is easy - and there’s no single path to successfully do it. But it’s worth doing it! And we’re ready to help.

We are not taking you on a set journey to a specific destination. We’re offering you a toolbox—and lots of friendly instruction and supportive guidance—so you can go on YOUR journey with YOUR community. We don’t know where you’ll end up. But we feel pretty confident it will be worth it.

We provide specialized support for each stage of your journey. All teams start at the same place—but where you go is up to you and your community partners.

When you first get started:

• You’ll join as part of a cohort of 25-50 organizations, getting to know your coaches, tools, and fellow members in a supportive environment.

• You’ll dive into a structured set of tools designed to help you articulate your vision, select one community of interest, and learn more about what matters most to them. Based on what you learn, you’ll build the first draft of your Change Plan.

When you’re working with your community:

• We’ll offer you tools tailored to your specific goals and Change Plan.

• We’ll connect on monthly network-wide videocalls to keep building momentum, relationships, and collective support for change.

• You’ll submit a monthly progress report and receive written feedback from your coach.

• You’ll have a quarterly coaching call to review your progress and any surprises along the way.

• We’ll connect you to specific members who have experience with similar challenges and communities.

• As you develop adaptations of our tools (or invent tools of your own), we’ll celebrate and share share your innovations with the wider Change Network. We’ll also look for opportunities to help you share your story at conferences, with funders, and online.

The Change Network has an annual, renewable fee, paid by your organization. In your first year, your fee covers one team participating in the program. You can involve as many individual team members at your organization as you like. We typically suggest starting with a team of 2-10 people.

Note: the fees listed below are for organizations in the global North with leaders who are not people of color or indigenous people (POCI). If your organization is in the global South and/or has POCI leadership, the fee is reduced. Contact us to learn more.

Need help making the case to participate? Here are five ways to talk about this program with funders or leaders to help them get excited about its value.

In 2020, we are inviting 80-100 new organizations to join the Change Network.

• The Spring cohort starts April 1, 2020, with an application period closing March 1, 2020.

• The Fall cohort starts in September 1, 2020, with an application period closing August 1, 2020.

We review applications on a first-come, first-served basis. Once you submit a completed application, you should expect a response within two weeks. If your application is accepted, you’ll receive registration and billing information for your cohort. If we have questions about your application, we will be in touch with the applying Team Champion to learn more about whether the program is a good fit for you.

Please note: at present, all applications are assumed to be for the next available cohort. If you want to discuss participating in a future cohort, please note it in your application.

If you are interested in future cohorts in 2021, or if you’d like to discuss partnering to provide multiple spots to your sites, grantees, or partners, please get in touch.

Change Network invitations are by application only.

It should take you about 30 minutes to fill out an application. When you apply, you’ll be asked to provide the following:

• The name and contact information for the leader of the effort, aka your Team Champion. We encourage prospective Team Champions to write the application if possible.

• Basics on your organization’s address, budget size, and sector.

• Confirmation that you have a team, the time, the funds, and the leadership support to embark on this journey. This is a “readiness check” that may help you decide whether to complete a full application or not.

• A statement about why you want to join the Change Network program.

• Information about any upcoming community project(s) or community(s) with whom you want to focus your efforts (not required).

• Information about any other major strategic initiatives underway at your organization.

If you are interested in the Change Network but unsure if your team is ready, start an application and see how the readiness check questions go. You may discover you have one key element to put in place before you submit a full application. We take program readiness seriously and see it as critical to your success. We’re happy to talk with you to help you assess when the best timing is for you to be successful in the program.