Understand

EndPovertyEdmonton organizes its work into “Game Changers.” Within each Game Changer, strategic objectives are often supported by working groups of representatives from organizations and community members.    

We reached out to 186 partners and staff to understand EndPovertyEdmonton and partners’ success in collective impact. More specifically we asked:  

• To what extent have partners created a common agenda and shared vision?   

• Have partners built trust and continuous communication channels?   

• Do they have a shared measurement approach and ways to track progress?  

• How well have partners integrated their different activities to maximize the result?  

• How has EndPovertyEdmonton coordinated the work?  

• How does EndPovertyEdmonton advance equity? 

Uncover

Collective impact is a complex undertaking; there is no single program outcome, but rather mutually reinforcing activities that will lead to system-level change. Evaluating EndPovertyEdmonton’s collective impact progress required us to be comfortable in the unknown, focus on the bigger picture, work collaboratively, and remain flexible.  

We worked with partners from for-profit, non-profit, academia, health, justice, and human services organizations, and various levels of government, to obtain data. We conducted surveys, focus groups, interviews, and a document review.

Utilize

We analyzed and compiled all of this information into a report and presentation. We presented our main finding at various staff and leadership meetings to inform future planning. EndPovertyEdmonton staff were “pleasantly surprised by how well the report came together given the complexity of the evaluation.”  

Our findings identified new information, as well as confirming some of what EndPovertyEdmonton and partners already believed about the collective work. Our evaluation report and presentation have been used by EndPovertyEdmonton leadership to promote awareness and understanding about EndPovertyEdmonton’s success and challenges.