National Networks

Whether in youth development, education, public health, or many other social service issues, large nonprofit networks have played important roles for many decades. Increasingly, leaders of these networks, their funders, and the communities they serve are seeking ways to increase impact for beneficiaries within their expanded reach. The articles below are intended to help network leaders think about how to align around common goals and improve future performance.

Featured Content

Using National Networks to Tackle Chronic Disease

The YMCA and other national nonprofit networks are using their reach into local communities to deliver public health programs that help people live healthier lives and reduce their chance of chronic disease.

National Networks: Planning Can Align a National Nonprofit Network for Full Impact

How a nonprofit network develops its strategic plan is as important as what that plan ultimately says.

Growing Network Impact

For decades, the primary pressure facing nonprofit networks was to build a bigger footprint—be in more places, serve more people. Now that pressure is being equaled by another: to get better. This executive summary outlines five critical elements for network improvement.

Preparing to Grow Your Network's Impact: Introduction

This practical companion piece to "Growing Network Impact: How Nonprofit Networks Are Raising the Bar on Results" shares five common elements that networks have used to improve their impact. These elements can ultimately help your organization build a foundation for your own efforts to improve effectiveness throughout your network.

Communities In Schools: Propelling a National Network to the Next Level

Since Communities in Schools' founding in 1977, years of rapid growth had given rise to a diverse network of over 200 local affiliates in 28 states, operating in more than 3,000 schools. Early in 2004, the organization's leadership committed to propelling the network forward by creating a business plan to pave the way.