Field catalysts bring four key assets to play their roles in field building for equitable systems change:
Field catalysts also generally engage in a set of core activities. Our research revealed over half of field catalysts we studied engaged in the following activities, including:
- Brokering and supporting relationships in the field
- Coordinating joint learning and information sharing
- Helping the field develop a common strategy and goal
- Garnering funding and regranting to other organizations in the field
- Translating academic and practical research
- Tracking collective progress toward population-level impact
Lastly, our research has highlighted persistent underfunding as the number one challenge field catalysts face, and the severity of these gaps is especially hard given their unique work. In fact, most field catalysts experience very severe underfunding, needing to raise between half to two times their current budget. Underfunding exacerbates the other challenges field catalysts face, including:
