Providing backbone support to collaborative endeavors is a critical, but often behind-the-scenes, function. The Center of Excellence for Children’s Behavioral Health has long-standing experience in providing leadership and organizational support to advance large-scale initiatives. This backbone support provides the management and infrastructure needed to coordinate large groups around shared objectives.

The Center of Excellence has the staff, resources, and skills to effectively fulfill all six of the identified backbone activities needed to support the life cycle of collective impact and other large-scale initiatives.

Based on the experience of the Center of Excellence and from evidence from the literature, our backbone support encompasses the following functions:

• Facilitating dialogue between partners
• Managing data collection, analysis, and synthesis
• Maintaining internal and external communications
• Coordinating community outreach
• Mobilizing funding
• Maintaining fiduciary responsibilities
• Conducting evaluations of the effort