At their best, CCIs provide new mechanisms for community problem solving. They teach skills like data interpretation and strategic communications and model an iterative process of learning and doing where foundations and their community partners can continually adjust and readjust their strategies in response to the lessons they are learning. But to realize an Initiative’s full potential for learning, appropriate organizational supports need to be provided both within the foundation and for its community stakeholders. Scheduling time for reflection and collective learning in the midst of multiple conflicting demands is essential, for example. It is up to the funders to set the tone for that dialogue.

Most funders have limited experience in publicly reflecting on their work. To maximize the potential of efforts like CCIs, they need to actively seek and accept information from experience, including information that may call their basic assumptions into question. The authors of the reports in this volume have taken a significant step in the direction of transparency and candor in publicly sharing what they have learned, which is all too rare in philanthropy. We have much to learn from each other, and the field can only be enriched by continuing this dialogue and building this kind of exchange into the culture of each of our organizations.

Tom David