The Future is Collective Case Studies of Collective Social Innovation 2025

Governance and participation Tamarack is governed by a 12-member board of directors that strives to be representative of the communities it serves. On a strategic level, Tamarack aims to be member-driven when developing its offerings and when setting and advancing public policy priorities. Their 2030 plan and more recent Equity and Indigenization Framework and Action Plan were shaped over 18-month periods by hundreds of surveys, focus groups and interviews with network, team and board members. Annually, Tamarack’s member survey shapes its operating plan. Team culture and competencies Tamarack maintains a Skills for Change team and a Networks for Change team. The Skills for Change team are practitioners in the five key skills areas for community change (described above), while the Networks for Change team builds deep relationships with community collaboratives to understand their context and connect them to people and resources that will accelerate their progress towards equitable outcomes. Values: Tamarack’s current strategy articulates values of connection, place, strength and optimism, equity and justice, courage and learning, and action and impact which guides all aspects of the team’s work. Competencies: Tamarack’s team competencies include: 1) exploring (engaging key partners to understand issues and identify the implications for place-based work); 2) organizing (prototyping models, facilitating funding and amplifying knowledge); 3) sense-making and codifying (codifying place- based approaches and disseminating options and rationales for collective action); and 4) amplifying and advocating (making local work visible and advocating for systems and policy change). Individual competencies include maintaining a systems-level perspective, navigating complexity, centring relationships and connections, holding hope, strength and optimism, and practicing awareness of self as an agent of change. Collaborative and adaptive learning: Continuous learning and adaptation is directly linked to Tamarack’s strategic plan and priorities. Tamarack scans and engages with many fields of practice for new and innovative solutions to solve complex problems. Drawing from the fields of practice and place-based network, Tamarack contributes new tools and resources that are designed to advance the work of changemakers. Enabling technology Since the first 13 Trail Builder communities, Tamarack has relied on technology platforms to share learnings, support partnerships and enable access to peers across Canada. Today, Tamarack uses its website as an online learning platform as well as online meeting tools to provide virtual coaching access, webinars, workshops, publications (tools, guides, case studies), and regular communities of practice calls. Supporting infrastructure The Future is Collective: Case Studies of Collective Social Innovation 66