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We believe that governments can make better use of scarce technology dollars by working together to solve common problems. We're helping them share their solutions, knowledge, and best practices. Civic technology experts have recognized the benefits of sharing technology among governments and institutions. However, instances of successful collaboration and sharing are still few and far between, in part because there is no easy, structured way to share knowledge about this software, let alone the software itself. There is no one place to go to look for civic software that cities need, and no roadmap to share what they have. Enter the Civic Commons. As infrastructure for the open government movement, Civic Commons is a community-edited resource to find out what's working, where. Ok, so what is it, really? Civic Commons is an information product, made up of the Marketplace, Engagement Commons, and the Wiki:

Bottom line, we want to do two big things better: Demystify congressional advocacy. We get hundreds of questions every day about what Congress is doing, how to organize locally (see the toolkit!), and how to advocate in different situations. We're going to start sending out timely updates and resources on what's going on in Congress and how you can best organize, make your voice heard, and influence your members of Congress.   Support the community of local groups putting the Indivisible Guide into action. We want to provide shared tools to help groups organize events, communicate with each other, and share best practices and resources. This also means spotlighting local successes and supporting a sense of a shared purpose. You can see that shared purpose already forming-just look at this beautiful movement on Rachel Maddow.

Civic technology experts have recognized the benefits of sharing technology among governments and institutions. However, instances of successful collaboration and sharing are still few and far between, in part because there is no easy, structured way to share knowledge about this software, let alone the software itself. There is no one place to go to look for civic software that cities need, and no roadmap to share what they have. Enter the Code for America Commons. As infrastructure for the open government movement, the CfA Commons is a community-edited resource to find out what's working, where.

Shared value is a management strategy in which companies find business opportunities in social problems. While philanthropy and CSR focus efforts focus on "giving back" or minimizing the harm business has on society, shared value focuses company leaders on maximizing the competitive value of solving social problems in new customers and markets, cost savings, talent retention, and more.

The 50 State Solution was conceived in early 2016 by California Forward (CA Fwd) as a transpartisan effort to build supportive infrastructure--and a platform for sharing information and ideas--among those working on political reform at the state level. While CA Fwd has served as the initiator and early catalyst of the effort, the vision for 50 State Solution is that it becomes an ongoing effort with shared leadership from the political reform community. The goal of the effort is explicitly not to make sure every organization is doing the same work or working on the same issue. Instead, the goal is create a learning community where reformers can share stories of success and failure, find allies, create coalitions and build community.

The LivCom Awards were launched in 1997 and are endorsed by the United Nations Environment Programme, (UNEP), with which it shares a Memorandum of Understanding. The LivCom Awards is the World's only Awards Competition focussing on International Best Practice regarding the management of the local environment. The objective of LivCom is to develop and share International Best Practice, with the further objective of improving the quality of life of individual citizens through the creation of 'liveable communities'.

WHAT IF WE BUILT OUR COMMUNITIES AROUND PLACES? As both an overarching idea and a hands-on approach for improving a neighborhood, city, or region, Placemaking inspires people to collectively reimagine and reinvent public spaces as the heart of every community. Strengthening the connection between people and the places they share, Placemaking refers to a collaborative process by which we can shape our public realm in order to maximize shared value. More than just promoting better urban design, Placemaking facilitates creative patterns of use, paying particular attention to the physical, cultural, and social identities that define a place and support its ongoing evolution.

We're innovators. We're curious. And we're dissatisfied with the status quo. We're dedicated to strengthening the field of practice that bridges health and communities. Bridging Health & Community aims to transform how we approach health so that it goes beyond health care and public health to include fostering community agency. Based in Seattle, WA, with an office in London, UK, we do our field-building work through convening and coaching. We share the fruits of our work with a view to further describing and strengthening the field of practice that bridges the health sector and those that foster community agency. We met through the Creating Health Collaborative, an international group of innovators exploring health from the perspective of communities. By sharing our work through the Collaborative, we learned of the critical link between a community's ability to make purposeful choices and its health.

This report uses absolute income thresholds adjusted for inflation and family size to show that the size of the upper middle class grew from 12.9 percent of the population in 1979 to 29.4 percent in 2014. In terms of shares of total income, the middle class controlled a bit more than 46 percent of all incomes in 1979, while the upper middle class and rich controlled 30 percent. By 2014, the rich and upper middle class controlled 63 percent of all incomes, while the middle class share had shrunk to 26 percent.

BALLE believes in the power of local businesses to transform communities for the better by working cooperatively toward a shared vision. We imagine cities and towns of every size and political stripe engaged in shared learning to build community assets like sustainable agriculture, green building, renewable energy, community capital, zero-waste manufacturing and independent retail - what we call the building blocks of Living Economies. We envision a time when local economies not only generate community wealth, but also are catalysts for civic action, social diversity and ecological health -- for sustainable communities.

Cities have a central role to play in tackling climate change. By fostering a sense of shared purpose, the C40 network offers cities an effective forum in which to work together, share information and demonstrate leadership.

Surely, people could be empowered to share and exchange their opinions, particularly if they knew their views would be taken seriously and result in better services, better products and better facilities for themselves, their family, and their friends. In a nutshell, people could become real 'communities of influence'. Imagine the savings, imagine the efficiencies, and imagine the returns. Couldn't greater gains also be made if the providers and commissioners of services were prepared to work together? Rather than feeling uncomfortable about sharing information, why not make collaboration the norm.

Sharitories is a global project with a very practical scope: to create a Collaborative Territories Toolkit for local policy-makers around the world who wish to implement collaborative or sharing initiatives in their local areas and help them thrive. Sharitories was born in June 2014 through OuiShare, a global community and think and do-tank with the mission to build and nurture a collaborative society by connecting people, organizations and ideas around fairness, openness and trust.

The American middle class is losing ground in metropolitan areas across the country, affecting communities from Boston to Seattle and from Dallas to Milwaukee. From 2000 to 2014 the share of adults living in middle-income households fell in 203 of the 229 U.S. metropolitan areas examined in a new Pew Research Center analysis of government data. The decrease in the middle-class share was often substantial, measuring 6 percentage points or more in 53 metropolitan areas, compared with a 4-point drop nationally.

At IDEO, we're often asked to share what we know about design thinking. We've developed this website in response to that request. Here, we introduce design thinking, how it came to be, how it is being used, and steps and tools for mastering it. You'll find our particular take on design thinking, as well as the perspectives of others. Everything on this site is free for you to use and share with proper attribution.

The Digital Civil Society Lab at the Stanford Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society created digitalIMPACT.io to support civil society organizations in using digital data ethically, safely, and effectively. The content and tools on the site come from nonprofit and foundation partners. digitalIMPACT.io is designed to help you learn from and share with others. The materials are provided as examples to inform your decision-making, organizational practice, and policy creation. We invite you to use and adapt what you find here, and hope you will share the practices and policies that you've developed. This website is only a start; real change will come as organizations integrate appropriate data management and governance throughout their work.

The Wellbeing Economy Governments partnership (WEGo) is a collaboration of national and regional governments promoting sharing of expertise and transferrable policy practices. The aims are to deepen their understanding and advance their shared ambition of building wellbeing economies. WEGo, which currently comprises Scotland, New Zealand, Iceland, Wales and Finland, is founded on the recognition that 'development' in the 21st century entails delivering human and ecological wellbeing.

The Open Streets Project is a collaboration between the Alliance for Biking & Walking and The Street Plans Collaborative. The goal of the project is to share information about open streets and increase the number, size, and frequency of initiatives occurring across North America.

IOTC designs large, interactive meetings that help people in the communities and organizations realize dreams that serve every individual. We can work with you to convene the people of your community, group or organization in meetings that are fun, meaningful and productive - where every person participates in deepening relationships, developing shared vision and commitment and supporting action.  We provide trainings in convening, facilitation and organizing skills. We offer technical support and consulting services at low cost, and can partner with you to find funding sources for our work together.  Please browse through the pages here that best describe you. You will find more details about ways that IOTC can help you achieve your goals. We look forward to joining you in supporting your work.  

This script is used to help the modeling team and community with whom they are working create a shared vision, goals, and an understanding of the project process, either at the beginning of the project or during revision for a long-term project.