About the Collaboratory
The Colorado Civic Collaboratory is a membership network of catalytic civic leaders from across sectors and the political spectrum. The Canopy gathers this network together four times a year to engage in a day of relationship building, thought partnership, and concrete commitments to one another and the state’s civic health. The Collaboratory is based on a successful national model developed by Citizen University and provides a common platform and project incubator for a diverse community of civic innovators.
From Scarcity to Abundance
A growing feeling of resource scarcity can turn collaborators into competitors. Polarization and distrust can poison the relationships that have sustained healthy and strong communities. We begin to look at our very neighbors as friends or foes in an instant, without getting to know one another.
Imagine what it might be like if organizations in your community worked together in a deeply collaborative way. What might be possible if a spirit of mutuality replaced feelings of competition? If we built our relationships on bonds of trust and affection?
Rotating Credit Club
The Civic Collaboratory brings together people across sectors and experiences to develop bonds of affection, spark innovations, and build collective power. At the heart of each meeting is the Rotating Credit Club. A few members of the group take turns presenting an idea or project they are working on, and the rest of the Collaboratory offers firm commitments of help. Each presenter receives a substantive boost of connections, resources, and other support from the community. This mutual investment of capital — social, intellectual, institutional, and sometimes financial — has made the Civic Collaboratory a uniquely influential cross-silo network of action.
The Power of Networks
Through repeated gatherings, acts of mutuality and reciprocity create a compounding effect of trust and collaboration. Partnerships blossom, existing work is strengthened, and new projects are born — from cross-partisan initiatives to civic education efforts to artistic endeavors — that have the power to transform communities. The goal of the Collaboratory isn’t to form another leadership organization or have a specific agenda — it’s to build trust and friendships so that the work already happening can be enriched, connected, and infused with new energy.
Nominate a Member
The National Civic Collaboratory is special because of the innovative, diverse civic practitioners – like you! – who are in it. Because the Collaboratory centers relationships and mutual aid, nominees should be interested in sharing their experiences and perspective and listening to those of others in the spirit of building bonds of trust and affection. They should also be ready to commit to utilizing their knowledge and network to benefit the collective power of the Collaboratory.
During our first year of the Colorado Civic Collaboratory, we will review nominations on a rolling basis.
Logistics & Costs
Civic Collaboratory meetings are held three times per year, one virtual and two in different locations around the state. Each in-person gathering generally takes place on a Friday, and meals throughout the Civic Collaboratory are covered. Members cover their own transportation and lodging to meetings, though we are working on providing travel stipends in the future. Active members are expected to participate in at least two Civic Collaboratory convening per year.