Sue E.S. Crawford, Ph.D., Coordinator

The Collaboration-Conversations Project exists to facilitate a virtual conversation that will bring together insights from scholarly research and practical experience to enhance collaborative work by religious leaders. Our aim is to assist religious leaders in their work with one another, with government and nonprofit leaders, and with citizens in their neighborhoods. It is our hope that it will be a resource for those with many years of community experience as well as those just testing the waters. (Our interpretation of religious leadership is quite broad. It includes lay leaders and nonprofit professionals as well as clergy. We hope to involve leaders who work in congregational settings as well as leaders who work in other organizations with religious ties, such as health systems, human service organizations, and community development organizations.)

Conversation Emphasis

Religious Leader Scholarship: As a program of the Kripke Center, Collaboration-Conversation focuses on religious leadership in collaborations and on coalitions as settings in which interfaith dialogue may occur. I have spent nearly 15 years studying clergy involvement in community projects and political deliberation.

Religious Leader Input: This project explicitly brings religious leaders into the conversation. Religious leaders who work in coalitions in their communities will respond to the discussions and share their own insights on various topics. We invite all leaders who see community coalition work as part of their mission to read the conversations and to provide feedback. The web pages throughout provide opportunities for religious leaders to respond to the existing material and to contribute new material. Those who send new contributions that we publish will receive a small stipend. Whether you are a seasoned expert with valuable information to share, a newer leader in a successful coalition, or a leader struggling in a challenging coalition we invite you to contribute to the conversation.

Institutional Analysis Approach: I stress scholarly insights based on analysis of the underlying logic of incentives and cooperation in inter-organizational settings. This approach assumes that community cooperation is possible, but often difficult to sustain. It assumes that people are well-intentioned, but that the number of worthwhile things to do usually exceeds the time available. It also assumes that effectiveness in community collaboration differs in important ways than effectiveness in individual organizations and in businesses. The institutional analysis approach examines the underlying logic of cooperation to identify strategies to enhance cooperation. This approach provides a different perspective than materials that use business planning or success story approaches.

Why take an institutional analysis approach?

1. It provides a different perspective than found in most leadership and community-building material.
2. It focuses on identifying basic rules and practices that leaders can adopt in a variety of settings.
3. It emphasizes the logic of different rules and practices and thus enables leaders to adapt rules and practices to best fit their situations.

Conversations Format

Conversations will occur on various topics related to community collaborations and the work of religious leaders in those collaborations. Initial topics for conversation are listed on the Conversations page. The format for each topic includes three main components:

Report - The report introduces the topic and summarizes key questions or points related to the topic. The reports provide information and suggestions grounded in institutional analysis logic and studies of community work of religious leaders.

Leaders Respond - Each report solicits contributions from religious leaders. Contributions that best contribute to the discussion will be published in the leaders respond page for that topic. These contributions will be 250-500 word essays written by religious leaders to address the topic. The Leaders Respond pages will be updated as new contributions arrive.

Feedback - Each report and leaders respond page will also provide a way for readers to provide immediate feedback. Readers may submit short responses to the material. Summaries of this feedback may appear for topics that elicit the most feedback.

Collaboration-Conversations: An Invitation

We invite all leaders who see community coalition work as part of their mission to join in the conversation by going to the Conversations page and selecting one of the topics.

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