Our founders spent their entire careers working in and around government and nonprofit human service organizations. They have seen first hand the challenges of people who are hungry, living on the street, and desperately needing some sort of income/work. They have watched as struggling individuals improved their lives, only to meet another barrier that was beyond their control. As a result, Partners for Impact has a commitment to creating community change that removes barriers to struggling individuals and households so that their success is not hindered by something that is controlled by other people, organizations, and systems around them.
The origins of systems thinking can be traced back to the early 20th century, with contributions from fields such as biology, ecology, and engineering. Pioneers like Ludwig von Bertalanffy, a biologist, developed the concept of general systems theory, which sought to understand complex systems across different disciplines. Over time, systems thinking found its way into various fields, including human services. As practitioners and researchers began to recognize the interconnectedness and complexity of social problems, they adopted systems thinking as a framework for understanding and addressing these issues. Systems thinking offered a holistic perspective that went beyond individual-level interventions, emphasizing the importance of considering broader social, economic, and environmental factors.
See how we apply systems thinking in our Portfolio.
Partners for Impact brings systems thinking to its work with individuals, organizations, and communities. The owners and consulting team build their own understanding of how the bigger system impedes the success of people experiencing challenges and hardships. The entire team explores a variety of resources and tools that can be used with clients in order to support their success in a constantly changing system.
Systems thinking is a mindset shift in how we approach human services. Whether we are a frontline case manager, the executive director or board member of a nonprofit organization, or a government employee, systems thinking can help us understand how we might be better able to address underlying causes of social problems we are trying to solve.
Systems thinking is a broad concept. These lessons were partially paid for by non-profit organizations seeking to push government towards greater service. Government paid my salary, non-profits funded my opportunity to innovate.
I use to say, quiet flippantly I might add, “I like working on soft money projects.” My freedom came from knowing I was bound to learn and grow in ways government didn’t have time to pursue. Government was busy checking the boxes. Non-profit money paid for my analytics skill development. Kellogg Foundation paid someone to teach me about family systems and how children are impacted. Annie E. Casey Foundation paid my salary and included me in learning how to include community at the table, allowing their voices to drive our policy guidance. Casey Family dollars paid for me to learn how to measure progress with parents and foster youth as partners. Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation dollars funded my opportunity to learn, practice, live, and believe that completion counts for every post secondary student. We all have to pay our bills, so how will WE work TOGETHER to stop the leaks in the pipeline from high school to age 26? We all need a plan for success. Success means a job. A job means independence. Independence means choices, safety, securing housing. Housing means stability. Stability means growth. Growth means a better job. It continues as we grow.
Government has always been my field of practice. It uses my biological sciences degree. It uses my community development planning graduate work. It feeds my desire to create better systems within which people move.
Government has the people as our customers. Nonprofits have the passion and commitment to lend its resources to help government move beyond the bottom line boxes and into implementing actions and activities that create opportunities for sustainable change.
The people systems we operate in could never achieve progress without the resources, passion, and commitment of non-profit organizations.