Collaboration, shared learning, and succession ideas that actually fit grassroots reality
One of the smartest capacity moves a small group can make is realizing you don’t have to invent everything yourself. Partnering with other clubs, sharing resources, or joining a network often multiplies what you can do.
Research by Tamarack Institute and others keeps showing that collaboration helps groups tackle bigger problems and access supports they couldn’t reach alone. Even informal stuff — monthly peer calls, swapping workshop facilitators, or sharing a bookkeeper — counts.
Succession and creative leadership pathways are another under-used tool. When we deliberately create space for newer or quieter members to try leading a project, we stop being one-person shows. Documenting the basics so someone else can step in is one of the kindest things you can do for your future self and the group.
Practical approaches that fit small groups:
- Start a low-pressure monthly check-in with one or two similar groups to share what’s working
- Create a simple “how we do things” folder so new people (and future you) aren’t starting from zero
- Offer short leadership try-outs: let someone run one meeting, one event piece, or one social media week
- Look for shared training or free webinars you can attend together and debrief as a group
- Keep a living list of people who said “maybe later” — follow up when a smaller role opens
- Celebrate collective progress out loud so the group feels the win, not just the work
The challenges are real — funding is tight, people are tired, demand is high. But groups that stay curious, ask for help, and invest in their own internal strength keep showing up for their communities year after year. That’s the hopeful part.
This fall and winter we’re treating the quieter, more virtual season as a chance to get intentional. We’ve put a lot of energy into physical infrastructure most of the year. Now, with many people away for school and work, we’re focusing on board and governance models, organizational development, and pathways for creative leadership and succession. Each week we’ll look at one of these areas so we can keep building capacity in a way that feels doable, shared, and sustainable.
