Cultivating Community Online: An Update on RedColaborar

By connecting online, grassroots groups in rural and often geographically isolated places can share and learn from each other in ways that were previously impractical. While online collaboration represents an opportunity for organizations, it doesn't just happen on its own. With the help of MAKAIA, a nonprofit organization based in Medellín, Colombia, the IAF has worked with grassroots leaders to develop a strategy to build community through our online platform, seeding resources and generating conversations.

In late 2022, soon after we launched RedColaborar, we shared a blogabout how we set our online community of practice up for success and how the launch was going. Two years later, RedColaborar has grown to 2,130 users belonging to 836 organizations (80% of which are small or newly-formed organizations that stand to particularly benefit from sharing resources with other organizations). Today, RedColaborar is a lively, dynamic, and collaborative network that inspires them in their work and reminds them that they are not alone. Organizations have found in this space not only a place to share knowledge, but also a sense of belonging, purpose, and collective transformation.

Two strategic moves have helped us build RedColaborar's momentum:

• carving out specific spaces for discussing key topics, which we call "thematic nodes"
• developing ambassadors for the platform from among the member organizations, who help guide us on what organizations need from it and recruit and motivate organizations to join and participate actively.

Strategic Move #1: Thematic Nodes

To date, users have shared nearly 1,000 resources across eight thematic learning communities: alternatives to migration, chronic violence, community philanthropy, community resilience, community tourism, peacebuilding, rural women, and sustainable agriculture. While the IAF helped facilitate and set up some of these groupings of organizations, others have begun emerging organically to meet members' needs. For example, several organizations just came together to launch a thematic node on rural women, the newest community.

Facundo Ibarlucia, who leads Argentinian organization Red de Comunidades Rurales, found in RedColaborar a tremendous asset because the thematic nodes connected him to organizations that had years of experience practicing community philanthropy as his organization was just embarking on trying the approach. His team learned from Mexican organizations Fondo de Acción Solidaria and Comunalia how to use the concept of community coinvestment to measure and value the cash and in-kind resources that communities bring to projects. Another RedColaborar member, Fondo Emerger, invited Red de Comunidades Rurales to join the Alianza Socioambiental Fondos del Sur and shared its forms for calls for proposals. The knowledge sharing has been reciprocal, with Red de Comunidades Rurales sharing its use of technology to build online formulas and map local resources.

Strategic Move #2: RedColaborar Leaders and Ambassadors

As Facundo got more and more active in the platform and other thematic nodes, he started getting involved in leading it. For him, helping to guide decision making processes for the network is a way of giving back in return for everything RedColaborar has given him, and a way of taking ownership of the space and "making it like our home."

Like Facundo, the organizational leaders that make up RedColaborar are not just members but co-creators and managers of the space. That's particularly true for the approximately 40 organizational leaders from across the region who form its steering committee. We recently gathered 18 of these leaders from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, and Peru in Medellin, Colombia, from September 22-27.

Attending a couple of in-person gatherings has helped Facundo build relationships with the individuals from around the region who make up the network, and has complemented their virtual connections made through video calls, group chats, and the platform. This hybrid connection enables them to meet and work together much more frequently and at lower cost than would be possible solely through in-person meetings.

In Medellin, the leaders spent long hours discussing some key decisions for the network, and made some interesting suggestions for potential next steps. Some involved incorporating RedColaborar and local RedColaborar leaders more deeply into the day-to-day in-country practice of the IAF, and using indicators and other incentives to encourage more grantees to participate more actively. Other ideas focused on how to make the network financially self-sustaining moving forward, anticipating a moment when it graduates from IAF funding, and how to decentralize its leadership so that it's not just MAKAIA dedicated to driving it forward.

In Facundo's words, "We all need to take ownership of this space-the more gardeners there are, the more fruitful the garden. So this spirit of participation is important, but we also recognize that we need incentives and facilitation to make this function, like the person who's adding fertilizer to the plants." For those organizations eligible to join RedColaborar that have yet to join or participate actively, Facundo suggests starting small, with a specific question to solve, and seeing if a resource or thread exists on the topic.

Just the Beginning

While it's important to recognize the tremendous strides RedColaborar has made in a relatively short time, we also understand that it has untapped possibilities that will allow it to grow stronger and more consolidated.

What would Facundo advise an organization seeking to breathe life into a community of practice? "Listen closely to those you're trying to reach and what they need - it's easy to make the mistake of assuming you know what would be useful. Identify leaders with the enthusiasm and talents to build ties and move processes forward. Design processes that enable you to determine a clear and shared objective, so that everyone knows what you're building towards."

Those points remain as true for RedColaborar now as they were at the beginning, and we look forward to continuing the journey!

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