Rethinking Backbones in Collective Impact: Examining a Broadening STEM Participation Program as a Feminist Matrix Organization

Collective impact is an organizational model that is often used as a tool for solving complex social problems through cross-sector collaboration. Traditional applications of this model require a separate backbone organization to oversee the organizational partnership. Using qualitative data from a larger mixed methods study, we examined STEMSUCCESS, a STEM access program for K-12 girls, through the lenses of both collective impact and feminist matrix organizational theory. Our research questions focused on how participants characterized the organizational behaviors within and between the partnership as well as how the partnership accomplished the goals a backbone organization normally would. Although STEMSUCCESS exhibits characteristics of collective impact partnerships between universities and community organizations, we show how the partnership’s design calls into question the necessity of backbone organizations through centering women and promoting a non-hierarchical structure. Rather than a centralized backbone, we recommend reimagining the collective impact model as a quilt—a living project that is flexible, communally sourced, and rooted in feminism and social change.