Chapter 5: Power of Networks

Introduction to Networks

No outdoor science organization (at least none that we know of) is big enough or robust enough to hold all the capacity it needs in all the areas described in Chapter 4: Building Capacity for Organizational Improvement to sufficiently maintain its health and improvement over time. Participating in professional networks can be a key strategy for organizations to share and transfer their capacity and expertise with one another in mutually beneficial ways. No organization needs to be an island. Every organization has unique and signature strengths that can serve as examples to other organizations working to develop that capacity. This type of intentional cross-organization sharing has often been challenging for outdoor science organizations that often operate on a shoestring output-driven budget and can be geographically and intellectually isolated from one another. There is a growing movement in the field to address this challenge by shifting small but critical amounts of resources into forming networks, associations, collaboratives, and collective-impact efforts (for this short discussion, we will refer to them all as networks). Participating in networks can dramatically increase your organization’s bandwidth to engage in capacity building. Instead of having to build and maintain expertise in every capacity, you can benefit from and share expertise with other organizations in your network.

Much of the information and lessons learned that we share in this chapter comes from two sources. BEETLES used a portion of a grant from the National Science Foundation to support the formation and/or growth of five small regional networks. We learned so much from the organization leaders who stepped forward to become network leaders! That effort led us, in partnership with Justice Outside, Informing Change, and a subsequent grant from the Pisces Foundation, to conduct a more systematic study of the benefits of “subnational networks” in the field of outdoor learning. Informing Change conducted a series of focus-group discussions in 2021 that have truly informed and changed our thinking! Organizational networks can operate at different geographic scales. They can be national, subnational, statewide, regional, or local; each scale is best suited to different types of benefits. National or even international networks are excellent for staying informed about research, knowledge building, and sharing best practices from a wide array of situations. These inputs may or may not be directly applicable to your organization but can elevate your thinking, stimulate innovation, and keep you in touch with the broader field. Since national networks draw from a larger pool of organizations than those in your local region, it’s also more likely that you can connect with other organizations of similar size, structure, or programmatic focus as yours. In general, national networks help us feel part of a movement and a field that’s bigger and greater than we can typically perceive within our own organization and area.

Local or regional networks, however, are better suited for roll-up-your-sleeves, on-the-ground partnerships and collaborations. Despite the relative ease of virtual meetings, it is still the case that proximity makes many types of collaborations easier and helps to create a whole that is greater than the sum of the parts.

“It’s really satisfying to be part of a network where someone can say, ‘This is a piece of work that I know my organization should be focused on, but I just can’t do that right now’—[then] someone else in the network will pop up and say, ‘I’m doing that for my organization anyway, so I’m just going to share it with you.’”

Organizations within driving distance of one another participating in local or regional networks can share or rotate the responsibility, location, facilities, and expense of ongoing professional learning for their instructors. They can hold joint workshops; coordinate reading/study groups, peer-coaching opportunities, and cross-organization observations; and even chip in to hire guest presenters/facilitators.

“I think, for me, at the local level, the way that we think about our networks locally is, we’re taking ideas from all these other bigger networks, but we’re doing the work together, so it’s more of a collective impact network locally.”

Regional networks are more effective than individual organizations at certain types of fundraising. Many charitable foundations are more inclined to support scholarships and program delivery if they see organizations working together to have region-wide impact. In fact, we have seen regional networks inspire foundations to form similar networks among themselves to increase the impact of their giving! Leaders working together within a network can raise the visibility and prominence of their work among funders, school system leaders, politicians, and business partners.

We have also observed the particular power and impact of organizations in regional networks engaging together in equity and justice work (aka “DEI” or “JEDI” work). Honest and open sharing across organizations can help you understand that what may have seemed like idiosyncratic challenges unique to your organization are actually evidence of larger patterns of systemic racism in the community or the field. Organizations working together are more likely to be able to hire consultants that might be needed to facilitate and guide your equity journey. Many professionals of color entering the field find it challenging and stressful to be the only or one of very few Black and Brown outdoor science educators in their organizations. Regional networks increase the opportunities for affinity spaces where professionals of color can come together for mutual support and celebration of one another.

“[This network] intentionally brought together [and] created an environment very articulated, particularly with regard to equity and inclusion and anti-racism practices and gender diversity as well. It was a very intentionally diverse group. Being in that environment where there are people that can model and show you [how to] interact over coffee with [someone different from you]... So, that kind of exposure has to be deliberate, like you have to create that space deliberately. It doesn’t necessarily happen.”

“For me, especially as a Black woman in the environmental sector in [the Midwest], my network is very, very small. So, participating in spaces like that increased my social network, it increased the community’s awareness of what I also had to offer, and then also it really helped heal my own feelings of like, I’m the only one! It’s like, no you’re not girl; you ain’t alone.”

“Coming out of the . . . conference there clearly is a strong interest and desire, and there’s also a history of those networks not centering equity. There may need to be some assistance in creating bridges and looking towards existing leaders in those areas to bring them into the conversation. What models [are] there in states that have really reinvented themselves, so that it’s not the same systems and structures, or the same folks at the table? [My organization] would love to be engaging in new and different partnerships, and stepping into different spaces, and sharing leadership, but part of it is needing some support to create those connections, and just general capacity support to do that work.”

Individual and organizational participation in networks comes with a cost. It can take time and resources away from the immediate running of your organization, and sometimes the benefits are intangible, at least at first. Evidence is growing, however, from surveys, focus groups, research studies, and informal discussions conducted by the California Environmental Literacy Initiative, ChangeScale, Informing Change, Justice Outside, The Lawrence Hall of Science, the North American Association of Environmental Education, the Pisces Foundation, and others that the return on investment in networks is significant, maybe even essential to the survival of the field of outdoor science education. At the time of this writing, as we emerge from the havoc of the Covid-19 pandemic, the extraordinarily resilient field of outdoor science education has severely contracted, and the capacities (for equity, justice, vision, leadership, professional learning/curriculum, policy alignment, and understanding contextual conditions) of most organizations has been severely reduced. Contraction and lost capacity puts us collectively at risk of further isolation and losing relevance precisely at the moment that the world needs more connection to nature and more of the emotional, social, and racial healing that cascades from these connections. Building and participating in networks is a concrete strategy for coming together, for looking outward, for helping ourselves and one another to grow our organizational capacity to offer learners meaningful experiences outdoors.

“There has to be a willingness to just support space and time. We’re nonprofit organizations, we don’t give ourselves that, and funders don’t usually support that.”