A Road Map to Resources from The Nicholson Foundation Blog

The Nicholson Foundation’s work to advance meaningful change in New Jersey’s safety net service system was captured in its 2021 book Changing Systems, Changing Lives: Reflecting on 20 Years. Through stories about exemplary projects and related text, the book showed how the foundation put six guiding themes into action through grants and diverse partnerships. The result was real systems change that benefitted individuals, families, and communities. The six themes are:

  • Engaging with Government for Systems Change
  • Elevating Best Practices and Building Evidence
  • Finding and Nurturing Effective Partnerships
  • Investing in Organizational Nuts and Bolts
  • Tackling Complex Problems with Multiple and Complementary Solutions
  • Developing Future Leaders

Though the Foundation closed in December 2021, its work has lived on through ongoing efforts to promote Changing Systems. One outcome of these efforts was a scholarly paper that helped to make the Foundation’s approach broadly accessible to researchers, academics, and philanthropists. “A Framework for Creating Systems Change,” by Drs. William Brown and Wynn Rosser presented a new research-grounded model for systems change. All of the model’s seven components reflected themes in Changing Systems.

Building on the paper, Dr. Brown and Dr. Kimberly Boller, former Executive Director of The Nicholson Foundation, co-hosted a May 2025 webinar, Unlocking Systems Thinking: Tools for Transformation. The webinar explored systems thinking principles and their critical role in driving meaningful change in complex social systems, such as education, health, and human services.

The Foundation’s News and Blogs website is another way the Foundation is promoting Changing Systems and the Framework for Systems Change model. Importantly, each post in the blog contains a LEARN MORE section, with links to useful websites and other resources. This post presents a roadmap to the LEARN MORE resources in the blog’s four series: Key Takeaways, A Framework for Systems Change in Action, Then & Now, and News Stories. These resources provide a wealth of information for organizations who wish to create lasting positive change in their communities.

First and Foremost