The Foundation Review Highlights the “Nicholson Model” and Brings Foundation’s Work to New Audiences

A 2023 paper in the journal The Foundation Review is helping to make the Nicholson Foundation’s grant-making approach accessible to a broad new audience of researchers, academics, and philanthropists.

The Nicholson Foundation worked to advance meaningful change in safety net service systems by engaging with state and local government agencies—the main drivers of social support systems. It also worked hand-in-hand with nonprofit service providers and other non-governmental organizations. The goal was to augment or change systems so the services they provide to individuals, families, and communities are more accessible, more effective, and work in complementary ways.

The Foundation’s journey is described in the book Changing Systems, Changing Lives: Reflecting on 20 Years. Drs. William Brown of Texas A&M University and Wynn Rosser of the T. L. L. Temple Foundation adapted and expanded the Foundation’s approach in their Foundation Review paper “A Framework for Creating Systems Change.”

Brown and Rosser used the Foundation’s guiding themes to construct the “Nicholson Model,” a new model for systems change that shows how the Foundation’s work aligns with concepts from existing literature and practice. Five of the model’s seven components reflect themes in Changing Systems, Changing Lives: Reflecting on 20 Years:Brown and Rosser used the Foundation’s guiding themes to construct the “Nicholson Model,” a new model for systems change that shows how the Foundation’s work aligns with concepts from existing literature and practice. Five of the model’s seven components reflect themes in Changing Systems, Changing Lives: Reflecting on 20 Years:

  • Nurturing partnerships
  • Elevating best practices and building evidence
  • Building organizational capacity
  • Developing future leaders
  • Using multiple and complementary strategies

The sixth component slightly shifts the emphasis of the Foundation’s “Engaging with Government” theme, and the seventh highlights the Foundation’s overall approach by including performance measurement as a distinct and separate component of the model.

Together, Changing Systems, Changing Lives: Reflecting on 20 Years and “A Framework for Creating Systems Change” provide important new resources for scholars, funders, and practitioners. Better approaches for delivering effective and equitable human services are needed, and these two works show how to successfully apply the “Nicholson Model” in communities.

Receive a free copy or download Changing Systems, Changing Lives: Reflecting on 20 Years.

Visit The Nicholson Foundation’s blog series to learn more about how the Foundation’s work.

Read Brown W, Rosser W. “A Framework for Creating Systems Change.” The Foundation Review,
2023;15(4):50-6.

For all other inquiries, click here to send an email.

Share