Collaboration Council

The Collaboration Council Today

The Collaboration Council is a group of 60 regional leaders from Columbia, Dane, Dodge, Green, Iowa, Jefferson, Rock and Sauk counties. They come from both private and public sectors, business and nonprofit, education and government. Acting as a platform for dialog, they meet twice annually with the roles of:

  • Building a Regional Culture

  • Guiding Thrive's Quality of Life Initiatives

  • Providing Support for and Aligning with Thrive

The Collaboration Council: History

In 2004, a cross-section of 38 leaders from across business, nonprofits, government and academia came together to discuss the Madison Region: where we are, where we are going, and how do we achieve the vision of growing the region's economy in ways that preserve and enhance the quality of life? This was the beginning of the Collaboration Council.

The Collaboration Council met for the next two years, formed work and research teams, and ultimately presented a portrait of our region (at that time, beginning with Dane County), including our region's assets and opportunities, strengths and needs, and a vision of how to take the work and begin to make it a reality.

A short (six month) window of fundraising brought three years of operational funding to launch a not-for-profit entity, Thrive, in February 2007 to execute the ideas and the work of the Collaboration Council. Thrive is the economic development enterprise for the 8-county Madison Region.

Distinctions: Thrive and the Collaboration Council

The Collaboration Council's dialog, research and recommendations were incorporated into a 2007--2009 Strategic Plan for Thrive. A Thrive Board of Directors was appointed in the spring of 2007, Thrive was fully staffed in 2008, and the work of the organization is now proceeding under the direction of the Strategic Plan, with oversight coming from Thrive's own Board of Directors.

The Collaboration Council does not provide oversight for Thrive, and Thrive does not report to the Collaboration Council. Thrive staffs and convenes the Collaboration Council, a physical model of regional collaboration guiding quality of life, providing support, and building a regional culture through dialog and through the actions of its members.