This report considers the potential value of 17 Rooms as a tool to help community foundations (CFs) advance a full range of environmental, social, and economic priorities embedded in the world’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). While the SDGs can help CFs pursue a more comprehensive approach to local-level action, many CFs report challenges around sustaining the scope and scale of this action over time. Based on case studies across five communities, we find that 17 Rooms can help (i) shape a common language for community-wide action; (ii) make diverse community assets visible and cohesive; (iii) make strategic plans practical; (iv) cultivate community-scale competencies; and (v) connect projects to population-level progress.
