Relationships for Impact

Published in ATÖLYE Insights · 4 min read · August 29, 2025

Building Connections for a Better World

We often talk about impact in terms of what we do: programs launched, initiatives funded, projects delivered. But what if the greatest driver of change isn’t an output at all? What if the real catalyst is the quality of our relationships?

That question shaped our third Community-Powered Dialogues session, Elevating Quality Relationships for Impact: Building Connections for a Better World. Moderated by ATÖLYE Academy Director Mert Çetinkaya, with guests Paula Quintas of the BMW Foundation and Monika Koncz MacKenzie, co-founder of Regenerative Design, formerly of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, the conversation explored how investing in connection can unlock impact that is deeper, more resilient, and more regenerative than any single intervention.

From Deliverables to Dialogue

For decades, social impact has been measured in numbers: how many people reached, how many outputs delivered. But as Mert reminded us,

“real transformation is often remembered not in outcomes, but in the way we work together – how we build trust, how we hold each other through complexity.”

Paula described how the BMW Foundation’s journey has shifted from cultivating individual leaders to weaving collective intelligence – helping leaders across sectors connect their efforts into shared goals. Monika offered a complementary practice: field building. Like tending a garden, it means preparing fertile ground for relationships to flourish, through shared language, vision, and values, so that collaboration and innovation can take root.

Trust as the True Infrastructure

Trust takes time. Some of the most impactful networks Paula has seen weren’t born in crisis, but in the quiet years before – sustained by care, consistency, and shared values. When challenges arise, these networks respond not because they are mandated to, but because they are already bound together.

This is why relationships can’t be treated as a “soft” layer on top of impact. They are the infrastructure of impact. As Monika provocatively asked:

“What if the hidden work of relationships is the real metric – the garden we must tend, even if the harvest comes years later?”

Rethinking the Story of Impact

This raises a difficult question: how do we justify relational work to boards, funders, or quarterly review cycles?

Paula stressed the need for new narratives. “It’s not about claiming success for ourselves,” she said. “It’s about showing how shared victories emerge through connection.” Monika added that we must move away from transactional models of impact toward relational ones: where the value lies not in what’s immediately measurable, but in the capacity built across networks over time.

Beyond Silos: A Network of Networks

Looking ahead, Paula called for a network of networks – a way of connecting the many fragmented but powerful communities already striving for change.

“If we stay in silos, we’ll tend small gardens while the ecosystem collapses around us,” she warned.

Monika built on that vision: “There are so many beautiful efforts already alive – but they remain invisible to one another. If we can connect the threads, we’ll realize we’re much further along than we think.”

An Invitation to Reframe

At ATÖLYE, we believe relationships are not peripheral to impact – they are its foundation. They are what allow coalitions to form, trust to scale, and resilience to endure.

This is what our Community-Powered movement seeks to explore: how to shift our lens from short-term deliverables to long-term connection, from transactional engagement to transformational presence.

→ What relationships in your world are quietly shaping the future? And how might you invest in them as ends in themselves?

Join the conversation or reach out to us to explore how we can cultivate the fertile ground for impact, together.