Addressing grand societal challenges (GSCs) calls for collaborative approaches between private and public actors. However, many joint initiatives fall short due to ineffective stakeholder engagement, which undermines the legitimacy of their outcomes. Drawing on the concept of collaborative governance, we explore how partnerships can be made more inclusive and efficient. Through a case study of a corporate-government-community partnership aimed at improving education in government schools in India, we identify the pivotal role of boundary organizations in creating optimal spaces for collaboration and change. Specifically, our findings reveal the role of boundary organizations in ensuring a permeable and portable collaborative governance process involving controlled permeabilization, strategic reconfiguration, and adaptive stabilization. This research contributes to the literature on boundary work, grand challenges, and collaborative governance, offering insights into how stakeholder partnerships can be better designed to achieve scalable and sustainable social change.
