Foundations and other public and nonprofit organizations increasingly express interest in cultivating systems-level change and maximizing their impact through more complex approaches. As organizations look beyond individual interventions and programs, they must think differently and define problems and questions in fundamentally new ways. The American Institutes for Research (AIR) has found that traditional approaches used to evaluate more well-defined programs and interventions may not always help those organizations meet the larger, more multifacted issues they seek to address. Instead, organizations often need thought partnership to clarify learning questions and problems within the context and systems in which they operate, systematically explore new topics, and develop strategies accordingly. The authors refer to such emerging engagements as "learning partnerships" and discuss what they are and when to use them in this brief. These examples focus on education, including both the K-12 and postsecondary context, but may apply beyond these contexts, as well.