Capacity building involves strengthening nonprofit organizations
so they can better achieve their missions. Types
of capacity building include:
1. Helping nonprofits assess their needs for capacity building
- so they can receive the services that will most help them meet
current challenges and grow healthily,
2. Providing consultation, technical assistance and access to
information or other resources needed to meet challenges and grow,
and
3. Offering direct financial support, to increase fiscal stability
and build the organization's infrastructure.
These services can enhance nonprofit functioning
in many areas, such as administration, finance, human resources,
technology and facility management.
DSYF'S INITIATIVE
In 2007 Dwight Stuart Youth Fund began a Capacity-Building Initiative, which grantmaking functions are described in our Grantmaking section. In this section we present Capacity Building News and Youth Services News (updated quarterly), and a set of information resources to help local youth-serving nonprofits.
News
Project Grantsmanship is a partnership of Dwight Stuart Youth Fund, the Annenberg Foundation, California Community Foundation, the Ralph M. Parsons Foundation, and the Grantsmanship Center. The partner foundations underwrite 90 percent of the tuition for eligible nonprofit leaders to attend The Grantsmanship Center’s five-day Grantsmanship Training Program. For further information and registration information, click here.
Publications
Managing Executive Transitions: A Guide for Nonprofits is a book written by the staff of CompassPoint and published by the organization. It guides nonprofits through a change in leadership, and can help boards and executive directors handle leadership turnovers in a way that prevents problems and sets the organization on a path for long-term success. To read more about it and/or buy the book, click here.
The Cornerstones of Successful Fundraising: Marketing and Communication is an article written by Ed Lewis, MPA, CFRE, for Southern California Center for Nonprofit Management. The article starts from the assumption that it is important for nonprofit organizations to understand the principles of marketing and communications and how they can dramatically improve their fundraising efforts. In this article the author discusses key elements of both and how these important factors should ultimately result in a written marketing plan for the organization. To access the article, click here.
Boomer Volunteer Engagement: Collaborate Today, Thrive Tomorrow is a book written by Jill Friedman Fixler with Sandie Eichberg and Gail Lorenz, and published by Fieldstone Alliance. Nonprofits face increased demand for services despite decreased budgets. Meanwhile, more than 78 million baby boomers have work experience and talent to spare. Furthermore, newly retired boomers are interested in leaving a social legacy through volunteerism. More also are flocking to nonprofits because they are unemployed due to the recession. They want to share their skills and make meaningful contributions during unemployment or retirement. This convergence is an opportunity for organizational capacity-building through the utilization of baby boomers’ skills, talents, and circles of influence. To learn more, click here.
Seven Turning Points: Leading Through Pivotal Transitions in Organizational Life, by Susan Gross, a book published by Fieldstone Alliance, is intended for nonprofits undergoing significant management change. The author, an organization development consultant, devotes each chapter to a turning point most nonprofits face and ends each one with a summary that lists the signs that change is needed, changes that must be made, and what tensions can arise as a result of the transition process. For example, when a longtime chief executive steps down, charities should think about hiring from the outside for a fresh perspective and avoid placing the departing leader on the organization's board for at least a few years. The author cautions that any adjustments are neither permanent nor quick and that someone must serve as a catalyst for change, be it an individual or a group. To learn more, click here.
Effective Economic Decision-Making by Nonprofit Organizations is the first book produced by National Center on Nonprofit Enterprise. It presents practical guidelines to help nonprofit managers advance their mission while balancing the interests of trustees, funders, government, and staff. The authors explore core operating decisions and provide solutions that work for nonprofits of any size. Chapters cover pricing of services, staff compensation, outsourcing, fundraising costs, investment policy, commercial ventures, institutional collaboration and internet trading. For more information and to order the book, click here.
Events
Third Annual MENDing Poverty Conference will be held Wednesday, June 16, 2010, 8 am-2 pm at the MEND Center in Pacoima. The conference is for leaders of the Southern California nonprofit, funder and business communities, focused on challenges of poverty services. This year's theme is “Getting People Out of Poverty - Programs, Policies and Collaborations That Work!” Conference keynote speakers are Forces for Good author Heather Grant and community leader Connie Rice. Three break-out workshops will focus on the conference theme, with an opportunity for audience feedback to shape an action paper for wide circulation after the conference. The conference is co-hosted by MEND and Valley Nonprofit Resources; co-chairs are Carmel Sella of Wells Fargo Bank and Florence Green of IdeaEncore. For more information and to register, call or email Maggie Torres at MEND, 818/688-7350.
Other Resources
Communications Resources for Nonprofit Organizations is a section of The California Wellness Foundation’s website, which examines the role of communications and tactics that can help further the missions of nonprofit organizations. Included are resources on developing a strategic plan, advancing policy and advocacy issues, working with the media, creating advertisements and framing issues. To access this section of the website, click here.
Publications
Work-Based Learning in California: Opportunities and Models for Expansion is a study funded by the James Irvine Foundation that explores this important topic. Work-based learning is an educational strategy that links academic instruction with the world of work. By itself, it is a powerful tool for motivating students and enhancing learning. But it holds particular promise in the context of multiple pathways, an approach to high school reform in California that seeks to prepare more young people for success both in college and the workplace. This report by WestEd takes a broad look at work-based learning in California: how it is practiced, what it looks like when done well and how it could be expanded to engage more students. To read the full report, click here.
Centerscene, the email newletter published by The California Endowment, features in its Winter/Spring 2010 an exploration of how kids' health is affected when they are chronically absent from school. New research shows that chronic absence is a better indicator of high school dropout than test scores, and also can sometimes indicate unaddressed health problems. This issue explores efforts in San Diego, Los Angeles and the state legislature to help schools, youth and families work together to improve school attendance and overall student health. To access, click here.
Grants for Children and Youth – 2010 Digital Edition is a new guide being offered by the Foundation Center. This publication reveals the scope of current foundation giving in the children and youth services field, and includes descriptions of almost 40,000 grants worth more than $4.7 billion from nearly 1,400 foundations. Grants for Children & Youth identifies prospective funders for general support or specific projects, including adolescent parent services, pregnancy counseling and prevention programs, prevention of youth violence and rehabilitation for youth offenders, youth centers and clubs, youth museums, etc. For more information or to order, click here.
Events
Other Resources
AMA Foundation’s Healthy Living Grant Program supports grassroots public health projects that encourage healthy lifestyles in communities across the nation. Grants of up to $5,000 will be awarded in the following three categories: Nutrition/Physical Fitness; Alcohol, Substance Abuse, and Smoking Prevention; and Violence Prevention. Funded projects should target underserved and/or at-risk youth between the ages of 2-21. Organizations that have been in existence for at least one year and that have an annual operating budget of $500,000 or less are eligible to apply. The application deadline is July 15, 2010. Application guidelines and forms are available on the Foundation’s website. Click here for more information.
Finish Line Youth Foundation offers grants to nonprofit organizations that provide community-based access to athletics and other active lifestyle activities for youth under the age of 18. An additional focus is on camps that give kids the chance to be active, with emphasis on those that provide services to disadvantaged or special needs children. Requests are reviewed quarterly; the remaining deadlines for 2010 are June 30, September 30, and December 31. To take the Eligibility Quiz and learn more details about the requirements and process, click here.
REFERRAL RESOURCES
Capacity-building services are available
from various organizations and individuals throughout Los Angeles
County. Some are offered on a fee-for-service basis.
Other services are offered at reduced cost or free of charge to
nonprofits (often because they are underwritten by a third party),
or are offered directly by a funder (foundation, business, individual
donor, religious institution or government agency) that pays for
them.
One critical step for any youth-serving
nonprofit wishing to build its capacity is identifying the right
resources. A referral resource for this purpose is:
Los Angeles County Now in its seventh (2010) edition, the Resource Directory for Nonprofit Capacity Building in Los Angeles County describes a number of resources youth-serving nonprofits may find useful in meeting their capacity building needs. To download a free copy of this
Directory, click
HERE.
ASSESSMENT RESOURCES
To build capacity, nonprofits first need to
do a careful needs assessment, looking at the organization as
a living system and figuring out a strategy for how to strengthen
it. Basic questions about capacity building, which any nonprofit
might use to start a discussion among staff or board, are the
following:
1. What kinds of needs for improvement do we
have at the present time?
2. Are we ready to build capacity to meet these needs better?
- Do we have the resources (financial,
personnel, etc.) to undertake capacity building?
- Are we agreed among staff, board and
executive director about the need for capacity building
and the right way to do it?
- Is anything else happening in our organization
or in the community that we should take
account of in planning for capacity building? (other major changes
or
capacity-building efforts happening
at the same time, a crisis or problem that
is absorbing all our energy, etc.)
3. Who will lead the capacity-building work inside our organization?
4. How will we find the capacity-building information or technical
assistance to help us?
5. How will we know when we succeed?
Specific subject areas in which capacity building may be needed
include:
DSYF's Quick Assessment Tool
To start the process of self-assessment
about capacity-building needs, youth-serving agencies in Los Angeles
and Orange Counties can download a brief assessment device DSYF
created, based on the above questions and subject areas. The DSYF
Tool can be used to focus staff discussion, lead a board meeting,
or begin constructing a funding proposal, among many other purposes.
To download a PDF of this tool, click
HERE
Other Assessment Tools
Other tools can help a nonprofit assess
its needs for capacity building, develop a plan of action to do
so, and measure progress over time. Some of these assessment tools
are free of charge and relatively easy to use. Others must be
purchased from their developers, are more complex, and may require
a substantial financial and time investment.
This roster contains 18 self-assessment tools nonprofits may use
as part of planning for capacity building. Information on cost,
level of complexity (low-medium-high) and estimated time to complete
are included for each. Most can be used by any type of nonprofit,
though a few were constructed specifically for one area, such
as the arts (titles indicate clearly which these are). To find
out more about a tool, click on its title and you will be connected
to the developer's website.
No endorsement is implied for any of the tools listed below in
alphabetical order, and there are many other valuable capacity-building
assessment tools that are not mentioned here.
NOTE: Appearance of activities, publications or organizations
in these website listings does not constitute any type of endorsement
from the Dwight Stuart Youth Fund. These listings are
provided solely for informational purposes.