As nonprofits try to pivot in response to cuts in funding, threats to their missions, and spikes in demand for services, many funders are asking what they should be doing to help ensure their grantee partners are able to continue to deliver impact. In some communities, funders are exploring coordinated efforts to support nonprofit capacity.
While this could happen in a variety of ways, the objective of these efforts is similar—ensure nonprofits can access high-quality, relevant resources and support to help them continue to operate effectively.
Community Wealth Partners has helped launch successful local efforts to support nonprofit capacity in areas around the country. Three examples show the variety of ways funders are coming together to support local nonprofits’ capacity.
Alliance for Nonprofit Impact, Rhode Island
Incubated by United Way of Rhode Island (UWRI), the Alliance for Nonprofit Impact is a state-wide resource hub designed to support staff, strengthen organizations, and improve the ecosystem in which nonprofits work. The vision for the Alliance was shaped by a Design Team of 11 nonprofit leaders from across the state. To help UWRI and the Design Team make decisions about the Alliance’s purpose, we facilitated a process that included input from nearly 400 stakeholders, a national landscape scan of nonprofit resource centers around the country conducted by a local partner, a scan of existing capacity supports for nonprofits in Rhode Island, and a revenue feasibility assessment. Today the Alliance for Nonprofit Impact is rolling out a paid membership program, offering trainings in key capacity areas such as fundraising and board development, and coordinating a joint policy agenda.
Co.act Detroit
The Ralph C. Wilson, Jr Foundation decided to create a center in Detroit to support nonprofits in Southeastern Michigan. The vision of the center was a physical space with staffed, structured programming where nonprofits could collaborate and innovate around challenges facing the region and access the resources and support they needed to effectively deliver solutions.
We facilitated working sessions among the partners and shared insights from a national scan of related efforts to help the partners define a shared vision for the center and consider the services they might offer. The center, named Co.act Detroit, now works with nonprofits to build their capacity so that over time they become better equipped to innovate and collaboratively address the region’s most pressing complex social challenges. Learn more in this case study.
Nonprofit Support Group and The Capacity Lab, Western New York
A group of five Western New York funders committed to capacity building, along with two local nonprofit consultants, began working together in 2017 in recognition of a growing need for a more collaborative and comprehensive approach to strengthening nonprofits in a nine-county region. Our landscape assessment found that there was limited infrastructure available in the region to support nonprofits. Based on this finding, we assisted the group in designing a vision for an entity that could introduce and connect nonprofits to innovative capacity building supports. The entity now known as the Nonprofit Support Group was formally launched in the summer of 2019. Based on this success, we then repeated a similar process with a different set of funders in the adjacent region of Chautauqua, NY, where we assessed needs and supported the design and initial build-out of The Capacity Lab.
Recommendations for getting started
If your organization is exploring possible approaches for supporting nonprofit capacity in your region, here are some recommendations:
- Center the voice of nonprofits in your community to ensure whatever you are building will be relevant and accessible for them.
- Combine local and national landscape assessments to understand assets and gaps in your community and to learn from successful efforts from around the country.
- Prioritize thoughtful, inclusive stakeholder engagement to help build buy-in and support from nonprofits, funders, service providers, and other key stakeholders.
- Ensure a path to sustainability for your effort through feasibility assessments and business modeling.
Is your community exploring ways to strengthen support for local nonprofits? Or do you already have an effort in place? We’d love to learn more about what you’ve done or what you’re thinking of doing. Reach out to Lori Bartczak (lbartczak@communitywealth.com.)