Strengthening Capacity, Sustaining Impact
The Capacity Building Resource Hub shares practical tools, lessons, and examples from the Resilient, Inclusive, and Sustainable Economies (RISE) program to help you make investments that strengthen nonprofit organizations over time.
Why Capacity
Building Matters
Nonprofits are expected to solve increasingly complex challenges while navigating real constraints on funding, staffing, and time. Too often, investments focus on programs without supporting the organizational infrastructure behind them.
Effective capacity building changes that. It helps organizations strengthen how they lead, learn, plan, and adapt so they can continue delivering results even as conditions change.
See how we define capacity building in our field guide
Our Perspective
We believe capacity building works best when funders create the conditions for nonprofits to strengthen their organizations in ways that are responsive to their unique context and built for the long term.
An intentional capacity-building strategy starts by asking nonprofits what they need.
Effective capacity-building investments pair unrestricted funding with other types of support.
Capacity-building supports work best when they offer flexibility without sacrificing accountability.
Resources for Effective Capacity Building
These three downloadable resources offer different entry points into the lessons and insights emerging from RISE and what they mean for effective capacity building. Start with the perspective that feels most relevant to you.
design
Explore how RISE was intentionally designed around what nonprofits said they needed to strengthen their organizations and advance their work.
implementation
See what it looked like to capacity-building principles into practice, including the choices, adaptations, and supports that shaped the RISE experience.
impact
Step into the experiences of RISE participants through stories and reflections that bring the value and impact of the work to life.
From Principles to Practice
For more than 20 years our team at Community Wealth Partners has specialized in designing and managing programs that strengthen nonprofit resilience and collaboration. We’ve learned that the most effective investments combine intentional design with responsive implementation. RISE put this approach into practice through a three-year initiative supporting 22 nonprofit organizations across Dallas and Miami-Dade County with unrestricted funding, coaching, peer learning, and organizational strengthening (technical assistance).
RISE in Numbers
A closer look at the investment
Leadership coaching provided to each nonprofit
General operating grant awarded to each nonprofit
Technical assistance delivered to each nonprofit
Voices From RISE
RISE Partners
Thank you to the nonprofit leaders, organizational strengthening partners, and coaches who made RISE possible. Your leadership, partnership, and commitment to learning shaped this work and what we’ve learned along the way.
Nonprofit Organizations (Dallas, Texas)
Nonprofit Organizations
(Miami-Dade County, Florida)
Organizational Strengthening Partners
Let's Talk Capacity Building
Do you have a question about RISE, a media inquiry, or are you interested in a thought partnership call related to your capacity building investments? We’d welcome the opportunity to connect.