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Resources on Capacity Building


The list below is selective rather than exhaustive with the purpose of providing you with only the most relevant websites and books that will expand your understanding of what capacity building is and how you can apply this knowledge to your own organizational needs.


Articles:

An April 8, 2002 article by Paul C. Light and Elizabeth T. Hubbard entitled, The Capacity Building Challenge provides a general overview about the interest and need for ensuring organizational effectiveness.


Books:

Blumenthal, Barbara. (2003) Investing in Capacity Building: A Guide to High-Impact Approaches. The Foundation Center.

Collins, Jim. (2001) Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don't. New York: HarperBusiness.

Connolly, Paul M. (2006) Navigating the Organizational Lifecycle: A Capacity-Building Guide for Nonprofit Leaders. Washington D.C.:Board Source.

Letts, Christine W. et al. (1999) High Performance Nonprofit Organizations: Managing Upstream for Greater Impact. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

McNamara, Carter. Field Guide to Consulting and Organizational Development With Nonprofits, Minneapolis: Authenticity Consulting, LLC.

This book provides complete, step-by-step guidelines to identify complex issues in nonprofit organizations and successfully resolve each of them. This book is also helpful to organizations that are doing fine now, but want to evolve to the next level of performance. Includes online forms that can be downloaded.

Saul, Jason. (2004) Benchmarking for Nonprofits: How to Measure, Manage, and Improve Performance. St. Paul, MN: Amherst J. Wilder Foundation.

Wolf, Thomas. (1984) Managing a Nonprofit Organization. New York: Prentice Hall Press.


Workshop Materials:

Periodically OMG conducts workshops on topics relating to the Pew Fund Capacity Building Program. You can view or download PDF copies of the materials from some of those workshops here.


Websites:

Alliance for Nonprofit Management
Membership association that delivers management and governance support services to nonprofit organizations.

The Human Interaction Research Institute (HIRI)
HIRI helps nonprofits, funders and communities handle the challenges of innovation and change, using behavioral science strategies. Founded in 1961, HIRI is based in Los Angeles. Its work ranges from research, to technical assistance on systems change, to disseminating innovations or helping others to do so. Current priority areas are: (1) nonprofit capacity building, (2) community collaborations and (3) philanthropy, along with longstanding interests in dissemination and health communication.

The Foundation Center
A list of articles and books on capacity building from the grantmakers' point of view.

Free Management Library
The Free Management Library provides resources compiled by Carter McNamara (MBA, PHD) of the Minneapolis based Authenticity Consulting, LLC. You can access resources in the following areas: 1) Suggested Readings; 2) Articles About Capacity Building; 3) Common Functions in Nonprofits; 4) Organizational Performance Management Approaches.

The Non Profit Center at La Salle University:
This site has a wealth of useful information on capacity-building resources for the nonprofit sector.


Other Resources

Nonprofit Organizational Lifecycle Assessment Tool:
Determining your Readiness for Capacity Building Work

Before beginning the Letter of Inquiry, it is important that your organization have a clear understanding of its readiness to take on a capacity building project. One suggestion is to complete one of the assessment tools described below:

1. The Marguerite E. Casey Foundation developed an Organizational Capacity Assessment Tool, which is adapted from the McKinsey Capacity Assessment Grid, a comprehensive tool that evaluates organizations on 60 capacity dimensions. The modified grid organizes questions under four dimensions: (1) leadership capacity; (2) adaptive capacity; (3) management capacity; and (4) operational capacity.

2. Another suggestion is to consider completing the "Nonprofit Organizational Lifecycle Assessment Tool" (developed by Paul M. Connolly in his book, Navigating the Organizational Lifecycle: A Capacity Building Guide for Nonprofit Leaders available for purchase from www.boardsource.com), which is a useful instrument at any time, but particularly when an organization is undertaking an organizational assessment or strategic planning process.
McKinsey Capacity Assessment Grid.

Marguerite Casey Foundation Organizational Capacity Assessment Tool.

Guthrie, K., & Preston, A. (with Hemmings, E., Walker, C., Siqueiros, S., Friedman, E., & Ko, K. L.). (in press). Building capacity while assessing it: Three foundations' experiences using the McKinsey Capacity Assessment Grid. In A funder's guide to organizational assessment. Saint Paul, MN: Fieldstone Alliance.

Although directors and managers often have an immediate pressing issue that brings them to seek capacity building assistance, when examined at a deeper level, a set of issues are at play. The assessment tools described above will help you make an honest assessment of where "you really are as an organization." Ideally, senior staff and board leaders should also participate in this process with the goal of generating a lively and informative debate that could be the first step in developing a viable capacity building project that is an integral component of your organization's strategic plan.


Local Services
Researching and writing your LOI and proposal

When you are ready to start writing your LOI, a great local resource is the Regional Foundation Center at The Free Library of Philadelphia. It was founded in 1974 to provide local nonprofit organizations with free access to information on management, grant seeking, fund development, and proposal writing. They also offer the Philadelphia region's largest public information collection of print and electronic materials available on all aspects of fundraising, institutional advancement, and general philanthropy.

The Regional Foundation Center is located on the 2nd floor of the Central Library in the Social Science and History Department. You can receive a free orientation on selected Tuesdays and Saturdays. For more information, contact 215-686-5423.