Comprehensive capacity building

Building capacity is all about developing and strengthening skills, instincts, processes and resources that organizations and communities need to survive, adapt, and thrive in a fast-changing world.

OTHER CORE SERVICES

Collaborations

Strategies for Tough Times

It requires everyone to consider the changing environment, the available resources and possible strategies, and the collective will to jump in and do the hard work that will lead to greater achievements toward the mission.  In our experience, comprehensive capacity building initiatives are the most effective path to achieve a significant, sustainable impact. 

But what does that mean?  The term is a mouthful of words, and doesn’t by itself describe anything that is remotely helpful.  So, we offer our description of the term.

In our work, a comprehensive capacity building initiative is one that

• Is built around a network, a community, or a nonprofit sector
• Is designed to achieve a well-defined goal that addresses the group's most pressing needs
• Starts now for those important early successes and builds in strength and offerings over 1-3 years
• Uses local resources (nonprofits and for-profits, funders, and others), filling in with national consultants as needed
• Offers a variety of tools to tackle the challenge such as training, knowledge sharing (websites!), technical assistance and cohort and individual consulting services.

Our role in these long-term projects is to design and guide the initiative in partnership with local agencies and funders, offer specific topical expertise (either ourselves or teaming with top-notch consultants expert in other fields), and ensure the whole thing stays on track.  We also place a high value on training and supporting local consultants to take over our “topical expertise” roles; we do that because it is more cost-effective and sustainable for the community, and it’s the right thing to do. 

 You will see some short-story examples in the Clients section.  If you are an association, a network, a community leader or a funder, and would like to see if a comprehensive capacity building initiative is right for you, then let’s talk.