Building Capacity in Los Angeles County

Background
A primary aim of Weingart Foundation is to support nonprofit organizations as they grow and develop their knowledge, resources and capabilities to achieve their missions. The Foundation makes a variety of grants to support the operational, organizational development, and capital needs of individual nonprofits, as they define them. The recent addition of core support is another step in our effort to provide the type of funding organizations need most to effectively perform and improve their program outcomes.

Our long-standing interest in strengthening nonprofit organizations has prompted the Foundation to embark on a multidimensional capacity building project in Los Angeles County. We think of capacity building as any activity that significantly strengthens the ability of a nonprofit to achieve its mission. Aiding the Foundation in this effort is TCC Group, a consulting firm known for its planning, capacity building, and evaluation expertise. www.tccgrp.com We are eager to learn more about opportunities that exist to foster organizational effectiveness and improve our ability to support nonprofits. We are also interested in sharing what we learn with the nonprofit and philanthropic sectors.

Project Description
Over a six-month period TCC Group will be conducting research and providing consulting services to the Foundation that have both external and internal components. The project begins in September 2009 with an assessment of nonprofit capacity needs. More than 700 nonprofits representing a broad array of organizations in Los Angeles County that have applied to or been funded by the Foundation will be invited to participate in a no-cost, confidential organizational assessment process using the Core Capacity Assessment Tool. www.tccccat.com To provide maximum benefit to interested organizations, orientation sessions on the assessment process will be offered. Also, interpretation activities will be available to participants so that they can effectively use and take action on their assessment findings. Workshops on financial sustainability will be scheduled in conjunction with these sessions. Although the project has been designed to provide benefit to nonprofit organizations, participation is entirely voluntary and individualized results and comments will not be shared with the Foundation.

Another aspect of the research deals with the availability and quality of capacity building services in Los Angeles County. Nonprofit leaders will be asked to assess their experiences with capacity building services through a supplemental survey and interviews. To gain other valuable perspectives, TCC Group will also solicit the input of capacity building providers and funders who support such services. Our goal is to better understand and document nonprofit sector capacity building needs & opportunities at the regional level. We intend to share what we learn with management support organizations and our philanthropic colleagues so that we might be collectively better informed and able to take action on the findings.

The Foundation will also be examining past giving and exploring models of capacity building with the goal of identifying options for how we might improve our grantmaking, more effectively respond to requests for support, and promote organizational development. With the information generated by the research described above as well as an examination of our own approach we intend to strengthen our knowledge and improve our ability to support the growth and development of nonprofit organizations.

We will continue to update this page with additional information as the project progresses.
For more information, please contact Tara Westman, Associate Vice President of Learning & Special Initiatives at twestman@weingartfnd.org or Angela Carr, Program Assistant at acarr@weingartfnd.org.