We began our capacity building grants program in 2020 to help nonprofit organizations work more efficiently and effectively, and we’re still continuing to update and improve the program.
The grants are meant to aid organizational development at a structural level, increasing the grantee’s ability to deliver on its mission over time. Funding capacity building projects allow organizations to prepare for the future by investing in areas such as leadership, finance and operations, fundraising, human resources, marketing and communications, professional development, program management, and technology.
Early on, we discovered the need for such support significantly exceeds the funding available – from us or other philanthropic sources. Each of our six rounds of capacity building support, for example, has drawn between 30 and 100 applications. And so, while we’ve awarded 20 grants, many organizations need capacity building and infrastructure support.
To help close the gap, for the past two years we have partnered with Catchafire to provide no-cost capacity building support to our nonprofit grantees as well as applicants we have declined to fund. Catchafire connects professionals who want to donate their time and talent with nonprofits that need their skills. Its volunteer consultants include experts in information technology, graphic design, board development, fundraising, and many other valuable services.
The success of our partnership has prompted Archstone Foundation to renew it for a third year, so we may continue to offer help to nonprofit organizations other than the relatively small number receiving our capacity building grants. We have good reason to believe this is what our community wants as well as needs: Our Center for Effective Philanthropy survey last year asked about the value of our Catchafire partnership, and 83 percent of grantee respondents described it as “highly or moderately” valuable to their organization.
And we have been able to measure the reach and value of what Catchafire provides. As of this March, 47 organizations have used the Catchafire platform to find help with more than 320 capacity building projects and received more than 5,500 hours of expert volunteer assistance worth more than $1 million. That’s a sixfold return on the Foundation’s investment in the partnership.
Capacity Building in Action
With access to more than 150 customizable and pre-scoped projects, organizations choose which areas to expand their capacity first, but often start with quick advice through 1-hour consultation calls. Organizations are matched with a skilled professional in an average of 5 days to help fulfill their operational needs in areas including customer relationship management, program evaluation, IT support, staff development, and virtual programs. Catchafire’s most popular requests are for help with website review and support, copyediting, proposal review, marketing materials, and finance.
Here are three recent examples of capacity building fueled by Archstone Foundation’s partnership with Catchafire:
- Saahas for Cause of Cerritos has completed 45 projects and calls, which would have cost more than $170,000 had consultants done the work. The group’s mission is to educate, empower, and enable the South Asian immigrant community to improve their quality of life. Last fall, a volunteer helped create a customized Salesforce database for tracking donors, clients, and beneficiaries as well as managing and analyzing large amounts of data. The volunteer also helped acclimate the staff to the unfamiliar software, saving both time and money.
- ONEgeneration of Van Nuys has completed seven projects and saved an estimated $16,000. Its mission is to support and enrich the lives of older adults, children, and their families throughout a diverse community. It relied on volunteers to complete projects related to print material design, logo design, infographics, and human resource support – much of it related to the group’s 2022 Annual Report. “As a non-profit, budgets to hire someone to assist with major projects like our Annual Report simply do not exist, leaving the tasks to be completed by other staff members who are already juggling a variety of other responsibilities. To be given the opportunity to access a platform like Catchafire continues to serve as an invaluable resource for our organization,” noted ONEgeneration president and CEO Jenna Hauss.
- SeniorServ/Meals on Wheels Orange County of Anaheim has saved $42,000 on 25 projects, and the money is being spent instead on programs to nourish the wellness, purpose, and dignity of older adults and their families in the county. The completed projects have included a social media audit, graphic design support, copy editing, and a project just weeks ago to improve the organization’s visibility during online searches by refreshing its website with clear and engaging language and search engine optimization keywords.
Impact report designed by an expert Catchafire volunteer for ONEgeneration.
The Next Opportunities for Our Capacity Building Help
If you or your organization is interested in receiving access to the hundreds of support projects Catchafire offers, please email me for registration information so you can get started with an expert call on topics ranging from tech systems to social media to organizational strategy to website planning.
While Catchafire will continue to augment our capacity building program in important ways, we will also offer another two rounds of grants this year. Proposals will be accepted in August for both requests for proposals. One is a general capacity building funding opportunity, open to any non-profit serving older Californians or their caregivers. The other is for organizations who serve racially, ethnically, or otherwise diverse older people with histories of disadvantage and are seeking to reduce health disparities and advance racial equity. The next opportunity to apply for a capacity building grant from Archstone Foundation will open in July 2023.
Check here for details.
