Senior Program Officer Laura Rath also contributed to this post.
At Archstone Foundation, we recognize and understand the growing capacity building needs of nonprofit organizations that support older Californians and their caregivers. Given the overwhelming response to our recent Requests for Proposals (RFPs) targeting capacity building efforts, it is clear that a large number of nonprofits are in need of support to achieve their full potential and new levels of effectiveness.
Over the past year, the Foundation has awarded three general grants through the Capacity Building and Innovations Grants RFP, and three diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) grants through the Stimulating Innovations and Building Capacity to Support Diverse Communities and Advance Racial Equity RFP. Letters of Inquiry for the Foundation’s next round of Capacity Building and Innovation Grants RFP are due by noon March 18, and we expect to award two grants every six months.
Unfortunately, that leaves more than 100 applicant organizations with capacity building needs that we are unable to fund. Rather than leave these nonprofits without capacity building support, we are pleased to announce a new partnership with Catchafire, a social enterprise and nonprofit that matches professionals who want to donate their time with nonprofits who need their skills.
Identifying the Greatest Needs
In Southern California, Catchafire already has support from Annenberg Foundation and Weingart Foundation to provide assistance to their grantees through the Southern California Capacity Building Collaborative (SoCal Collaborative). By joining the SoCal Collaborative, Archstone Foundation will be able to support nonprofits with limited budgets by providing them with Catchafire’s skill-based volunteers to complete pre-scoped capacity building projects.
Our first step in considering a partnership with Catchafire was to explore whether our grantees and applicants would be interested in working with Catchafire volunteer consultants to address their capacity building needs. In February, we reached out to 142 applicants and grantees to ask them:
- Which capacity building needs do you have?
- Would you engage with Catchafire to complete capacity building projects?
With the added incentive of a $100 Amazon gift card raffle (congratulations to the winner, LA Family Housing!), we were pleased to hear back from 82 organizations (that’s an impressive 58% response rate). Organizations were asked about specific capacity building needs and, on average, reported three needs.
The most common capacity building need was program evaluation (51%), closely followed by program costs & revenue, virtual programs and IT (48%), then staff development and customer relationship management (40%), and other needs (11%), including fundraising, marketing and communications, board development, and financial management. By matching skilled volunteers with nonprofits based on their experience with specific capacity building needs, Catchafire facilitates completion of capacity building projects at no financial cost to the organization.
The surveyed organizations were enthusiastic about engaging with Catchafire to address their capacity building needs — almost all of the organizations that responded (90%) were interested in using Catchafire within the next year.
The need for capacity building support is urgent for many organizations, with 19.5% wanting a consultant right now, 31.5% wanting one within the next 3 months, and 19.5% wanting one within the next 4-6 months. As new members of the SoCal Collaborative, the Foundation will provide eligible nonprofits with access to Catchafire consultants as soon as this summer.
Addressing Concerns
We also asked organizations to share any concerns they may have about working with Catchafire. We learned that organizations most often expressed having no concerns, with enthusiastic responses like, “we would welcome the support and insight provided by a volunteer consultant,” and, “none; we would welcome the opportunity!”
The concern most often mentioned (by 25% of organizations) was related to the time and effort needed to manage consultants. Indeed, managing volunteers does take staff time and resources. One organization asked, “Would they require a significant investment in time on our part?”
About a quarter of the respondents also mentioned concerns about volunteer compatibility, like “getting a good match of both skill set and personality,” or having a volunteer “with experience working with the older adult population.”
A few organizations (6%) mentioned concerns about legality and confidentiality. Finally, a few organizations (7%) were concerned about the consultant’s goals, with comments like “we would want to make sure that we had a clear deliverable at the end of the engagement.” With additional information about Catchafire and their experience pairing volunteers with pre-scoped projects that match their skill sets, we are confident that these organizations’ concerns will be addressed.
We also asked what would make organizations more or less likely to take advantage of a Catchafire volunteer if one were made available to them. Most of the responses were related to volunteer experience and vetting, with 30% of organizations expressing that they would want more information about the volunteer’s experience, approach, and goals. For example, these organizations would be more likely to engage with consultants with “positive reviews from former pro-bono clients; clear timelines and deliverables.” These are elements that will be made available during the volunteer matching process managed by Catchafire.
With these encouraging survey findings, we learned that organizations with a variety of capacity building needs are willing and able to be supported by Catchafire with the Foundation’s SoCal Collaborative membership. In lieu of providing monetary grants to organizations, the Foundation will provide non-monetary support via Catchafire to up to 100 eligible, invited nonprofits.
Future Point of View blog posts will provide updates about the Foundation’s Catchafire cohort selection and progress.
Comments
Thank you - we have shared these excellent and enthusiastic comments with Carly Roman. Although her internship with Archstone Foundation ended last month, we remain grateful for her contributions as part of the Archstone Foundation team and wish her all the best in her future endeavors.
Nicole, well stated. Media coverage is often ageist, and we can all work to reframe negative attitudes toward aging by highlighting the value of age-inclusive policies and momentum generated by tapping into the skills and talents older adults have to offer.
Robin, we agree and also think this partnership will indeed be a “win-win!”
Janet, the program is available nationwide to any sponsored nonprofit. You can learn more at http://www.catchafire.org.
Marlene, she is well on her way to making a difference in the field!
This is a very detailed and informative article. Although I live in Canada, I have experience on the patient side with family members. I found this article fascinating and welcome all of the ideas presented. Many times when you see articles surrounding long term care for seniors, it’s negative and disappointing. This article shows that seniors can still have a great quality of life while living in care facilities or assisted living. Thank you for sharing Carly, and for all of your work.
I believe this program has strong potential, and is a creative partnership opportunity for so many of us in the nonprofit world. Havng someone of caliber and talent can certainly strengthen any nonprofit organization, and the cost is a real commitment by the individual. It appears to e a win for all! WELL DONE AND CONGRATS!
Carly, enjoyed your perspective.
Is this available in SoCal only?
Amazing amazing informative article. Needless to say how proud I am of Carly and her accomplishments. I am confident that she will make a difference in her field of Gerontology.