Nonprofit organizations (NPOs) play an important role in delivering social services to those in need. Capacity-building efforts for NPOs derive from funders’ desire to increase NPOs’ effectiveness and redress problems associated with limited administrative and organizational capacity. Through technical assistance, training, and grant funds, funders aim to enhance NPO functioning and ultimately improve client outcomes. Despite a general consensus about the importance of capacity building, little high-quality evidence exists on the impact of capacity-building investments. This article presents the findings from the first random assignment evaluation to be conducted in the field of nonprofit capacity building. The subject of the evaluation was one of country’s largest organizational capacity-building initiatives, the federal government’s Compassion Capital Fund (CCF) Demonstration Program. Findings from the evaluation provide clear evidence that capacity-building efforts increase capacity in each of five critical areas of capacity.
Abt Associates, Inc. (2007). Findings from a retrospective survey of faith-based and community organizations (FBCOs) (ACF-OPRE Report). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation.
2.
Abt Associates, Inc., & Branch Associates, Inc. (2008). An assessment of the Compassion Capital Fund Demonstration Program: Outcome study final report (ACF-OPRE Report). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation.
3.
Abt Associates, Inc., & Branch Associates, Inc. (2010). Improving Capacity among nonprofits—Random assignment impact study of the Compassion Capital Fund Demonstration Program (ACF-OPRE Report). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation.
AllardS. (2008). Accessibility and stability of nonprofit service providers: Faith-based and community-based organizations in urban and rural America. In JoshiP.HawkinsS.NoveyJ. (Eds.), Compendium of research papers presented at the faith-based and community initiatives conference on research, outcomes, and evaluation. Washington, DC. Retrieved from http://aspe.hhs.gov/fbci/comp08/
6.
AllardS. (2009a). Out of reach: Place, poverty, and the new American welfare state. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
7.
AllardS. (2009b, November). The overlooked role of faith-based organizations and secular nonprofits in the modern American welfare state. Paper presented at the Annual Meetings of the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management, Washington, DC.
8.
BagnoliL.MegaliC. (2011). Measuring performance in social enterprises. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 40, 149-165.
9.
BlumenthalB. (2003). Investing in capacity building: A guide to high-impact approaches. New York, NY: The Foundation Center.
10.
BrownM. (2008). Improving organizational capacity of faith-based and community-based domestic violence service providers. In JoshiP.HawkinsS.NoveyJ. (Eds.), Compendium of research papers presented at the faith-based and community initiatives conference on research, outcomes, and evaluation. Washington, DC. Retrieved from http://aspe.hhs.gov/fbci/comp08/
11.
BrownW. (2007). Board development practices and competent board members: Implication for performance. Nonprofit Management & Leadership, 17, 301-317.
12.
CampbellD. (2011). Reconsidering the implementation strategy in faith-based policy initiatives. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 40, 130-148.
13.
CnaanR.BoddieS. (2006). Setting the context. Journal of Religion & Spirituality in Social Work: Social Thought, 25, 5-18.
14.
ConnollyP.YorkP. (2002). Evaluating capacity building efforts for nonprofit organizations. OD Practitioner, 34, 33-39.
15.
CornforthC.SimpsonC. (2003). The changing face of charity governance—The impact of organizational size. In CornforthC. (Ed.), The governance of public and non-profit organizations (pp. 187-206). New York, NY: Routledge.
16.
DartR.BradshawP.MurrayV.WolpinJ. (1996). Boards of directors in nonprofit organizations: Do they follow a life-cycle model?Nonprofit Management and Leadership, 6, 367-379.
17.
De VitaC. J.FlemingC.TwomblyE. C. (2001). Building nonprofit capacity: A framework for addressing the problem. In De VitaC. J.FlemingC. (Eds.), Building capacity in nonprofit organizations (pp. 5-32). Washington, DC: Urban Institute.
18.
DiiulioJ. (2004). Getting faith-based programs right. Public Interest, 155, 75-88.
19.
DohertyS.MayerS. (2003). Results of an inquiry into capacity building programs for nonprofit programs. Minneapolis, MN: Effective Communities.
20.
EisingerP. (2002). Organizational capacity and organizational effectiveness among street-level food assistance programs. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 31, 115-130.
21.
ElliottG. L. (2002). Capacity as a fundamental objective: Definition and measurement in the AmeriCorps*VISTA—Habitat for Humanity International Affiliate Partnerships. Washington, DC: Corporation for National & Community Service, National & Community Service Fellowship Program.
22.
GanK.KlermanJ.A. (2011). Designing the next generation of capacity building evaluations. Cambridge, MA: Abt Associates.
23.
GlickmanN. J.ServonL. J. (1998). More than bricks: Five components of community development corporation capacity. Housing Policy Debate, 9, 497-539.
24.
GlickmanN. J.ServonL. J. (2003). By the numbers: Measuring community development corporations’ capacity. Journal of Planning Education and Research, 22, 240-256.
25.
HermanR. D.RenzD. O. (1998). Nonprofit organizational effectiveness: Contrasts between especially effective and less effective organizations. Nonprofit Management & Leadership, 9, 23-38.
26.
JolleyS.MeissenG. (2009). Capacity building with faith-based and community organizations. Paper presented at the biannual meeting of the Society for Community Research and Action, Montclair State University, Montclair, NJ. Retrieved from http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p301770_index.html
27.
KapucuN.HealyB.ArslanT. (2011). Survival of the fittest: Capacity building for small nonprofit organizations. Evaluation and Program Planning, 34, 236-245.
28.
KleinA.BrownM.SmallM.TuckerD.FischerR. (2009). Evaluation of the rural domestic violence and child victimization grant program special initiative: Faith-based and community organization pilot program. Sudbury, MA: Advocates for Human Potential.
29.
LeakeR.GreenS.MarquezC.VanderburgJ.GuillaumeS.GardnerV. A. (2007). Evaluating the capacity of faith-based programs in Colorado. Research on Social Work Practice, 17, 216-228.
30.
LettsC. W.RyanW. P.GrossmanA. (1999). High performance nonprofit organizations: Managing upstream for greater impact. New York, NY: Wiley.
31.
LevitonL. C.HerreraC.PepperS. K.FishmanN.RacineD. (2006). Faith in action: Capacity and sustainability of volunteer organizations. Evaluation and Program Planning, 29, 201-207.
32.
LightP. C. (2004). Sustaining nonprofit performance: The case for capacity building and the evidence to support it. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press.
33.
LinnellD. (2003). Evaluation of capacity building: Lessons from the field. Washington, DC: Alliance for Nonprofit Management.
34.
MarkovitzC.MaggedL. (2008). HOPE II: Faith-based and community organization program evaluation study—Summary report. Cambridge, MA: Abt Associates Inc.
35.
McKinsey & Company. (2001). Effective capacity building in nonprofit organizations. Reston, VA: Venture Philanthropy Partners.
36.
MilleseJ.BiesL. (2007). Nonprofit capacity building: Who is doing what for whom and to what end?Journal of Nonprofit Management, 11, 1-10.
37.
PatriziP. A.GrossE. K.FreedmanS. (2006). Strength in flexibility: Lessons from a cluster of capacity building grants in the juvenile justice field. Evaluation and Program Planning, 29, 162-170.
38.
PopescuM.DewanS. (2009). Esperanza Trabajando gains, losses, lessons learned and steps forward: An evaluation report. International NGO Journal, 4, 403-420.
39.
RochesterC. (2003). The role of boards in small voluntary organisations. In CornforthC. (Ed.), The governance of public and non-profit organizations (pp. 115-130). New York, NY: Routledge.
40.
RodriguezA.HerzogN. (2003). Replacing passionate leaders. Paper presented at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Capacity-Building Conference, Milano Graduate School of Management and Urban Policy, New School University, New York, NY.
41.
SchochetP. Z. (2008). Technical methods report: Guidelines for multiple testing in impact evaluations. Washington, DC: Institute for Education Sciences.
42.
SchuhR.LevitonL. (2006). A framework to assess the development and capacity of non-profit agencies. Evaluation and Program Planning, 29, 171-179.
43.
SheaJ. (2011). Taking nonprofit intermediaries seriously: A middle-range theory for implementation research. Public Administration Review, 71, 57-66.
44.
ShermanA. L.StanakisM. (2002). Building fruitful collaboration between Florida’s faith communities and one stop career centers. Washington, DC: Hudson Institute.
45.
SmithS. R.BartkowskiJ. P.GrettenbergerS. (2005). Comparative views on the role and effect of faith in social services. Albany: SUNY, Albany Rockefeller Institute of Government, The Roundtable on Religion and Social Welfare Policy.
46.
SobeckJ. (2008). How cost-effective is capacity building in grassroots organizations?Administration in Social Work, 32, 49-68.
47.
SobeckJ.AgiusE. (2007). Organizational capacity building: Addressing a research and practice gap. Evaluation and Program Planning, 30, 237-246.
48.
SowaJ.ColemanS.SandfortJ. (2004). No longer unmeasurable? A multidimensional integrated model of nonprofit organizational effectiveness. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 33, 711-728.
49.
WilliamsB.ImamI. (2007). Systems concepts in evaluation: An expert reader. Point Reyes, CA: EdgePress/ American Evaluation Association.
50.
WingK. (2004). Assessing the effectiveness of capacity-building Initiatives: Seven issues for the field. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 33, 153-160.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
