Strengthening Grantee/Partner Capacity (Foundation Building Best Practice Study Excerpt)

This section provides two examples of the critical role foundations can play in strengthening the capacity of their grantees/partners through training and technical assistance.

Example 1: Support for the Development of Community Organizations
Social Change Assistance Trust (South Africa)
Example 2: A Management Capacity-Building Program
Abrinq Foundation for Children's Rights (Brazil)

Why Become Involved in Capacity Building?

Summary Points

Capacity building of civil society organizations -- especially community-based organizations (CBO) and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) -- is central to the mission of many foundations and thus forms an important part of their grantmaking programs. This can be accomplished in many ways ranging from the direct provision of technical assistance and training by foundation staff to the provision of grants to NGOs specializing in the provision of technical support to the nonprofit sector. An increasingly preferred option is to include, in the grants to partner organizations, funds to allow them to hire consultant services from the organizations best serving their needs. Civil society organizations generally find it difficult to raise funds for their own human resource development so foundation support can be of critical importance.
Training needs are usually very diverse. They range from general skills in organizational development and administration to more specific skills related to the problem area being addressed by the grantee/partner organization. Different approaches may be used for different levels of training.
Foundations are usually advised to delegate the capacity building function to one or more specialized organizations. It is generally advisable for foundations to take advantage of training capacity in other national organizations rather than build a comprehensive in-house training and technical assistance capability. However it is common for training that is specific to foundation program/project management such as report writing, monitoring and evaluation to be conducted by foundation program officers.
Peer-to-peer learning is often a key element in capacity-building for the nonprofit sector. Foundations can provide opportunities for grantees/partners working on related programs to pool experience and develop new approaches to strengthening their own organizations and increasing program impact. This peer-to-peer learning can be facilitated either by foundation staff, independent consultants or a grantee support organization.

Through their grantmaking, foundations are striving to achieve ambitious social and economic objectives. The success of their grants relies to a large extent on the capacity of the organizations they fund. In the process of selecting grantee organizations the foundations make an assessment of the capacity of each organization to implement the proposed program or project. Particularly where grants are being made to community-based organizations or local NGOs the assessment will often identify areas that could be strengthened in order to increase their efficiency as organizations and their effectiveness in reaching their objectives. These include areas of internal management such as accounting and report writing skills, the need to develop skills to build links with other sectors and the need to develop sustainable sources of financing.

Many foundations therefore design specific program interventions to assist grantee or partner organizations to strengthen their capacity in areas such as program and institutional management skills, communications skills, fundraising expertise and the ability to build partnerships with other sectors.

How Can Foundations Strengthen the Capacity of Grantees/Partners?

Two broad strategies for strengthening capacity are technical assistance and training (through workshops or longer courses). Some of the ways foundations have translated these strategies into activities are:

Providing, as part of a larger grant to an organization, funding for the partner to retain technical assistance in areas such as strategic planning, staff development, fundraising or program development; undertake visits to other organizations, attend training courses or conferences or participate in internships.
Giving grants to selected support organizations to enable them to provide ;technical assistance and training to one or more of their partners or facilitate a range of peer learning programs between partners.
Retaining on their staff professionals with the required skills to provide organizational development and other technical support services to partner organizations.
Providing financial incentives for their grantees/partners to develop skills in certain strategic areas, such as Scat's Fundraising Incentive Scheme.
Helping connect partner civil society organizations to sources of volunteer technical expertise from the private business sector in areas such as accounting and marketing.