Description:

The Western New York Foundation’s Impact Capacity Assessment Program (iCAP) is a program for nonprofits that wish to build their ability to perform well. Effective long-term capacity management is vital to any nonprofit entity. The Impact Capacity Assessment Program is an 8 to 10-month, board driven and team-based approach to strengthening internal organizational capacity.

Measure the organization’s strength in select core competency areas with two online organizational assessments. The BoardSource assessment focuses on board governance and leadership. iCAT focuses on core capacities such as leading, learning, planning, managing, resource generating, and overseeing. To learn more about these two assessments, click here.

Match with an organizational development consultant with specialized knowledge of the nonprofit community who will provide evidence-based approaches to meet the agency’s hierarchy of needs over time.

Review the results of the assessment analysis. The consultant will utilize the data from the assessments, information gleaned from key agency stakeholders, and a review of various agency documents to create a capacity matrix. The matrix will represent the shared understanding of the agency’s current state of organizational capacity and its various dimensions. Click here to see a list of capacity elements that may be reviewed. 

Explore areas of opportunity and address capacity-limiting challenges  through a series of deliberate steps and a combination of complementary strategies such as assessments, strategic planning, information sharing, training, technical assistance, coaching and evaluation. Setting the foundation for assessing organizational capacity needs and gaps will inform and guide capacity strengthening initiatives throughout the iCAP engagement.

Plan strategic solutions that build nonprofit adaptability and resilience. Design a capacity building plan, with an accompanying action plan that includes goal and progress measurements, that supports organizations in achieving current and future goals.

Implement recommendations through leveraged implementation support dollars. The foundation is committed to supporting capacity building plans and will use its resources to leverage additional support to successfully realize plan implementation. The Western New York Foundation believes that investments in organizational capacity increases agency effectiveness and encourages big-picture thinking that leads to growth, greater impact, and stronger collaboration. After an organization receives their capacity building plan, they have a period of 3 years to make implementation request/s.

A $10,000 stipend will be awarded to the organization that can be used to offset administrative expenses or support additional capacity efforts related to iCAP.

Application Process:

To start the application process, please schedule a conversation with the Foundation’s Program Officer. This conversation will cover details about iCAP, the expectations of both the organization and the foundation, as well as the time commitments for staff and board members. The application deadline is February 28, 2024.