Social Innovation Forum
When I talk to nonprofit leaders, much of the conversation revolves around feelings of scarcity. That tension was present during the COVID-19 pandemic, when many nonprofits experienced dramatic revenue losses and decreases in support. Now, with new waves of disruption due to volatility initiated within the funding environment and changes in federal policy, it feels like the pandemic all over again — but without the resources to protect nonprofit organizations and their teams. With diminished support from the government, there’s more demand for philanthropic and private funding.
In this landscape, capacity building matters more than ever. The challenge, which I’m sure doesn’t surprise people who work in the nonprofit sector: there isn’t one single definition. That can lead to confusion, since those outside the sector can conflate capacity building with the incubation process that helps startups scale. But capacity building isn’t about scale. It’s about impact.
So, here’s how we define the concept at SIF. Capacity building is about helping mission-based organizations achieve their missions. Sounds simple, right? Our definition is purposely broad, since people often have too narrow a view of capacity building. It’s not a one-time thing, since organizations need different forms of capacity across their lifecycle. What might help them at the outset will be different five years in, and even more evolved as the nonprofit continues to grow.
Given that understanding, we focus on transformational capacity building, offering access to skills, resources, and networks that stay with an organization throughout their lifecycle. This focus helps build capacity, both within organizations and across the nonprofit ecosystem itself.
Right now, nonprofit leaders are saying that they need funding and resources. That’s no surprise, since 92 percent of respondents in a survey from MassINC, the Boston Foundation and the Massachusetts Nonprofit Network said the Trump administration has made it harder to do their work at a time when they are seeing an increased demand for it. In that same poll, they also said they want capacity building. They want technical assistance to do their work, and they also want opportunities to be in the room and be in relationship with people who can support their work. At the same time, both individual and corporate funders want to see positive change, but they might not know the nonprofits that can create it. Those funders are facing their own challenges as well: in our current environment, facing up to triple the number of applications for smaller and smaller buckets of funding.
This intersection between nonprofits and funders is exactly where SIF comes in, and where we want to continue to build capacity and drive change. We’re providing specific skills that organizations need, such as our recent ElevatED learning cohort. A total of 14 nonprofit executive directors, all of which assumed their roles within the last three years, participated to increase their leadership capacity, learn new skills and gain a peer network. In both the SIF team and with their fellow participants, they found partners to talk through challenges, solutions, inflection points and more. And in our flagship Accelerator program, before nonprofits embark on this two-year commitment, we ask what they want to get out of it. That direct question is what makes this element of capacity building different. A nonprofit team can gain a lot from a daylong workshop without having to define where they want to be two years from now. But when they’re committing to a two-year program, they need to be clear about their goals and what they want to accomplish. When they do it well, that’s a game changer.
In each of these settings and beyond, we’re providing connections to funders who want to invest in their work. I also want to broaden our definition of “invest” beyond profitable returns. Investing in nonprofits means holistic support of the people, systems, infrastructure and programs. We work in a human-based sector, and supporting people within it makes it possible for nonprofits to achieve their missions. If funders want to invest because they believe nonprofits will be the change makers, that means investing in the whole thing. And funders aren’t limited to corporations or foundations — individuals fit into this category as well. Everyone has the ability to be a philanthropist. All you have to do is give.
SIF was founded on a belief in the impact of a marketplace approach, in bringing together the nonprofit folks who were doing mission-based work and those who wanted to fund their efforts. That approach acknowledges the resources and work of nonprofits alongside the humanity and efforts of funders, and building connections that support the good that is important to both. As we navigate today’s challenges, I want to invite you to join us in creating a more human, more trust-based type of philanthropy. Because when we put relationships and connections at the center, we stop thinking about scarcity. We start thinking about solutions.