In our capacity building initiatives, we engage in both organizational and programmatic capacity building through our best practice model for providing training, technical assistance, and subgrants.

Our model was developed in partnership with researchers at Notre Dame University, and includes a standard five-step process for working with participating organizations, as follows:


Assessment
First, we assess organizations’ current capacity with our Organizational Assessment Tool (OAT). When organizations complete the OAT, they answer questions in 99 indicator areas that cover topics such as governance, finance, organizational management, leadership, technology infrastructure, fundraising and development, human resources, and others. This assessment process allows us to identify an organization’s strengths and weaknesses in all of those areas, and place them on a Continuum of Capacity that shows how nascent or mature they are.


Planning
Then, we develop a customized Capacity Building Plan (CBP) for each organization that outlines the areas of weakness we intend to help them improve over the course of their time with us. The CBP outlines strategies and timelines for addressing each organization’s weaknesses, and projects the growth along the Continuum of Capacity that we expect as a result of our intervention.


Training
We hold training workshops and conferences, bringing in experts to teach on the topics that were identified in the OAT as areas of weakness. Some of those training workshops take place in the organizations’ home states, and some are held in Philadelphia. Once a year, we hold a 2-3 day training conference in Philadelphia called the Esperanza Capacity Institute (ECI), at which representatives from 50-60 organizations from around the country can come together to learn and share best practices.


Technical Assistance
After training sessions and conferences, we continue to support each organization with one-on-one technical assistance to help them implement the principles learned in training. Our staff members provide specific and detailed expert counsel in response to the on-the-ground operational situations each organization is experiencing, for as long as they need to become successful at operating according to best practices.


Subgrants
As part of each capacity building contract, we use some of the program funds to make grants to participating organizations. Organizations must apply for these grants, articulate specifically what they intend to use the subgrant funds for, and enter into a contract with Esperanza for the expenditure of funds. Esperanza then performs contract management to ensure the funds are used appropriately, and to measure the impact of the financial support on the organizations’ effectiveness. Grants may range from $5,000 to $50,000, depending on the resources available and the need.


Evaluation
After training, technical assistance, and subgrant funds have been provided, Esperanza administers the OAT assessment again to measure organizational growth. Over the past ten years, we have implemented our capacity building model with over 500 nonprofit organizations in 17 states. We have been funded by a broad range of government and private sources, and we have targeted our capacity building services to organizations doing a wide variety of community development and social services work. We have focused on both strengthening organizational infrastructure (governance, finance, development, HR, IT, etc) and, when possible, programmatic infrastructure – bringing in experts in the particular content areas of the organizations’ work, to ensure that they are operating their programs according to recognized best practices for their particular fields.