Crack the Capacity Building Nut: Fresh Breakthroughs from Chicago

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Trying to do right by grantees hasn’t always worked out the way it’s intended. Why do philanthropy’s well-meaning capacity building efforts so often result in scowls, or worse, wasted time for the grantees and wasted money for funders?

Learning for Action, a strategy, research, and evaluation consultant group, looked into this question with a deep dive into 400 Chicago nonprofits, capacity building providers and funders and emerged with some rich insights into long-term support that really works.

Learning for Action’s results shed light on experiences at all points in the cycle: those that use, deliver, and invest in capacity building services. Their study revealed insights into the benefits of long-term capacity building as a developmental process and offers examples of innovative approaches happening right now.

The problem’s roots run deep into the funding structure and organizational culture of the nonprofit sector, and in the design and implementation of capacity building support.

Join a lively discussion to find out why it’s been so hard to help grantees do their work better and what funders can do differently to get it right. Experts will offer successful regional models, current trends, and best practices for funders, nonprofits, and consultants to successfully support nonprofit capacity in all aspects of their work. We’ll dig deep into these learnings and explore our region’s needs, capacity, and how we can better support the nonprofit sector.

Attendees will:

• Get the latest trends in nonprofit capacity building
• Find out what really works to build nonprofit capacity
• Walk away with better models to support nonprofits to do their best work