Benton Foundation Best Practices Toolkits The Benton
Foundation provides tools to help nonprofits make
effective use of communications and information
technology. For more information or to
obtain copies: www.benton.org/library#toolkits.
California Association of Nonprofits The California
Association of Nonprofits (CAN) is a statewide
membership association of almost 2,000 diverse nonprofit
organizations with a mission to strengthen and expand
the professionalism, governance, influence and
effectiveness of California nonprofit organizations.
For more information: www.canonprofits.org.
Capaciteria Free service designed to help
nonprofits find the best resources to build their
institutional capacity; provides a comprehensive,
searchable database directory of categorized
administrative resources. For more information:
www.capaciteria.org.
Center for Healthy Communities The Center is
located in downtown Los Angeles and is part of The
California Endowment. It provides educational
events, hosts community meetings, and works to
strengthen the nonprofit health sector, and engage the
community in building coalitions. For more
information: www.calendow.org/chc.
Center for Nonprofit Management The Center for
Nonprofit Management works to foster healthy
neighborhoods and communities by improving the
performance of Southern California nonprofit
organizations serving underserved populations; provides
seminars for professional development, consulting, a
nonprofit resource library and publications. For
more information: www.cnmsocal.org.
Communicating Your Organization's Culture to Job Candidates This article can help nonprofits determine their organizational culture, communicate that information to potential employees, develop a job announcement that includes reference to organizational culture, and interview candidates in ways that reflect this culture. To access the article go to www.guidestar.org.
Community Partners Community Partners is a
nonprofit based in Los Angeles that works as both an
incubator, project manager and intermediary for emerging
nonprofits; website offers a searchable database of
current projects arranged by category and area, with
contact information for each group. For more
information: www.communitypartners.org.
Executive Service Corps of Southern California
This organization is devoted to enhancing management
skills in the nonprofit sector through involvement of
retired executives in volunteer consulting service.
For more information: www.escsc.org.
IssueLab Forum for Nonprofit Research IssueLab is an online publishing forum for research on the nonprofit sector. All research studies posted are on an open archive that is free for professional as well as the general public to access. For more information: www.issuelab.org.
Philanthropic Capacity Building Resources PCBR is a
free, searchable database containing 398 descriptions
for capacity-building grantmaking and direct programs of
U.S. foundations, as well as 22 profiles of intermediary
organization programs. The PCBR Database is sited
on the Human Interaction Research Institute’s website,
www.humaninteract.org/reports/pcbrdatabase.asp.
Roster of Needs Assessment Tools This roster
contains 18 self-assessment tools nonprofits may use as
part of planning for capacity building. Information on
cost, level of complexity (low-medium-high) and
estimated time to complete are included for each. Most
can be used by any type of nonprofit, though a few were
constructed specifically for one subject area, such as
the arts (titles indicate clearly which these are).
Users can find out more about a tool by clicking on its
title, which makes a connection to the developer's
website. For more information:
www.dsyf.org/resources_CBI.asp.
Southern California Grantmakers This organization
provides information, networking and technical
assistance for foundations in Southern California.
For more information: www.socalgrantmakers.org.
Study on Boards of Midsize Nonprofits
The Urban Institute has released the report of a study about the needs and challenges of boards of midsize nonprofit organizations. For an excerpt from that report: www.urban.org/url.cfm?ID=411659.
TCC Group’s Core Capacity Assessment Tool CCAT is
an online questionnaire that assesses a nonprofit based
on four organizational capacities: adaptive, leadership,
management and technical. It also assesses
organizational culture. The 146-question tool generates
a list of strengths, challenges and recommendations of
the organization, based on replies from staff and board.
In addition, it yields a capacity-building plan, with
steps an organization can implement on its own or with
outside help. For more information about
CCAT, contact Alexandrea Ravenelle at 212/949-0990, ext.
202 or via e-mail.
Understanding the Philanthropic Landscape
Grantstation offers information about grantseeking, including a series of articles written by Grantstation CEO Cynthia Adams, "Understanding the Philanthropic Landscape." Six articles are available (1) Facts and More Facts; (2) Breaking the Foundation Barrier; (3) Getting Your Share of Government Funding; (4) Government Grant Writing Tips (5) Associations, Organizations, and Clubs: Knowing Who to Approach; and (6) Small Businesses and Corporations: Tapping Corporate Giving During a Recession. Additional articles will be published in the future. To access these articles go to www.grantstation.com.
