Nonprofit Capacity

Person head first in washing machine in laundry mat

Networks and Systems Change: The Washing Machine Model

By Anne-Marie Boyer Conversations around social issues are regularly punctuated with the term “systems change.” Systems change recognizes that problems are unconstrained, dynamic, and continually evolving. Education disparities, climate change, public health, women’s rights, and poverty are entwined; Addressing any one of these issues unravels moving parts in the other. The Rockefeller Foundation states that systems change requires collaboration. Individuals and organizations, from across sectors and areas of expertise, collaborate

Developing and Validating a Capacity Instrument for Chinese and U.S. NGOs

View the Resource By Sophia Fu, Michelle Shumate Capacity-building initiatives are popular among nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) worldwide. In response to a lack of valid and reliable capacity measures for NGOs working on various social issues, Shumate and colleagues developed an 8-dimension, 45-item NGO capacities instrument, based on data from U.S. NGOs. However, the proliferation of international research on NGO capacity raises questions about the degree to which such an instrument

Use and Affordances of ICTs in Interorganizational Collaboration: An Exploratory Study of ICTs in Nonprofit Partnerships

View the Resource By Sophia Fu, Katherine R. Cooper, Michelle Shumate Interorganizational collaboration relies on the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs). However, previous ICT research often takes place within a single organization, lacking insight into how ICTs sustain interorganizational structures. This study examined both the product categories and functional uses of ICTs for interorganizational collaboration, drawing from surveys among a random sample of 181 human services nonprofit organizations in

Does Cross-Sector Collaboration Lead to Higher Nonprofit Capacity?

View the Resource By Michelle Shumate, Sophia Fu, Katherine R. Cooper Cross-sector social partnership (CSSP) case-based theory and research have long argued that nonprofits that engage in more integrative and enduring cross-sector partnerships should increase their organizational capacity. By increasing their capacity, nonprofits increase their ability to contribute to systemic change. The current research investigates this claim in a large-scale empirical research study. In particular, this study examines whether nonprofits

NNSI Research Report: The Nonprofit Capacities Instrument

By: Katherine Cooper In recent years, funders and consultants have emphasized building nonprofit capacity – that is, the processes, practices, and people that a nonprofit has at its disposal that enables it to produce, perform, or deploy resources to achieve its mission. Many organizations have developed their own tools for assessing capacity; however, despite having a variety of available options, nonprofit leaders struggle to measure capacity. This is in part

Nonprofit Capacity Scoring Sheet

View the Resource By Michelle Shumate, Katherine R. Cooper, Andrew Pilny, Macarena Pena-y-lillo The Nonprofit Capacity Instrument is a free, confidential assessment backed by science. Nonprofit leaders, foundations, and consultants can use the instrument with confidence. This online tool compares your survey responses to those of over 1000 nonprofits. The survey takes approximately 15 minutes to complete and based on your responses, a full report including your scores and the