Triangle Community Foundation
What problem did we solve?
Partners for Impact worked with Triangle Community Foundation, the John Rex Endowment, the Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation of North Carolina, the Mary Duke Biddle Foundation and the Oak Foundation to build a collaborative funding process that focused on funding capacity building activities of organizations led by people of color.
Since 2014, funders from across the Triangle region of North Carolina have been meeting regularly to talk about the nonprofit sector and the desire to see agencies succeed and build their internal capacity. Since that time the Triangle Capacity-Building Network has commissioned research, engaged nonprofits in conversations about capacity building and built a strategic direction with a desired outcome of creating strong nonprofits in the Triangle region of North Carolina. One of the most important lessons from the data compiled by NC State University’s Institute for Nonprofits that guides the collaboratives overall direction is that nonprofits report having lower levels of adaptive capacity, those which primarily focus on challenges for which there is no single answer. The collaborative has identified the following key outcomes for this capacity building effort:
- Nonprofits have skills, knowledge, and commitment to adapt, innovate, and improve
- Nonprofit leaders and potential leaders have skills, knowledge, and commitment to adapt, innovate, and improve
- Nonprofits have access to skilled, diverse, and high-quality capacity building providers and opportunities
Our Process:
The Triangle Community Foundation contracted with Partners for Impact to provide services to the Triangle Capacity-Building Network. The contract was to design and implement a funding process to invest up to $25,000 in organizations for capacity building.
Key activities included: developing the application process, providing technical assistance, coordinating the review process, analyzing application data, and delivering actionable recommendations.
What was the outcome?
The initiative generated immense interest, receiving 72 applications totaling $1.5 million in request. Nine organizations received grants ranging from $10,000 to $25,000 for specific capacity-building projects, such as creating fund development plans, strategic planning, marketing plans and program monitoring systems. The organizations that received funding demonstrated a deep connectedness to the communities of color they serve, had boards composed on a majority of people of color, and demonstrated an active, organization-wide commitment to racial equity that went beyond simple diversity metrics.