americorps state and natinal symposium state and national symposium september 12-14, 2017 arlington,...

AMERICORPS STATE ANDNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM

SEPTEMBER 12 – 14, 2017 ARLINGTON, VA

AMERICORPS STATE AND NATIONAL SYMPOSIUMSEPTEMBER 12-14, 2017 ARLINGTON, VA

Organizational Capacity Assessment

Tool WorkshopAdrienne DiTommaso and Beth Slater,

CNCS, Office of Research and Evaluation

INTRODUCTION• The success of an organization is dependent on how well it

knows and understands its capacity to manage and deliver effective programming.

• Organizational Capacity Assessment tools empower organizations to better measure their capacity to effect change in their communities and measure their performance.

• CNCS worked with ICF to develop an organizational capacity assessment tool tailored for all sizes and types of CNCS grantees.

• Allows CNCS grantees to self-assess and identify strengths and gaps in their organization and programs.

AMERICORPS STATE AND NATIONAL SYMPOSIUM

WHAT IS ORGANIZATIONAL CAPACITY?Organizational effectiveness: The ability of an organization to fulfill its mission through sound management, strong governance, and a commitment to assessing and achieving outcomes and results.

Organizational capacity: The wide range of capabilities, knowledge, and resources that organizations need in order to be effective.

Capacity assessment: The use of a standardized process or formal instrument to assess facets of organizational capacity and identify areas of relative strength and weakness.

Capacity building: Funding and technical assistance that strengthen nonprofits’ specific capabilities to enhance internal effectiveness in achieving mission sustainability.

Grantmakers for Effective Organizations, 2016AMERICORPS STATE AND NATIONAL SYMPOSIUM

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?

Capacity is thought to influence:• Sustainability

• An organization’s ability to achieve its mission

• Overall effectiveness

• (Cassidy, Leviton & Hunter 2006; Schuh & Levitan, 2006; McKinsey & Company, 2001),

• (Sharpe, 2006; Jones, 2003; Eisinger, 2002; McKinsey & Company, 2001)

• (Bishop, 2007; White et al., 2005; McKinsey & Company, 2001; McPhee & Bare, 2001).

5

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?

• Evaluative capacity is an organization’s capacity to conduct high-quality evaluation as well as its ability to integrate evaluation findings into its decision-making processes.

• While related, these two dimensions of evaluative capacity are not necessarily co-dependent or co-occurring.

Bourgeois, I., Whynot, J., & Theriault, E., 2015; Taylor-Ritzler, T., Suarez-Balcazar, Y., Garcia-Iriarte, E., Henry, D., Balcazar, F., 2013


MEASURING CAPACITYCapacity Assessment Tools

• Provide a practical method of organizational self-assessment that can be used to acknowledge strengths, clarify different perceptions, and plan strategies to enhance capacity in identified areas.

• Provides objective measurements towards topics that can be subjective based on perceptions

• Conversation starters• Useful for national service organizations and CNCS

grantees & recipients to assess strengths, gaps and areas for improvement to promote sustainability


EXISTING TOOLS• Most research-based assessment tools are designed for a broad

range of nonprofit and government agencies to examine the following key capacity domains: leadership & management, finance, planning, service delivery, staffing and volunteers, partnerships, mission, and evaluation, among others.

• Cost, rigor, burden (level of effort) to complete, content, and scoring vary significantly

• Administration of these tools involves multiple stakeholders affiliated with the organization (e.g., board members, the executive director, leadership team, and sometimes even volunteers, funders, community partners, or participants).

Krause, J., Bryant, M., & Bhatia, A., 2014


CNCS CAPACITY ASSESSMENT TOOL• The goal is to provide CNCS grantees and the broader field

with a field-tested, research-based instrument to promote organizational capacity self-assessment.

• Designed to assess capacity for a diverse range of grantees and subgrantees across all CNCS grant programs while using the same framework.

• Diagnostic tool to inform capacity building efforts, as well as a longitudinal assessment measuring changes to capacity over time.

• Designed to be a conversation starter within an organization and between organizations engaged in a technical assistance relationship.


CREATING THE CNCS TOOL• ICF reviewed over 10 widely used, research-based capacity

assessment tools and over 70 research articles comparing assessment tools, defining critical domains of organizational capacity and effectiveness, and assessment study results.

• Internal and External Technical Working Groups• 6 Cognitive Interviews to ensure respondents understand the

questions in the way intended.• Pilot testing to examine the construction and respondent

burden of the assessment tool. • Stratified sample of 50 organizations with active CNCS

grants according to organization type.


SECTIONS OF THE TOOL


COMPLETING THE CNCS TOOL• Check off any statements that are true for your organization

from your perspective. • To simplify and streamline scoring, all questions are framed

negatively – requiring you to simply check off whether a specific capacity is a challenge or a gap for your organization.

• Note any questions that are not applicable to your organization.

• Tally the number of checked statements at the end of each domain and the number of skipped questions if any were not applicable.

• Complete the scoring rubric in Appendix A to identify the domains where your organization has the strongest capacity and domains that could benefit from capacity building.


SCORING1. Tally the number of boxes checked within

each domain and record it in the Number of Checks column.

2. Tally the number of questions marked as ‘Not Applicable’ and record it in the Total Applicable Questions Column. Subtract this number from the total number of questions in each domain to determine your “Total Applicable Questions” count.

3. Divide the Number of Checks by the Total Applicable Questions.

4. Convert the answer into a percentage and write that number in the Percentage column.


TAKING THE TOOLGroup Activity: Complete the tool for your organization to help you identify domains and subdomains of capacity that might particularly benefit from capacity-building efforts.

• This tool has been validated for use with a wide variety of organization types: national and local nonprofits; state, local and tribal governments; institutes of higher education; and funders and intermediary organizations. If a question is not appropriate for your organization, simply skip that question and note its exclusion in your scoring calculation.

• The tool was also designed to help organizations assess changes to capacity over time. Consider taking and retaking this assessment on an annual or biannual basis to track how organizational capacity strengths and needs change over time.


LEADERSHIP CAPACITY• Vision/Mission• Governance• Strategy/Planning• Culture/Values

1. Complete each question in this section

2. Discussion Questions:• Which domain(s) within your organization do you

feel are strongest, based on your assessment results?• Which domain(s) show the greatest need for

capacity building?


MANAGEMENT AND OPERATIONS• Financial Management• Human Resources• Infrastructure and Information Technology




capacity building?


COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT CAPACITY• Fund Development• Communications and Advocacy• Volunteer Management• Community Partnerships




capacity building?


SERVICE CAPACITY• Program Design• Program Implementation• Performance Management




capacity building?


EVALUATIVE CAPACITY• Evaluation Planning• Data Collection• Measuring Impact• Evaluation Use, Learning, and Continuous Improvement




capacity building?


USING YOUR ASSESSMENT FINDINGS• Acknowledge and celebrate capacity strengths.• Explore and resolve differences of opinion on capacity

needs across team members or stakeholders.• Discuss findings with your board, leadership, or

management team.• Gather additional information about your identified gaps

in capacity.• Invite an external resource in to a board or staff meeting

to discuss specific areas of capacity building.• Prioritize needs and develop plans to build capacity to

address those needs.


ADDITIONAL RESOURCES• Links to resources to build specific areas of capacity are

included in the tool• Evaluation capacity resources can be found at

nationalservice.gov/resources/evaluation• Additional tools and TA resources can be found online


QUESTIONS?Thank you!

Contact Information:

• Adrienne DiTommaso, [email protected]• Beth Slater, [email protected]


mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

americorps state and natinal symposium state and national symposium september 12-14, 2017 arlington,...

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