What is Capacity Building?

From the Alliance for Nonprofit Management:

Capacity building is defined as the:

"process of developing and strengthening the skills, instincts, abilities, processes and resources that organizations and communities need to survive, adapt, and thrive in the fast-changing world."
- Ann Philbin, Capacity Building in Social Justice Organizations, Ford Foundation, 1996

Capacity building refers to activities that improve an organization's ability to achieve its mission or a person's ability to define and realize his/her goals or to do his/her job more effectively. For organizations, capacity building may relate to almost any aspect of its work: improved governance, leadership, mission and strategy, administration (including human resources, financial management, and legal matters), program development and implementation, fundraising and income generation, diversity, partnerships and collaboration, evaluation, advocacy and policy change, marketing, positioning, planning, etc. For individuals, capacity building may relate to leadership development, advocacy skills, training/speaking abilities, technical skills, organizing skills, and other areas of personal and professional development.

The Compassion Capital Fund and Capacity Building

The Compassion Capital Fund organizes capacity building into four critical areas:

• Leadership development: improving the function of boards, staff and volunteers
  
• Organizational development:  improving organizational systems, policies and procedures, and obtaining nonprofit status
  
• Program Development: developing curricula, monitoring program process, evaluating program impact
  
• Community Engagement: assessing community needs, encouraging collaboration, creating websites and brochures, making public presentations

About the Compassion Capital Fund (CCF)—from www.acf.hhs.gov:

The Administration for Children and Families' Compassion Capital Fund (CCF) was created in 2002. The primary purpose of the CCF is to help faith-based and community organizations increase their effectiveness, enhance their ability to provide social services to serve those most in need, expand their organizations, diversify their funding sources, and create collaborations to better serve those in need. The CCF reflects the administration's recognition that faith-based and community organizations are uniquely situated to partner with the government in serving poor and low-income individuals and families, particularly those with the greatest needs such as families in poverty, prisoners reentering the community, homeless families, and at-risk youth.