Organizational Development & Capacity Building
To ensure that nonprofit community development organizations remain robust, relevant and effective community institutions, LISC offers an array of programs and initiatives aimed at building sound organizational management practices and strong local leadership.
Under the umbrella of the 2002-2005 Durable CDCs Initiative, LISC focuses its grant making funds, training and technical assistance on three types of capacity-building support. Under the rubric of the Durable CDCs Initiative, Bay Area LISC:
Convenes Peer Networks, bringing together staff doing the same jobs in CDCs across the Bay Area. These networks provide an informal venue that allows people to get to know each other and exchange information informally. Quarterly or bi-monthly meetings provide an opportunity to compare notes about vendors and consultants, swap boilerplate documents and templates, and discuss common challenges. Many times the discussions illuminate emerging needs in the field, such as when the Human Resource Managers group pressed for sector-specific salary information, or when the Finance Managers requested basic training in the affordable housing development process. As a group, and with LISC support, the networks can determine how to meet some of their common needs.
- Provides performance-based operating support to a core group of 8 CDCs who engage in neighborhood-based development, and have identified infrastructure and capacity barriers that need to be addressed. LISC's support is linked to customized work plans with quarterly and annual targets for improvement in a range of areas. Examples include asset and financial management, fund development, community planning, and real estate development.
- Provides capacity-building trainings and issue forums on topics such as financing resources, fiscal oversight and reporting, CDC technology needs, executive director transitions and others.
For more information on LISC organizational development and capacity building programs please contact Cathy Craig at ccraig@lisc.org.
Students ponder the intricacies of non profit real estate acounting by working through excercises at a December 2004 workshop.