Nonprofits earn ‘capacity building’ grants

Six Sonoma Valley nonprofits are expanding their capacities to work with other nonprofits, while increasing their own effectiveness – and are being rewarded much-needed grant support for their efforts.|

Six Sonoma Valley nonprofits are expanding their capacities to work with other nonprofits, while increasing their own effectiveness – and are being rewarded much-needed grant support for those efforts.

As part of the Sonoma Valley Fund’s Capacity Building Grant awards, 13 local nonprofits applied to the program, which promotes “increasing organizational effectiveness” with the goal of building a stronger nonprofit sector in the Valley.

The grant recipients include ARTescape, Boys & Girls Clubs Sonoma Valley, La Luz Center, Sonoma Overnight Support, Sonoma Valley Mentoring Alliance and Teen Services Sonoma.

Sonoma Valley Fund president Josh Rymer described it as a step in strengthening Sonoma nonprofits in the years ahead.

“The recipients will be supported as they work to improve their ability to carry out their core missions,” Rymer said. “In addition, they will work as a team to learn from other local organizations and from professional consultants who will facilitate and guide this yearlong process.”

According to a Sonoma Valley Fund press release announcing the 2015 grant recipients, the capacity-building grant program “provides funding and technical assistance to organizations interested in committing time, energy and innovative thinking to increasing their organizational effectiveness.”

As part of the program, each of the selected organizations will receive a small cash stipend; have access to ongoing professional consultation from capacity-building consulting firm Informing Change; participate in a comprehensive organizational assessment; and, receive consulting support as they develop a capacity building plan for their organization.

Barbara Hughes, Sonoma Valley Fund grants committee chair, said that a “rigorous review process” helped pare down the applicants to the final six.

“We identified organizations that are at a particular moment in their organizational lives where they will benefit from cross-organizational learning and are ready to tackle organizational change,” said Hughes.

For e information on the Sonoma Valley Fund, visit www.sonomavalleyfund.org.

Email Jason at jason.walsh@sonomanews.com.

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