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FACT believes that there are periods in every organization's lifecycle when it needs to focus internally to ensure that its structure, programs and administrative policies and practices are appropriate to its stage of development. Additionally, there are times when it is important for an organization to re-examine whether all aspects of its structure, programs, and administration are working together effectively to advance the organization's mission and vision. FACT provides funding and other resources to grantees that seek assistance in strengthening their organizations. We believe that supporting our grantees' internal systems and practices will enable them to be better positioned to achieve their external goals.
Two of the core tenets of our program are:
- It is voluntary. Funding or services are provided in response to a request initiated by the grantee.
- If a grantee taps our consultant pool, we maintain a strict firewall between the work any consultants do and the FACT program staff.
The Capacity Building program provides additional resources to groups who already receive general operating support from FACT. In 2008, we committed approximately 23% of our funds to capacity building.
We perform an evaluation of all elements of our Capacity Building Program at the end of each calendar year and modify the program accordingly.
FACT's Capacity Building Program is designed to strengthen its grantee
organizations to enable them to more effectively carry out their program
work. The FACT Capacity Building program is composed of four elements.
- General support grants to technical assistance
providers
FACT provides general operating funds to non-profit technical
assistance (TA) providers that work with FACT grantees. The typical
grant size ranges from $30,000 to $50,000 per year. Once included
in our program, FACT tends to renew its support long term. If a
TA provider stops working with FACT grantees, it no longer meets
the basic criteria for FACT funding.
- Discretionary grants for capacity-building
needs
FACT earmarks $60,000 of its discretionary
grants pool to provide quick turnaround strategic resources to its
groups for capacity building needs that are not served through the
Management Assistance Program or the TA provider pool. This may
include (but is not limited to) comprehensive communications planning,
branding and identity development, staff development or training,
legal assistance, research, and technology planning. FACT encourages
its grantees with capacity building needs that are of limited scope
and duration to apply for discretionary funds. Requests are reviewed
regularly throughout the year. Typical grant sizes range from $2,000
to $5,000 with an average of $3,000.
- Management Assistance Program (MAP)
FACT matches the organizational development
needs of its grantees with the skills of a vetted pool of consultants
through its Management Assistance Program. The consultant pool is
overseen by a Lead Consultant who reports to FACT's Senior Program
Officer. Confidentiality regarding the work between the consultant
and the FACT grantee is strictly maintained by a confidentiality
policy that ensures a firewall between programmatic work and organizational
development consulting.
FACT program staff are informed generally regarding the overall
goals and type of organizational development undertaken and that
progress is continuing without specific details, in order that the
grantee is able to honestly confront difficult issues without fear
of jeopardizing its general operating support. The Management Assistance
Program is available to help groups with human resources policies
or practices, coaching for executive directors, mentoring secondary
leaders, succession planning, establishing basic financial systems
and financial literacy among the staff, strategic planning, board
development, and governance issues. The program provides up to 380
hours of consultant time over a maximum of 18 months. For more information,
read the MAP application process.
See downloads for MAP consultant bios and a flowchart of how the
MAP process works.
- Organizational Development
Every three years, FACT invites two grantees to apply for
a three year organizational development grant. The total value of
the grant is $90,000. These grantees choose their own consultant(s)
to guide them in developing their organization as appropriate and
needed. As FACT is entering its spend down period, this element
of the program is winding down. No new grantees will be invited
into this program.
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