Additional benefits include: 

In this article, the third part of our ongoing series, we will focus on how your organization can build capacity while making strides on the organizational mission.

How to Begin Building Capacity

So how do you go about assessing whether you have the capacity to carry out your existing work and your future objectives? Inevitably, this requires keeping your finger on the pulse of the organization; balancing the needs of the staff, the organizational sustainability, and the needs of the client; and strategic management. The following are essential first steps you must take to build capacity and organizational systems before you take on any new initiative: 

1. Examine the ability of the organization to develop, implement, manage, complete, and measure a project. Do we have the resources, manpower, and skills to develop, implement, manage, complete, and measure a project? If we don’t, what will it take to build the capacity to do so and does the funding support it? If there is insufficient funding to carry out the work ethically, do you have the ability to obtain new funding to make up the difference? If not, have you defined the minimum amount of dollars you need to operate the program ethically before eliminating the program? Does your staff have the ability to do the work they are supposed to do? Will you have to hire new staff? Do you have the ability to comply with your grant, contract, programmatic, fiscal, and/or legal requirements?

2. Assessing how you will address start-up costs. Do you have enough money to cover the start-up costs? If you don’t, do you have any unrestricted funds available to tap into? Are you considering tapping into your line of credit? If so, do you have the ability to pay it back? Do your funding sources permit you to pay for interest? If you don’t have unrestricted funding or the grant does not cover start-up costs, is there a way for you to ethically cover the start-ups without violating GAAP? Is there another funding source you can tap into? 

3. Evaluating beforehand the impact on the ability of the organization to ethically carry out its mission and work. If you accept new funding for this initiative, will this new responsibility hinder your ability to carry out other programs or your mission? What is the minimum amount of funding that you need to operate this program ethically and keep your commitments to both your clients and your staff? If you do not take on this new program or initiative, will the population you serve be harmed? Will the funder impose programmatic limitations or quotas that could inhibit the quality of delivery of the services you want to offer? Do you have the ability to comply with your grant, contract, programmatic, fiscal, and legal requirements? Will the development efforts to advance this initiative further or hinder your ability to carry out your mission or support other programs?

4. Examining the impact of the new initiative on staff including, new skills they must acquire and the likelihood they will be overtasked. Is your staff currently overtasked or will it become overtasked? If you add a new initiative to the workload, does your staff have the ability to do the work they are supposed to do plus this new project? If you are going to assign the work to existing staff instead of hiring someone, what impact will it have on their workflow? If the workload will increase for staff members for the duration of the initiative, do you have enough funding built into the budget to increase their compensation? If not, is it ethical for you to increase their workload without making other adjustments to their work-life balance (e.g., more vacation time, flexible schedules, etc.)? If you are going to use existing staff, do they have the skills that they need to carry out the work?  If not, what will it take to get them to upgrade their skills and can you pay for it?

5. Assessing whether administrative and programmatic costs will be covered. Does this program pay for all programmatic and administrative costs? If not, what can you afford to take a hit on? What is the minimum amount of funding that you need in order to deliver the new services ethically without compromising your ability to deliver this program competently? Are there fiscal restrictions that will result in fiscal or programmatic inefficiencies? Will you have enough funding to meet the program’s requirements? 

6. Evaluating whether you can streamline operations. Is there a way to become more effective and efficient? For example, scaling the program, supplementing other programs, collaborating with other organizations, using project management technology, etc.? 

7. Clearly delineating how communications will be managed. Determine how decisions will be made and who will communicate changes and decisions to staff and board members before, during, and post-implementation. This includes establishing a DARCI where you define who is a Decision-maker, who is Accountable, who is Responsible, who needs to be Consulted, and who needs to be Informed.

Things to Keep in Mind Post-Assessment

It is essential to remember that policies, procedures, and systems should solve, prevent, or correct an issue or problem.

Answering these questions should result in everyone with a touchpoint to the program being clear on the ethical values that are driving the process, what criteria were used in guiding decisions, and should provide clarity for everyone involved about what their role is in operationalizing the work. If people are confused or the process is too complex to manage or follow, then it is time to go back to the drawing board to build capacity and systems that make people’s work easier, instead of more complex. 

It is essential to remember that policies, procedures, and systems should all solve, prevent, or correct an issue or problem. If they aren’t achieving these objectives and, they are making people’s work harder or are confusing, your organization becomes vulnerable to crisis. Under these circumstances, systems and procedures shift away from being functional. Instead, they transform from a tool that supports your mission into a tool that supports arbitrary and capricious decision-making that leads you away from your values and alienates your staff. 

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Please share your experience with building capacity with all of us below, so we can all learn from you. 

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