It Takes a Village: Capacity Building for Community-Based Nonprofit Organizations through an Academic Center

Community-based small nonprofit organizations face unique challenges to capacity building. The Capacity Building Institute, initiative under the Center for Public and Nonprofit Management at the University of Central Florida, has developed an ambitious, innovative, team approach to capacity building in two groups of eight small, nonprofit, minority Community-Based Organizations (CBOs). The first project, completed in 2005, and the second project, completed in 2008, offers a fertile resource for examination by both academics and practitioners. Research confirms that a number of factors may influence the successful outcomes of capacity building initiatives of CBOs. This article focuses on community support and internal and external stakeholder development as keys to successfully building the capacity of CBOs. The findings and implications are critical reflections of field experience, survey data, participant observations, and interviews. The article proposes modest actions and lessons learned of relevance to others in the fields of nonprofit capacity building.

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