Social Capital & Capacity Building: Discussion Paper Prepared for ZCAM ODP Retreat, September 14-15, 2006
Jill Blair and Tina Cheplick
Published in September 2006
A funders collaborative in Houston, led by the Rockwell Fund, Inc., hired BTW to assist them with planning and evaluating a new initiative to build the capacity of Zip Code Assistance Ministries (ZCAMs) in the region. ZCAMs are faith-based nonprofits providing emergency social and human services. This Initiative, called the ZCAM Organizational Development Program, was modeled on OCGI, a project that BTW evaluated for three Bay Area funders several years ago. Part of BTW’s work with the Houston initiative was to develop and facilitate an annual reflection and learning session for funders, ZCAM executives and key program partners. In preparation for the reflection session in September 2006, BTW prepared a paper on social capital formation and its relevance to building organizational capacity and creating a culture of collaboration and shared learning among ZCAM leaders.
 

Coaching as a Tool for Building Leadership and Effective Organizations in the Nonprofit Sector
Kim Ammann Howard, Jill Blair, and Beth Brown
Published in January 2006
 

A Blueprint for Action: Coaching as a Tool for Building Leadership and Effective Organizations in the Nonprofit Sector
Kim Ammann Howard and Jill Blair
Published in January 2006
In 2005 the W.K. Kellogg Foundation initiated the Coaching and Philanthropy Project to assess the use of coaching within the nonprofit sector and advance its application as a strategy for cultivating strong leadership and building effective nonprofit organizations. This report summarizes the project’s research findings including the philanthropic sector’s support of coaching for nonprofit grantees, demand for coaching among nonprofits, readiness of the coaching profession to provide services to nonprofits and the added value of coaching to enhance the work of the nonprofit sector. This report, prepared for the Coaching and Philanthropy Project of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation (see full report above), provides a framework around which a strategic effort can be developed to advance the application of coaching as an effective nonprofit leadership and organizational development tool.
 

The Foundation Incubator’s Theory of Change
Published in November 2004
BTW facilitated a process with the board and staff of The Foundation Incubator (TFI) to articulate TFI's Theory of Change. The purpose of the theory is to define the long-term intentions of TFI as an organization of social change and to uncover the assumptions that underlie those intentions.
 

Building Effective Organizations: An Evaluation of the Organizational Capacity Grants Initiative (OCGI) - Executive Summary
Jill Blair, Ellen Irie, and Melinda Moore
Published in March 2002
 

Building Effective Organizations: An Evaluation of the Organizational Capacity Grants Initiative (OCGI)
Jill Blair, Ellen Irie, and Melinda Moore
Published in March 2002
This evaluation report tells the story of a capacity-building Initiative that transformed many of the organizations and individuals involved. The report describes the Initiative's design and how it evolved. The report also outlines the outcomes achieved and lessons learned. It concludes with suggestions for future capacity builders.
 

BTW prepared case studies that are serving as learning tools for social change movement building in work with the Marguerite Casey Foundation. The Foundation supports community-based leadership and promoting grassroots activism. BTW worked to evaluate and facilitate a learning cluster of eight grantee organizations; each case study revolves around the grantee organizations’ work on economic justice and community development issues.
 

Breakthrough Urban Ministries Organizational Profile
Kim Ammann Howard
Published in January 2005
 

Institute for Democratic Renewal/Project Change Organizational Profile
Bruce Occena
Published in May 2005
 

Interfaith Worker Justice Organizational Profile
Beth Brown
Published in May 2005
 

Labor/Community Strategy Center Organizational Profile
Bruce Occena
Published in May 2005
 

Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy Organizational Profile
Kim Ammann Howard
Published in May 2005
 

Los Angeles Metropolitan Churches
Beth Brown
Published in January 2005
 

Radio Bilingüe Organizational Profile
Bruce Occena
Published in January 2005
 

South Carolina Association of Community Development Corporations Organizational Profile
Beth Brown
Published in January 2005

2006 Social Return Executive Summary: Expanding Reach, Increasing Social Return
Rayna Caplan, Ellen Irie and Inbar Hurvitz
Published in April 2007
Pacific Community Ventures (PCV) provides capital and resources to small, high-growth businesses that bring jobs and other economic gains to low/moderate income communities in California. BTW informing change has been working with PCV since 2000 to articulate and measure its social returns.
 

REDF Social Impact Report 2005
What a Difference a Job Makes: The Long-term Impact of Enterprise Employment
Fay Twersky and Kris Helé
Published in November 2005
In 2005, BTW informing change produced a research brief regarding the impact of REDF social enterprise employment on disadvantaged youth and adults. Based on two-year follow-up interview data collected from a sample of 991 individuals employed in REDF’s portfolio of social enterprises between 1998-2005, this report highlights findings across several outcome areas including employment, hourly wage, housing stability and criminal conviction rates. BTW informing change has prepared a series of similar reports for each of the REDF portfolio groups.
 

GGCI Social Impact Report 2005
Fay Twersky and Kris Helé
Published in November 2005
 

CVE, Inc. Social Impact Report 2005
Fay Twersky and Kris Helé
Published in November 2005
 

Juma Ventures Social Impact Report 2005
Fay Twersky and Kris Helé
Published in November 2005
 

Rubicon Social Impact Report 2005
Fay Twersky and Kris Helé
Published in November 2005
 

Employment Counts
Fay Twersky
Published in November 2002
In November, 2002, as part of a REDF Community Celebration, Fay Twersky presented key findings from REDF's ongoing tracking and measurement. The presentation summarized four years of data collection among REDF enterprise employees. It contained demographic and employment information for REDF enterprise employees including a look at how these results compare to other employment initiatives.

The Nature of Leadership: Lessons from an Exemplary Statesman
Jill Blair, Tina Cheplick and Regina Sheridan
Published in July 2008
Senator Henry M. “Scoop” Jackson was an extraordinary political leader and public servant. With help from BTW, the Henry M. Jackson Foundation conceptualized and produced a new publication to document Senator Jackson’s legacy of leadership in public service. The Nature of Leadership: Lessons from an Exemplary Statesman was published in July 2008 and uses interviews with 15 of Jackson’s colleagues and staffers to shed light on the qualities of leadership embodied by Senator Jackson.
 

Jewish Service Learning: What Is and What Could Be
Ellen Irie and Jill Blair
Published in May 2008
In the fall of 2007, the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation, the Nathan Cummings Foundation and the Jim Joseph Foundation commissioned BTW to assess the landscape of Jewish Service Learning. BTW examined the current capacity among Jewish Service Learning practitioners, the support required to expand that capacity and the relevance of secular national service and other faith-based service traditions in defining the potential and development of Jewish Service Learning. This report summarizes that research and offers a suggested action plan for growth based on their findings.
 

The Cost of a Volunteer
Jill Blair, Tina Cheplick, and Sharon Jones
Published in April 2003
This publication summarizes the findings from an examination of 21 volunteer programs nationwide. The study attempted to ascertain the true financial cost of organizing a high quality volunteer program and to better understand the implications for the nonprofit sector of the President’s call to service. Read the results of the review and find out what it really takes to provide high quality volunteer experience.

Building Momentum for Change: A Second Year Evaluation of the ABCD Initiative
Ellen Irie, Sheila Nickolopoulos, Regina Sheridan and Tina Cheplick
Published in February 2008
BTW is in the third year of its evaluation of the ABCD Initiative, a project of the Low Income Investment Fund. The evaluation is designed to identify how the Initiative’s strategies are helping to create a system for child care facilities financing and development and supporting quality child care spaces throughout the state. “Building Momentum for Change” summarizes the key findings and implications from the second year of this evaluation.
 

Reach All, Teach All, Respect for All: A Three Year Evaluation of Women’s Educational Media’s Outreach Campaign - Executive Summary
Rayna Caplan and Fay Twersky
Published in February 2005
The Respect for All Project (RFAP), a program of Women’s Educational Media, develops award winning documentary films and printed curriculum guides that aim to create safe, hate-free schools and communities by giving youth and the adults who guide their development the tools they need to talk openly about diversity and prejudice prevention in all its forms. BTW’s report, Reach All, Teach All, Respect for All: A Three Year Evaluation of Women’s Educational Media’s Outreach Campaign measures and evaluates the outcomes of RFAP’s outreach and training efforts.
 

Building an Organization to Last: Reflections and Lessons Learned from SeaChange
Published in July 2003
Reflective practice sounds good, but who actually does it? The W.K. Kellogg Foundation enlisted the help of BTW informing change to do just that. In the fall of 2000, WKKF, along with several other significant investors, financed the start-up of SeaChange, an entrepreneurial effort to use technology to deepen and broaden the connections between social investors and social entrepreneurs. Launched with fanfare, SeaChange confronted many challenges. By the spring of 2003, SeaChange ceased to exist as an independent entity, and instead entered into a merger with another nonprofit organization to form a new effort: Social Enterprise Alliance. This report summarizes some reflections on the lessons that were learned along the way by the funders, as well as the organization’s leaders and key observers.
 

An Information OASIS: The Design and Implementation of Comprehensive and Customized Client Information and Tracking Systems
Fay Twersky
Published in 2002
Despite increasing demands for outcome measurement, nonprofit organizations typically do not have the capacity to collect, analyze and use outcome information. In this paper, Fay Twersky, a Principal of BTW informing change describes the process of planning and developing customized client tracking systems for nonprofit organizations. The system is called OASIS (the Ongoing Assessment of Social Impacts) and was supported by The Roberts Enterprise Development Fund and a collaboration of other funding partners.

Going Green: One Funder's Experience Entering Green Grantmaking
Tina Cheplick and Kim Ammann Howard
Published in March 2009
More and more funders are adding "green grants" to their grantmaking programs as a way to encourage their grantees to undertake "green" practices and be more responsible stewards of the earth's resources. This brief describes the experience and lessons learned by one funder, the Community Clinics Initiative (CCI), in their initial "green" grants program, a half million dollar program that provided $25,000 grants to twenty community clinics to help them renovate or operate environmentally sustainable health care facilities. The brief describes how grantees reduced their energy and water consumption, reduced environmental hazards in their buildings and engaged staff in implementing environmentally healthy operational practices. It includes a list of ten lessons learned through this grants program, as well as a list of "Key Factors that Help Nonprofits Go Green" and short profiles of two grantees' green projects. The brief will be of interest to funders and lenders who want to encourage environmentally sustainable practices in any nonprofit organization, not only clinics and health care organizations.
 

Building for the Future: The Community Clinics Initiative's Major Capital Campaign Gifts Program
Kim Ammann Howard and Regina Sheridan
Published in March 2009
From 2003 thorough 2007, the Community Clinics Initiative (CCI) invested over $17 million in community health centers to undertake capital projects and enhance their fund development capacity. BTW informing change has worked with CCI over the past few years to evaluate the MCCG Program. As the Program comes to an end, BTW produced a brief report, "Building for the Future," which provides grantmaking considerations for funders who are thinking about, or already involved in, capital funding programs for nonprofit organizations. The brief also provides a short description of the MCCG grantmaking approach and key impacts that resulted from the program.
 

Evaluation Findings for the Managing Ambulatory Health Care Training Program
Kim Ammann Howard, Kris Helé, Regina Sheridan and Claire Reinelt
Published in August 2008
As part of BTW’s broader work with the Community Clinics Initiative (CCI), BTW undertook an evaluation of the Managing Ambulatory Health Care (MAHC) training program, which is offered by the Harvard School of Public Health and was supported by CCI from 2003 to 2007. The program provides an intensive “Management 101” for medical directors of community clinics and health centers. CCI supported the program participation of approximately 160 medical directors representing most community clinics in California. This brief presents the key evaluation findings for the MAHC program.
 

Cultivating Leadership Through Social Change Initiatives: Broadening Our View and Support of Nonprofit Leaders
Kim Ammann Howard, Kris Helé, Regina Sheridan and Claire Reinelt
Published in August 2008
In 2008, BTW examined the ways in which the Community Clinics Initiative (CCI), a joint project of Tides and The California Endowment, has sought to develop and strengthen leadership in community clinics in California. Throughout the life of the Initiative, CCI has aimed to enhance the capacities of their grantees and strengthen the broader community clinics field in California. This brief tells a story about how leadership has been and continues to be cultivated within a broad social change initiative. We use CCI’s leadership cultivation efforts to show the variety of ways in which leadership can be developed and strengthened within the nonprofit sector.
 

Creating Currents of Influence: Success Factors for a Multifaceted Social Change Initiative
Kim Ammann Howard
Published in February 2008
This evaluation brief outlines how the Community Clinics Intiative (CCI), a joint project of Tides and The California Endowment, has been successful in affecting broad and deep social change within the community clinics field in California. In addition to a description of CCI's impacts and the evaluation design, the brief discusses the critical factors that emerged for achieving deep, systems-level changes and offers some summary reflections. These factors and reflections can inform the design and implementation of other philanthropic initiatives and grantmaking efforts.
 

Creating Capacity & Connections: An Evaluation of the Women’s Foundation of California Reproductive Justice and Sexual Rights Program
Community Clinic Partnership
Kris Helé, Kim Ammann Howard and Regina Sheridan
Published in December 2007
The Women’s Foundation of California Reproductive Justice and Sexual Rights Program incorporates strategic grantmaking, policy advocacy, capacity building and technical assistance so organizations, leaders and advocates can protect and strengthen reproductive rights and access to care for women and girls from low-income communities of color in California. This evaluation report captures information about the Program’s efforts from 2001 to 2007 including key accomplishments, strengths, opportunities for improvement and implications for programmatic refinements to increase overall effectiveness and impact.
 

Building Capacity and Improving Care: The Impact of the Kaiser Permanente
Community Clinic Partnership
Kim Ammann Howard, Kris Helé, Tom David, Ellen Irie and Regina Sheridan
Published in October 2007
 

Wired for Change: Investing in Collaborative Technology
Kim Ammann Howard and Ellen Irie
Published in May 2007
Since 2003, BTW has partnered with the Community Clinics Initiative (CCI) to evaluate its Strategic Investments Program, an ambitious program that funded collaborative information technology (IT) to support networks of clinics and health centers and enhance patient health care in underserved communities. Wired for Change: Investing in Collaborative Technology summarizes the evaluation findings, and provides funders, nonprofit leaders and technical assistance providers with success criteria for designing or implementing similar collaborative IT efforts. The report includes specific considerations for funders. CCI is a joint project of The California Endowment and Tides Foundation.
 

Enhancing Community Clinic Capacity Brick by Brick: The Impact of the Community Clinics Initiative’s Major Capital Campaign Gifts Program
Kim Ammann Howard, Inbar Hurvitz, Regina Sheridan, Tina Cheplick and Ruth Brousseau
Published in January 2007
In November 2005, BTW informing change began working with the Community Clinics Initiative’s (CCI), a project of Tides Foundation and The California Endowment, to evaluate their Capital Investments Program. This program supports clinics that are undertaking capital campaigns to improve their facilities and enhance their fund development capacity. “Enhancing Clinic Capacity Brick by Brick” is intended for community clinic and grantmaking audiences. The report contains important lessons to help clinics target their efforts during a capital project and includes strategies for enhancing organizations’ fund development infrastructure. BTW analyzes specific grantmaking approaches and offers suggestions about how funders can support grantees in accomplishing their capital campaign and project goals. Three case studies provide real stories of clinics and their experiences that ground this approach to improving health in concrete examples. The full set of appendices referenced in this report is also available.
 

Voices From the Field: Remobilizing HIV/AIDS Philanthropy for the 21st Century
Paul Wisotzky and Ellen Irie
Published in June 2001
FCAA embarked on additional qualitative research involving HIV/AIDS funders. This study, called the Funder Remobilization Project (FRP), was designed to gather information that will enable FCAA to better understand and further philanthropic response to HIV/AIDS well into the 21st century. The research involved conducting in-depth interviews with 35 of the nation's leading HIV/AIDS funders to answer several primary research questions.