Capacity Building Champions

The Capacity Building Champions is an engaged and vibrant learning community of grantmakers who embrace grantee-centered capacity building as a strategy for building nonprofit resilience. We welcome the opportunity for you to help shape the vision and direction of the group.

86%

of grantmakers provide some kind of capacity-building support

Who Are the Capacity Building Champions

  • The Champions are a community of GEO members who are passionate about supporting stronger nonprofit partners and want to connect with their GEO peers who feel the same.
  • The Champions self-organize around questions and topics of shared interest. Some questions include: How are we holding ourselves accountable for our capacity building? How do we ensure that we are providing culturally competent organizational capacity support? How do we right-size/type needs assessments to ensure grantees are getting the information that they need?
  • If you are interested in joining the Capacity Building Champions Google Group, please complete this form.

What Does Participation Look Like?

  • Facilitating a call about a shared question in your capacity building work
  • Convening a group of fellow Champions for peer coaching around a thorny challenge
  • Meeting in-person at a GEO conference for networking and relationship building
  • Co-authoring a GEO Perspectives piece around a shared learning/experience
  • Hosting fellow Champions in your region for a conversation
  • Participating in planning conversations with a group of fellow Champions to chart the next six months for the community

Background

We are an engaged and vibrant learning community of grantmakers who embrace grantee-centered capacity building as a strategy for building nonprofit resilience, ground our work in racial equity, and champion the use of these practices throughout the field. We do this by creating a community of practice where we hold each other accountable, challenge ourselves and others to develop funder practices that truly center grantees, and engage in shared and authentic learning opportunities.

GEO’s network of Capacity Building Champions was created for GEO members who are passionate about nonprofit capacity building and are actively motivated to see change. The Champions group started as a twelve-month volunteer post where Champions independently and collectively engaged in catalytic movement-building activities, served as GEO’s frontline advocates and thought leaders and expanded their own networks and reach. The Champions convened virtually to learn, share resources and apply insights to their outreach efforts aligned towards a broader vision of ensuring nonprofits are more resilient and community needs are more effectively addressed. The Capacity Building Champions has re-launched and we welcome the opportunity for you to help shape the vision and direction of the group.

Questions?

Contact Allison Punch-Turner at punch-turner@geofunders.org

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