Coordinated Capacity Strengthening Initiative

The Coordinated Capacity Strengthening Initiative (CCSI) is a regional response to a strained and fragmented Greater Philadelphia nonprofit sector. The initiative seeks to invest in the collective impact of nonprofits by developing an accessible, cohesive, and responsive capacity strengthening ecosystem that: 

1. Expands access, 

2. Improves efficiency, and 

3. Increases quality. 

CCSI is rooted in the belief that nonprofit organizations and their communities deserve a system of support that enables them to thrive. Our shared values emphasize this belief, centering transformation, inclusion, and community. We value:

• People and Relationships 

• Choice and Partnership 

• Power Sharing 

Together, as funders, providers, and nonprofit leaders, we commit to building a capacity strengthening ecosystem that is equitable, collaborative, and designed by and for the communities it serves.

CCSI began in 2024 with a group of local funders seeking to better understand how to collectively support nonprofits navigating the impacts of persistent economic uncertainty, a strained workforce, rising political polarization, division over racial justice movements, and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Between June 2024 and March 2025, to learn more about the current landscape, CCSI led a research process that included:

• Conducting a national scan of existing capacity-building efforts and promising models

• Engaging 100+ nonprofit leaders, funders, and providers across the five-county region

• Developing a set of three core goals:

1. Expand Access - especially for historically marginalized and under-resourced organizations

2. Improve Efficiency - reducing confusion and duplication in available supports

3. Increase Quality - ensuring supports are aligned to nonprofit leaders' most pressing needs

CCSI is rooted in the belief that nonprofit organizations and their communities deserve a system of support that enables them to thrive. Our shared values emphasize this belief, centering transformation, inclusion, and community. We value:

• People/Relationships: Think about capacity strengthening in an expanded and more relational way. Capacity strengthening is about more than supporting technical needs (e.g., systems, structures, skills); it is also about investing in people. This is particularly important given the movement of individuals within the nonprofit sector in the region

• Choice/Partnership: Partner with nonprofits to identify capacity/needs goals. There are many different ways of understanding capacity (e.g., systems, structures, cultures, skills, resources, power, people) and new needs and goals may emerge over time. Capacity strengthening efforts should allow for choice and flexibility depending on nonprofits’ varying needs and goals.

• Power Sharing: Reimagine the relationship between funders, nonprofits, and providers and ensure nonprofits play a critical role in designing solutions. Capacity strengthening should lift up the voices of the communities being served and bring more power to those most affected by the work. To that end, nonprofits should play a critical role in designing any new system or approach. 

The following organizations have partnered to comprise the CCSI team. 

Funders: 

The Foundation for Delaware County, The Green Family Foundation, Hamilton Family Charitable Trust, Patricia Kind Family Foundation, Pennsylvania Humanities Council, The Pew Charitable Trust, The Philadelphia Foundation, Philadelphia Health Partnership, Regional Foundation, Spring Point Partners, United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey, The Vanguard Group, and William Penn Foundation.

Consulting Team:

ImpactED, Yoder Consultancy, Grovider Learning & Evaluation, and Chaya Scott Consulting, LLC

Decisions about the Coordinating Organization will be made by a CCSI Selection Committee. The Selection Committee consists of nine members, with representation from each of the five counties. The committee includes five nonprofit organization leaders, two consultants, and two local funder representatives. The committee brings together diverse sectoral expertise, including arts and culture, human services, and movement building organizations. 

While transparency is a core value of the grantmaking approach, we have determined that maintaining confidentiality around selection committee membership during the selection process best serves both applicants and the integrity of the process. Many of the committee members are nonprofit leaders who operate within the same ecosystems as applicants. Confidentiality allows committee members to deliberate freely without navigating external pressures or lobbying attempts from applicants. This ensures that members can focus on the merits of the proposals and engage in open, candid deliberations. We remain committed to transparency through disclosure of committee composition methodology, criteria, values guiding decision-making, and clear, robust feedback mechanisms for applicants. Selection committee members' names will be disclosed after the selection process is complete. 

CCSI is seeking a Coordinating Organization, or set of organizations, that can help bring forward a more comprehensive approach to supporting the Greater Philadelphia nonprofit ecosystem, ensuring the sector has the relationships, resources, and structures needed to achieve its shared goals.

The Coordinating Organization is not a traditional administrative intermediary—it must be a strategic convener, collaborative leader, and systems-level facilitator capable of implementing a comprehensive system that would support the following approaches to coordination:

Curation & Navigation (to increase transparency and expand access to opportunities)

• Build a seamless process for vetting capacity strengthening resources, providers, and opportunities, and provide nonprofits with navigation support.

• Establish transparent and accessible communication vehicles for nonprofit leaders to learn about resources beneficial to their organizations.

Convening & Coordination (to improve existing opportunities and create new opportunities)

• Partner with conveners of communities of practice or peer learning networks to amplify and support their work

• Host convenings for nonprofits, funders, and providers to build trust, share resources, and learn from one another

• Convene providers to learn from each other, identify where efforts align or complement one another, and coordinate intentionally

• Increase the quality of programming through shared learning and collaboration

• Create new opportunities or programming by contracting with providers who fill gaps in existing offerings and respond to emerging needs

Capacity Strengthening Grantmaking* (to improve efficiency and expand access)

• Centralize and streamline grantmaking processes for capacity strengthening work

• Increase access to training and opportunities to secure aligned funding

*Note that the capacity strengthening grantmaking function would not need to begin until the third year of the initiative.

Ongoing Learning & Impact (to improve quality)

• Identify nonprofit needs and goals in a less burdensome, streamlined wayDefine metrics and evaluate progress, learning, and impact at the ecosystem level

• Shift practices to align with emerging ecosystem needs, informed by ongoing evaluation and stakeholder feedback

In addition to the above, the Coordinating Organization should embody the following, drawing on the Collective Impact model for creating sustainable systems change. 

Coalition Building and Network Development

• Deepen the collective commitment to a shared agenda for this work, building on the vision, principles, and approaches of the initiative 

• Support the foundational work of establishing the trust, structure, and space needed for meaningful collaboration

• Identify and sustain coalition building structures 

Relationship Manager 

• Build trust, communication, engagement, and connection with leaders across the five-county region - Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, and Philadelphia.

• Encourage authentic and inclusive engagement across all partners

Further details about the roles of the Coordinating Organization and associated activities can be found here.