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Strengthening Partners |
The FBCI also harnesses technology to offer a wide range of training, tools, and other applications to a worldwide constituency of nonprofit organizations. Many of these efforts are designed to inform FBCOs about specific funding opportunities and equip them to compete effectively for funding. Other tools provide instruction on opportunities for nonfinancial partnership with government or private entities. Still others seek to help FBCOs develop competencies related to particular human needs and services.
Instructions: Click on one of the following examples of trainings provided to learn more about it or scroll through the list below to learn about the examples listed here.
| Training | Description |
| White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives Grants Catalogue | The White House Office works with the agencies’ Centers for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives to identify and catalogue grant opportunities from across the Federal government that are most likely of interest to faith-based and community-organizations (FBCOs). The White House Office’s Grants Catalogue offers 243 different grant opportunities in an easily accessible format on the White House Web site, which drew over 10,000 viewers per month during the fourth quarter of 2007. While the Bush Administration’s implementation of grants.gov creates unprecedented access to the Federal grants process, the Grants Catalogue helps guide the FBCOs to programs particularly relevant to their work. |
| Pre-Application Conference Calls | Many of the Centers for Faith-Based and Community Initiative regularly work with grant program offices to host “pre-application” meetings or conference calls for faith-based and community organizations (FBCOs). These help organizations discern if a particular grant program they are considering fits with their organization’s mission and capabilities; and, if so, how to effectively compete for the funds. Pre-application conferences cover the specifics of the grant program and the application process, and answer the potential applicants’ questions. For example, the 2007 Compassion Capital Fund Pre-Application Conference Calls were joined by 835 individuals and received 2,753 clicks for on-demand audio copies and transcripts of the calls and 2,920 clicks on “supporting guidance.” In addition, the Department of Veterans Affairs Grant and Per Diem Office hosted 36 monthly Provider Training Conference Calls from FY 2005 to FY 2007, which were joined by 1,800 participants. |
| White House USA Freedom Corps Volunteer Network | This resource is the largest clearinghouse of volunteer opportunities ever created currently offers more than four million volunteer opportunities both in the United States and abroad. It is a free resource for FBCOs to recruit volunteers. Since 2002, when the USAFC Volunteer Network was created at www.volunteer.gov, more than 2 million volunteer opportunity searches have been performed by over 20 million site visitors. |
| U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development SuperNOFA Web Broadcast | Since 2003, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives (CFBCI) has produced sections of HUD’s SuperNOFA (Notice of Funds Availability) Webcast. This Web training is managed by the HUD Office of Grants Management, which is responsible for coordinating the announcement of HUD grant programs each fiscal year. Each spring, the agency announces all of its competitive grants and explains the application guidelines and any submission or eligibility changes. The initial broadcast is offered live and archived for later viewing. HUD’s CFBCI estimates there are between 30,000 and 50,000 annual viewings of the webcast in either its live or archived form. |
| U.S. Department of Labor "Touching Lives & Communities" Video Workshop Series | The U.S. Department of Labor's "Touching Lives and Communities Technical Assistance Video Workshops" (TLC Video Workshops) deliver a total of nine hours of training for nonprofit organizations seeking to expand the impact and reach of their program. The five TLC Video Workshops feature subject-matter experts on the following topics:
Capacity Building and Strategic Planning;
Corporation and Foundation Giving;
Board Development and Individual Giving; Government Grant Applications and Grant Management; and
Program Evaluation.
The TLC Video Workshops are available both online and on DVD. To date, DOL has distributed more than 15,000 copies of the TLC Video Workshops on DVD, and the online version has reached more than 6,500 viewers. |
| U.S. Department of Education Webcasts | Since 2003, the U.S. Department of Education has produced 13 technical assistance webcasts for FBCOs engaged in tutoring, after-school programs, and other education-related work. In addition to information on how to apply for Federal- and State-administered funding opportunities, the webcasts cover topics such as compliance with church-state legal parameters and grants administration. A particular webcast entitled “How to Write a Quality Grant Proposal” received 2,483 viewers in a single year and collectively over 15,000 viewers have watched the webcast online. |
| U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Agency Training Manuals | The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Agency (SAMHSA) has developed a number of training manuals for faith-based and community organizations (FBCOs). In total, 70,000 hard copies of these publications have been distributed; they are also available for download on SAMHSA’s Web site:
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| Corporation for National Service Reentry Webinars | The Corporation for National and Community Service has produced 24 training and technical assistance webinars related to faith-based and community organizations (FBCOs) and prisoner reentry. The webinar topics have ranged from “Ex-Offender Support Systems” to “Prisoner Reentry and the Challenge of Housing.” Together, these webinars have reached more than 400 learners. |
| Corporation for National Service Online E-Courses | The Corporation for National and Community Service produced an online e-course on how faith-based and community organizations (FBCOs) can secure the services of an AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer to help fight poverty in the United States. When acquired, a VISTA volunteer can serve with nonprofit organizations free of charge to help build the organizations’ capabilities—from recruiting volunteers or mentors to more effective service delivery. More than 600 nonprofit representatives have participated in this online e-course. |
| U.S. Department of Labor Teleconferences | The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives has made extensive use of teleconferences to train faith-based and community organizations (FBCOs), particularly in skills to improve employment-related services. Teleconferences include synced phone and PowerPoint presentations and often include a series of teleconference events over weeks or months. For example, the Building Business Partnerships series included five teleconferences training FBCOs on how to form alliances enabling business owners to meet their bottom line while providing employment opportunities for nonprofit program participants. The teleconference speakers included human resource consultants and employer representatives from four high-growth industries. In total, more than 1,000 representatives have participated in DOL’s teleconferences. |
| Information Listservs | The White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives and each of the Centers for Faith-Based and Community Initiative Centers maintains listservs of organizations that have expressed interest in receiving information of interest to these organizations. The content delivered through the listservs ranges from recently available grant opportunities to resources focused on specific areas of service to substance abuse recovery to affordable housing and community development. Together, these listservs deliver information to more than 85,000 e-mail addresses. You can register to receive information from these listservs from the U.S. Departments of Justice, Homeland Security, Labor, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Education, Agriculture, Commerce, and Veterans Affairs as well as the U.S. Agency for International Development. |
| FBCI Center Web Sites | In addition to the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatves Web site, each of the Centers for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives maintains Web sites providing a wide range of information on the FBCI and on individual Federal programs. In addition, many Web sites also house highly specific information for FBCOs engaged in particular areas of service. For example, USAID's Web site links to the Development Experience Clearinghouse (DEC), the largest online resource for USAID-funded technical and program documentation, containing over 50,000 international aid and service documents available for electronic download. In addition, the Department of Labor’s Web site presents a range of materials related to building strategic alliances with employers to help individuals find and retain long-term employment. You can find more information about what is being accomplished by going to the Center’s Web sites for the U.S. Departments of Justice, Homeland Security, Labor, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Education, Agriculture, Commerce, and Veterans Affairs as well as the U.S. Agency for International Development, Small Business Administration, and the Corporation for National and Community Service.
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