Compassion Spotlight
	Nearly 1,000 capacity-building grants were competitively awarded to FBCOs under the Compassion Capital Fund (CCF) Targeted Capacity Building Program. Approximately two thirds of grantees reported serving more clients and sustaining that increase with new funding. Approximately half started and sustained new programs. More than 5,200 competitive sub- awards were made to FBCOs under the CCF Demonstration Program. Among these FBCOs surveyed, 90% reported an increase in or improved quality in service delivery. FBCOs trained and funded under the Department of Justice Rural Domestic Violence Pilot Program showed a 105% increase in the number of services offered to domestic violence victims per month.

The Need
The Response
Other Initiatives

The Need

• Faith-based and community organizations (FBCOs) address a broad range of social problems. However, many lack the key resources, knowledge, and skills to enable them to expand and enhance their services.
• This lack of capacity makes it challenging for government to make use of the entrepreneurial character, ample supply of volunteers, and other distinctive traits of FBCOs frequently make service delivery more personal, responsive, and compassionate than traditional government programs.
• If the capabilities of FBCOs could be enhanced, the ability of their respective communities to respond to and solve problems would also expand.

The Response

From competitive grants that fund innovative social service models to in-depth skills training, the FBCI works to expand the capacity of FBCOs across the country to maximize service delivery for those in need.

The Compassion Capital Fund (CCF) is the most extensive of the FBCI’s capacity-building programs. CCF offers competitive grants through three innovative funding models to build FBCO capacity by enhancing the provision of social services and expanding organizational capacity to serve low-income individuals, children, and families. Since the program began in 2002, more than $310 million has been awarded were awarded to over 5,000 FBCOs in all 50 States and two U.S. territories.

Under the CCF Targeted Capacity-Building Program, competitive grants of up to $50,000 are awarded directly to FBCOs providing services to distressed communities. The grants must be used to build the capacity of the organization to deliver social services in a secular manner. From FY 2003 to 2007, nearly 1,000 competitive grants were awarded totaling over $48 million. A 2008 retrospective study of this program found that

• 66% of FBCOs responding indicated that CCF support enabled them to serve more clients, and 86% of these were able to sustain the expansion after CCF funding ended;
• more than half of the respondents used the funds to start a new program, and 90% of these were able to sustain the expansion after CCF funding ended; and  
• virtually all FBCOs reported improvements in critical effectiveness areas, such as financial management systems, outcomes tracking, and long-term planning.

The CCF Demonstration Program uses intermediary organizations that provide competitive funding and training primarily to FBCOs with no history of Federal funding.. As a result, this "intermediary model" allows the program to reach the smallest front-line FBCOs. From FY 2002 to FY 2008, 112 awards, totaling $172.4 million, were made to intermediary organization grantees; who, in turn, competitively awarded more than 5,200 subawards to FBCOs in 47 States and the District of Columbia. A 2007 evaluation revealed that

• 88% of FBCOs receiving subawards and training reported improved outcomes for the people they serve, and
• 90% reported an increased level in or improved quality in the services they deliver to individuals in need.

The CCF Communities Empowering Youth (CEY) program was created in FY 2006 to strengthen existing coalitions working to combat gang activity, youth violence, and child abuse and neglect in their communities. CEY grants are made to “lead organizations,” which provide both financial support and capacity-building training to their coalition of FBCO partners, building effective and sustainable community networks of service focused on the needs of youth. From 2006 to 2008, approximately $90 million was awarded via competitive grants to 131 projects. The CEY Program is currently undergoing a national evaluation, findings from which should be published in 2009 and 2010.

Other Initiatives
Beyond the CCF, multiple Federal agencies operate capacity-building grants programs, such as  example, through the Department of Justice (DOJ):

• HOPE I has awarded minigrants of $5,000–$10,000 each to 506 FBCOs that had never received Federal assistance, expanding their capacity to improve outreach and services to crime victims and helping them to sustain that capacity once Federal funding ends.
• HOPE II has provided grants of $50,000 per grantee to another 57 FBCOs to expand their capacity to help victims of crime.
• The Rural Domestic Violence Pilot Program has partnered with over 50 FBCOs to create or expand domestic violence services in underserved rural counties and to grow the capacity of FBCOs that provide services to rural victims of domestic violence. A recent study of one subset of this program reported that FBCOs experienced

• a 20% increase in the number of domestic violence victims served per month,
• a 105% increase in the number of services offered to victims per month, and
• an 80% increase in the number of volunteer workers serving domestic violence victims.

The vision to identify new community-level partners and enhance their effectiveness is at work internationally as well.  

• The $200 million New Partners Initiative (NPI) under the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) builds the technical and organizational capacity of local nonprofit partners, enabling them to deliver expanded HIV/AIDS services while also building skills critical to long-term effectiveness. This initiative also helps organizations that had previously partnered with government programs only as subgrantees grow to become valued direct grantee partners. Most NPI partners, in turn, work with networks of even smaller nonprofits to deliver services and grow capacity.
• The $30 million Malaria Community Program (MCP) under the President’s Malaria Initiative expands the reach and effectiveness of local FBCOs as new partners in U.S. government antimalaria projects. This model funds large nonprofits to build and strengthen networks of community-level groups, extending the coverage of malaria prevention and control efforts, and to grow local ownership of antimalaria efforts.

In addition to grants for capacity-building, the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives and Federal agencies have provided in-person training to over 100,000 social entrepreneurs on a range of skills and topics, including competing for Federal grants, fund-raising from private sources, board development, nonfinancial partnerships with government, recruiting volunteers, and performing outcome-based evaluations. To date, these efforts have achieved the following:

• 35 White House Conferences on the FBCI trained more than 30,000 nonprofit leaders from all 50 States; and two training conferences were held in Africa.
• Since 2004, more than 290 Art and Science of Grant Writing training workshops provided by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives trained over 40,000 individuals from FBCOs across the country in how to compete for public and private grants, and enhanced key skills for organizational effectiveness.
• More than 280 workshops in 47 States were provided by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration for FBCOs addressing drug and alcohol addiction and related issues.
• The Department of Education’s Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives trained approximately 9,000 individuals from education-related FBCOs through 89 intensive workshops in 34 States.