Boston, Mass., Monday, August 5, 2013 – TSNE today released a new report from its Capacity Building Fund (CBF) grant program, Funding Learning Networks for Community Impact. The report documents eight years of grantmaking to community-led nonprofits to support collaboration to foster greater social impact.
Copies of this new report can be downloaded from TSNE’s website: http://www.tsne.org/learningnetworks/report.
The report includes a set of recommendations to foundations to provide increased support for capacity-building activities within nonprofit networks that enhance their ability to collaborate, build relationships and achieve outcomes over the long-term.
“The effectiveness of networks as vehicles for greater social impact was proven during the eight years TSNE supported groups of nonprofits via the Capacity Building Fund,” said TSNE Executive Director Jonathan Spack. “Yet despite the clear benefits of collective action, regrettably there is very little funding available to support networks collaborating to enhance community capacity.”
TSNE’s Capacity Building Fund was designed as an experimental grant program that funded nonprofits to learn to work in collaboration toward common goals. The grant program drew together 450 organizations to work in 67 learning networks. The report also shares the lessons learned from the program and documents the process for those in the sector interested in replicating this successful model of collaboration among nonprofits.
TSNE will continue its grantmaking in nonprofit collaboration this fall through funding for networks to build the capacity to alleviate poverty primarily in communities of color.
About TSNE
Since its founding in 1959, TSNE (www.tsne.org) has focused on building the knowledge, power and effectiveness of nonprofits, so they can better help communities leverage resources, solve problems, identify opportunities – and thrive. We use innovative models and strategies in our work to support organizations committed to social change.