Summary

We are a local church based youth club in an impoverished area of South Boston, a densely populated area that receives less funding than neighboring communities. Our club is run by a tireless priest and offers a nursery, playgroups, computer and music classes, as well as other services to all children regardless of their religion. The priest also plans to build a community center. The funder that we wanted to build a relationship with is a family foundation based in Boston with a stated mission to improve the quality of life of the deprived, disadvantages and excluded. However, this Foundation does not accept unsolicited proposals, and offers funding primarily to larger organizations. We had applied to the Foundation in the past but with little success.

The Background

For a small community based organization, reaching out to a large funder can sometimes be daunting. There needs to be a way to level the playing field so that both organizations are served by the relationship. One way to accomplish this is conduct an Organizational Assessment which establishes a base line on which future needs can be determined.

The Solution

Our Priest reached out to the Foundation to find out how they would work best together as our current efforts in attracting funding were not effective. The Foundation suggested that we perform an Organizational Assessment to help us accomplish the following objectives: 1. Place our efforts in a broader context. 2. Provide insight into the many different activities that are already in place in the Church and identify needs for more activities. 3. To uncover our vision for our future. With the Organizational Assessment in place, we were able to work with the Foundation from a common reference point for grant applications. The Organizational Assessment also provides a valuable statement of intent that we can use to start relationships with potential partners in the area.

Lessons Learned

Conducting the Organizational Assessment has led to a three year relationship through which both organizations have been able to make a real difference in the community. We now have a paid staff and are able to expand our footprint in the community. We were also the first organization of our size to establish a relationship with the funder, opening up opportunities with other community programs. In fact, they`ve recently hired an officer to manage small grants.