A thorough understanding of the impetus of any organizational effectiveness effort and a deep knowledge of the organization’s needs, ultimate goals, and resources are essential to ensure that an organization’s capacity is optimized. In this sens, Organizational Capacity Assessments (OCA) can play an essential role within a larger organizational capacity-building plan, and in empowering local partner organizations to carry out their projects.
An OCA is a structured tool for a self-assessment of an organization’s capacity followed by action planning for capacity improvements. It is designed to assess capability in multiple key areas of an organization, such as governance, financial management, administration, human resources, program management or sustainability.
Many international funders and their partner organizations encourage OCAs, reporting it helps building relationships and trust between the organization and its partner, and empowering local stakeholders to take ownership of the action plan.
Whether you are an established nonprofit or an entrepreneurial start-up, our teams can help your organization identifying effectiveness priorities according to your goals and developing sustainable action plans for capacity building.
An OCA provides funders and nonprofits with a common framework to prompt organized thinking about an organization’s trajectory, the latter taking the lead in identifying the proposed actions and priorities and resources needed.
For each of the identified areas for improvement, the action plan designates next steps, lead and and other staff responsible for overseeing each priority item, a timeline for capacity development activities, and resource requirements.
The organization’s participants discuss institutional abilities, systems, procedures and policies in various capacity areas. The result of an OCA is guided by the participants’ understanding of how their organizational processes work and built upon a healthy internal dialogue about the organization’s strenghts and gaps.
