Capacity-Building Grant

CFT believes that investing in capacity building helps North Texas nonprofits strengthen their ability to serve their communities.

We are seeking applications from organizations with budgets less than $3 million that focus on one or more of the following areas:

• Financial assistance
• Housing support
• Case management
• Out-of-school time programs
• Job training and career support

This opportunity is intended to help nonprofit organizations build the competencies and skills needed to meet their missions efficiently and effectively. Nonprofits can apply for capacity-building programs in Fundraising, Leadership Development, Marketing, Organizational Effectiveness, Recruitment & Retention, and Technology.

Grants will range from $2,500-$15,000.

Selection Criteria

Proposals will be evaluated on the extent to which they:

• meet the grant eligibility requirements and CFT’s funding priorities
• clearly identify and define the capacity-building project
• state a compelling case that supports how and why the organization’s capacity-building project will help it meet its mission

Organizations may include up to three (3) capacity-building priorities in the application in any of the following categories with examples provided:

• Fundraising
  • Consulting for fundraising and/or grant writing
• Leadership Development
  • Board development and governance
  • ED/CEO development
  • Succession planning
  • Leadership training and development for staff
• Marketing
  • Marketing and social media planning and strategy
• Organizational Effectiveness
  • Financial supports including audits, budgeting, budget forecasting
  • HR and risk management
  • Program evaluation and data collection
  • Strategic plan update or development
  • Facilities improvement, ADA compliance, and capital planning
• Recruitment/Retention
  • Staff and/or volunteer training and wellness
• Technology
  • Purchasing equipment, technology, or software
  • Digital strategy

This is not an exhaustive list of the types of capacity-building projects CFT may fund. There are several different ways nonprofit organizations can build capacity and CFT intends to support a wide breadth of these activities.

Eligibility

_You can learn more about this opportunity by visiting the funder's website._

• Nonprofit organizations that meet all of the following requirements are eligible to apply for Capacity Building Grants:
  • Be an IRS 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization for at least two years as of September 1, 2022
  • Have an operating budget that is less than $3 million, excluding in-kind line items
  • At least 50% of the population served must reside in one of these North Texas counties: Collin, Cooke, Dallas, Denton, Ellis, Erath, Fannin, Grayson, Hood, Hunt, Johnson, Kaufman, Montague, Navarro, Palo Pinto, Parker, Rockwall, Somervell, Tarrant and Wise
  • Organizational focus on one or more of the following areas:
  • financial assistance – gap funding for childcare, rent and utility payments, or financial support for other emergency basic needs
  • housing support – non-financial support such as emergency shelter and transitional housing
  • case management – partnership with clients to understand social service needs and develop solutions
  • out-of-school time programs – supervised programs that youth regularly attend when school is not in session
  • job training and career support – services to provide unemployed or underemployed individuals access to rewarding jobs or opportunities to improve their financial situation

Ineligibility

• Who is NOT eligible to apply?
  • individuals
  • for-profit businesses
  • non-US based organizations
  • church and religious organizations’ programs that are focused on evangelism
• Ineligible Funding Requests
  • Staff salaries
  • General operations