The Silicon Valley Community Foundation, by far the largest community foundation in the nation in terms of total giving, has engaged Consulting Within Reach to guide a key multi-year initiative called the Community Leadership Project (CLP). The CLP seeks to build the organizational capacity of 11 local nonprofits led by or serving people of color.  The initiative is part of a state wide $10 million effort jointly funded by The David and Lucile Packard, James Irvine and William and Flora Hewlett foundations.

The Silicon Valley Community Foundation chose CWR for our deep experience in the multi-faceted nature of capacity building. We will bring our overall expertise in capacity building and specific offerings in the most common needs of the 11 nonprofits, areas such as strategic planning, marketing, fundraising, and technology.

The world of philanthropy is increasingly recognizing that sustainable social impact requires sustainable nonprofit organizations.  The willingness to invest in organizational capacity building - and not just programming - is gaining attention as a critical factor in effective grant making.

Even prior to this most recent partnership, Consulting Within Reach has provided leadership for this trend.  As an entity that is neither a funder nor a nonprofit, we believe we can play a special role as a catalytic agent in joining the different actors around strategic efforts.  Our formation and ongoing leadership of the Capacity Collaborative - an innovative collaboration between over 40 funders and nonprofits around the issue of fundraising capacity - is a cornerstone of our strategy, and was cited as an important factor in the Silicon Valley Community Foundation's selection. Our  client list is also filled with work for a variety of funders seeking to invest in the capacity of their portfolio members.

Our firm is defined by the cause of "building the organization behind the mission." As this cause builds momentum in philanthropy, we believe the number and creativity of our partnerships with funders will only grow.  We think this is one of the most important and exciting things about our future.