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Web Scout
Improving Results: “Capacity Building” for Better Community Service
By Marcia Koth de Paredes

December is always a very busy month but a good time of year to review our commitments to serve the community and to think about 2006. Most of us via the work place, family or friends are involved in service groups…many in more than one. This Web Scout is aimed at helping you find useful information to increase the positive results of the groups with which you work.

A useful definition of capacity building is “to take action that improves the effectiveness of a group to achieve more and better results.” “Toolkits” are efforts by nonprofit organizations to share appropriate training materials. The following provides a selection of portals and a few examples of toolkits to use to make improvements by training members. Next month: examples of nonprofit “best practice” prize-winning organizations to see what they are doing well and links to specialized libraries for nonprofits.

Portals (English and Spanish)

• Impact Alliance - http://www.impactalliance.org - click on Resource Center
• FirstGov Nonprofit Gateway - A network of links to U.S. federal government information and services for nonprofits - http://www.firstgov.gov/Business/Nonprofit.shtml
• Red Interamericana para la Democracia - http://www.redinter.org - a network sponsored by Partners, USAID and Pact Peru
• El Perú - http://www.elperu.org/desarrollo/ongs.html
• World Bank Group - http://www.infodev.org
• Development Gateway - http://www.developmentgateway.org

Portals: Fund Raising

• The Foundation Center includes proposal writing tutorial in English and Spanish in the Learning Lab, links to foundations - http://www.fdncenter.org
• First Gov info on government requirements -
  http://www.firstgov.gov/Business/Nonprofit.shtml#vgn-fundraising-and-outreach-vgn

Methods Toolkits

Some of the best toolkits have been prepared by special interest groups willing to share with others. Since the dozens of webs that deal with business accounting, marketing and client relationships serve NPOs equally well, and are easy to find, the following selection provides links about other aspects of NPO management.

Advocacy:
Community Toolbox - http://ctb.ku.edu/tools/tk/en/corecompetencies.jsp
Participa Perú - http://www.participaperu.org.pe

Assessment:
Centerpoint for Leaders - http://www.centerpointforleaders.org/toolkit.html

Board Management:
MAPNP - Free Complete Toolkit for Boards - http://www.mapnp.org/library/boards/boards.htm
University of Wisconsin, Board Development and Governance - http://www.uwex.edu/li/learner/sites_board.htm

Campaign for MDG:
CIVICUS - Better Communications and Planning Toolkits - http://www.civicus.org/mdg/title.htm
Development Gateway: Capacity Development for millennium development goals - http://www.developmentgateway.org/mdg - click How to/Tools

Cooperation between NPO, Business and Government:
Leader to Leader Institute - http://www.pfdf.org/collaboration/challenge/resources.html

Strategic Planning:
Benton Foundation Strategic Planning Toolkit - http://www.benton.org/publibrary/toolkits/stratcommtool.html
EDUCARED Fundación Telefónica: Sponsors online courses about strategic planning - http://www.educared.edu.pe/curso.asp

Tools for Technology:
Tech Soup -The Technology Place for Nonprofits - http://www.techsoup.org
eRiders net - Cool Tools - http://www.eriders.net/resources
World Bank Infodev - http://www.infodev.org
Universidad Europea de Madrid - http://www.uem.es/servicios-universitarios/tic/software
Mística: Observatorio Latinoamericano y Caribeño de Impacto Social de las TIC en Acción - http://www.funredes.org/mistica/index.html#c

Volunteers:
UNITEs Knowledge Base for ICT Volunteers in Development - http://www.unites.org/Html/Resource/resource.htm
Trabajo Voluntario Perú - http://www.trabajovoluntario.org/
Idealist - http://www.idealist.org

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