Grants

Clear plans help to meaningfully and measurably advance an organization’s mission. That’s why we offer Technical Assistance Grants (TAGs) to support numerous types of plans, as well as the development of executive directors/CEOs and boards.

If you’re unsure of where to begin or focus, our Organizational Assessments offer a chance to reflect, develop shared understanding amongst your leadership team, and prepare for more in-depth planning.

If you are a small nonprofit with a budget under $300,000, please review the resources on our Small Nonprofits page.

TAGs can be used to fund various types of organization-wide planning, including:

• Strategic planning
• Board development
• Fund development planning
• Capital campaign feasibility study
• Marketing and communications planning
• Improving human resources systems
• Exploration of alliances and mergers
• Building evaluation capacity
• Leadership development including executive coaching and board development

Grant Eligibility & Award Ranges

TAGs are reviewed individually. Statewide agencies or those serving a region beyond Greater Hartford are eligible to apply for an amount that is proportional to the percentage of services provided in Greater Hartford Gives’ region.

Organization budget size / May be eligible for grants

• Under $1 million: up to $12,000 + up to $3,500 for implementation
• $1 – $3 million: up to $18,000 + up to $3,500 for implementation
• $3 – $5 million: up to $20,000 + up to $3,500 for implementation
• $5 million and above: up to $25,000 + up to $3,500 for implementation

TAG dollars may only be used to pay for a consultant’s time and may not be used to pay for services delivered prior to grant approval.

You must compare at least two consultants and submit at least two different proposals with your application.

This program is available at any time.

Visit our Planning page for additional resources.

Selecting the CEO is one of the most important decisions a board makes. Many boards have little experience with executive transitions and require support to conduct a thoughtful process.

Executive Transition Grants are available to help pay for a trained and experienced consultant to work with the board throughout the transition process. These grants may also be used to identify a seasoned Interim Executive Director/CEO.

These grants may be applied for at any time.

The Executive Transition Process

Together with an experienced transition consultant, your board and transition team will develop a thoughtful plan and search for a strong leader. During the process, you will:

• Assess your organization’s strengths, capacity, critical needs and current and future goals
• Create a plan for the entire transition process, including assembling a transition team and outlining a clear set of action steps
• Ensure that the board and staff are in alignment as the process begins
• Create a communications plan to communicate with stakeholders throughout the transition process
• Develop a clear position profile that accurately describes the current status, challenges and opportunities, and plans of your organization
• Conduct a deep and broad search of a diverse candidate pool to deliver a strong group of candidates
• Develop an onboarding plan, performance objectives and an evaluation plan for the new executive director/CEO

Your new CEO may also receive executive coaching to ensure that appropriate support mechanisms are in place to ease the transition.

Bringing on an Interim Executive Director / CEO

An Interim Executive Director/CEO provides day-to-day administrative leadership while the search for a new leader is underway. As a seasoned nonprofit administrator, the Interim Executive Director/CEO can bring objectivity and a fresh perspective to your organization, and can undertake short term changes that need to be made. This person can help ease the passage of the previous executive director/CEO while preparing the staff for new leadership.

Please note that a grant from NSP will cover the identification of an Interim Executive Director/CEO, but the organization is responsible for paying their salary.

Grant Eligibility and Award Ranges

Executive Transition Grants are reviewed individually.  Typically, agencies with budgets of $250,000 and above are eligible to apply. Depending on the organization’s budget size, grants generally range from $20,000 to $50,000.

Statewide agencies or those serving a region beyond Greater Hartford are eligible to apply for an amount that is proportional to the percentage of services provided in Greater Hartford Gives’ region.

Visit our CEO Transition page for additional resources.

Good financial management is critical to your organization’s long-term sustainability. Nonprofits with strong financial management understand their financial health and underlying business model, can effectively monitor financial results, communicate their financial story, and use historical information to inform planning and analysis.

Financial Management Assessments

NSP’s Financial Management Assessment Program pairs your organization with a skilled consultant to review your financial condition, current systems and process, and generate a list of recommendations for improvement. This program is available at any time to organizations with annual operating budgets of $300,000 and up. Smaller organizations should visit our Small Nonprofits page.

The assessment is not an audit. The consultant will work in partnership with you to make fitting recommendations for your organization. The areas reviewed by the consultant include: financial staffing; training needs; accounting software; financial reporting; policies and procedures; internal controls; and budgeting process.

Financial Management Training Program

NSP’s Financial Management Training Program offers nonprofit leadership teams an opportunity to learn to better understand, communicate and oversee their organization’s finances. This free program runs for approximately four months and is offered periodically, based on demand. You must apply and be accepted in order to participate and there is no fee to participate.

Through a series of highly interactive workshops, participating organizations: come together to share ideas, resources and best practices; complete a self-assessment and financial profile; receive one-on-one coaching to put workshop concepts into practice; and create an action plan for improvements.

Financial Management Implementation Grants

Once an assessment or the training program has been completed, your organization may then apply for a Financial Management Grant to implement priority recommendations, such as: hiring finance staff or outsourcing the finance function; engaging a consultant to assist with implementation of projects; purchasing accounting software and related hardware; and providing training to staff or board on financial topics.

Financial Management Implementation Grants are reviewed individually and are based on the organization’s annual operating budget and generally range from $25,000-$50,000. Statewide agencies or those serving a region beyond Greater Hartford are eligible to apply for an amount that is proportional to the percentage of services provided in Greater Hartford Gives’ region.

Visit our Managing Finances page for additional resources.

Technology is a mission-critical investment that can accelerate your organization’s impact. By thoughtfully integrating technology into your operations, communications, fundraising, and service delivery, you can fundamentally shift the way you deliver your mission and serve your community.

Strategic technology planning — much like any strategic planning process — is a comprehensive look at the current state and desired future for your organization. It can help you:

• Identify and prioritize technology investments to support your mission and strategic goals
• Understand the ongoing costs to manage, maintain and replace technology
• Establish realistic expectations and clear outcomes for your technology investments, allowing you to better justify your spending and communicate its impact
• Weave technology into your organizational planning, including budgeting and grant requests.

Our Strategic Technology program is offered periodically. You must apply and be accepted in order to participate. Organizations that participate in the program may then be eligible for Strategic Technology grants.

Visit our Technology page to learn more.

NSP’s Evaluation Capacity Grant program provides up to $15,000 to help qualified organizations build on their existing evaluation capacity.

Grant Objectives

Evaluation Capacity Grants aim to help qualified organizations accomplishing one or more of the following:

• Further integrate evaluative thinking into organizational or collaborative practice
• Stimulate innovative or creative approaches to participatory evaluation
• Develop and/or implement an organizational evaluation plan or system
• Implement a new evaluation framework such as Results Based Accountability/other
• Expand an existing or initiate a new evaluation project or program
• Support the evaluation of a program that is funded through Greater Hartford Gives or other funding organization
• Provide evaluation or data analysis services beyond the capacity of organization staff
• Share evaluation learning with the broader field

Use of Grant Funds

You may use granted funds for the following purposes:

• Project-specific staff development or peer exchange
• Consultant or other contracted external support
• Equipment or computer software
• Staff augmentation to support evaluation work

Grant Eligibility

NSP will award a limited number of Evaluation Capacity Grants, based on available resources.

To be eligible to apply, your organization must have an annual budget over $300,000 be able to:

• Demonstrate an existing level of evaluation capacity
• Commitment to complete the evaluation work for which funding is requested
• Meet Greater Hartford Gives grantmaking guidelines.

Existing evaluation capacity may be demonstrated by:

• Completion of the NSP Building Evaluation Capacity program or a similar program
• Documentation of previous organizational or program evaluation work
• Qualified permanently-assigned evaluation staff.

Visit our Evaluation page for additional resources.

Small or all volunteer nonprofit organizations often have unique needs as they develop their infrastructure, programs, and strive to be sustainable and thrive. Nonprofits in Greater Hartford with annual revenues under $300,000 should visit our Small Nonprofits page for a list of offerings.