Our Work

The Statewide Capacity Collaborative (SCC) supports capacity building efforts that will lead to strong nonprofit organizations with more effective and long-lasting impacts in communities across the state.

The SCC:

  • Raises awareness of and builds the case for increased capacity building efforts among other funders
  • Supports capacity-building providers that are working with nonprofit organizations across the state
  • Elevates the voice and influence of the nonprofit sector through investment in sector-level advocacy efforts
  • Facilitates discussions on capacity building and builds relationships between local funders and nonprofits
  • Pools funding for sector-wide, regional, and local impact focused on strengthening the capacity of the nonprofit sector

Shared beliefs that guide our work:

  • We can do more together than any of our individual organizations can do alone.
  • We serve as strong advocates for the nonprofit sector, a sector that includes service providers, grantseekers, and grantmakers.
  • We recognize that local needs and solutions may look different across the state and require unique support.
  • We value transparency about our efforts and investments in order to continuously learn from our collective and individual successes and challenges.
  • We openly acknowledge and discuss the inherent power dynamics in our work, considering the impact and influence of our process and actions.

In May 2019, the SCC adopted the following Equity Vision, Commitments, and Principles:

Vision:
We envision a Washington State where the distribution of resources, opportunities, and burdens is not determined or predicted by race, class, gender, sexual orientation, physical ability, or geography.

Equity Commitments:

  • We recognize that communities of color and rural communities have been historically underrepresented in the nonprofit sector and under-resourced by public and private funders.
  • In advancing capacity building for the nonprofit sector in Washington state – investing in and advocating for the systems, structures, skills, and leadership that organizations need to succeed – we will use an equity lens to ensure that the SCC’s activities do not further reinforce structural racism or an inequitable distribution of resources.
  • We will employ best practices in community engagement and philanthropy, share our learning with other funders, and welcome feedback from nonprofit and community partners on how we can further improve our efforts.
  • Furthermore, we commit to proactively seeking opportunities to increase access to resources to organizations led by and serving communities of color and underserved areas of Washington State.

Equity Principles:

  • We recognize creating a resilient nonprofit sector requires us to address structural and institutional inequities.
  • We recognize and leverage the gifts, assets, and expertise of nonprofit leaders and organizations.
  • We ensure we have processes that lift up community experience and expertise to co-create solutions, set priorities, and build strategies.
  • We believe the sector must examine our policies, practices, and culture with an equity lens to transform our grantmaking to create better outcomes for our communities.
  • We recognize that this work is not ours alone, and hope to partner with others to build on what is working. Through this process we strive to be humble, and cultivate trust with our partners.
  • We use our collective voice, privilege, and power to influence how conversations are framed and resources are allocated.
  • We work to encourage change in the philanthropic sector to depart from “business as usual” practices that have ignored or sustained historical inequities.
  • Our role leverages our investments in capacity building and advocacy efforts for the nonprofit sector.