Nonprofit Effectiveness

In the area of Nonprofit Effectiveness, the Foundation invests in both intermediary organizations that provide learning and resources to multiple organizations at a time and individual grants to support a nonprofit’s specific capacity needs.

Over the past two years, we have expanded our intermediary partnerships, focusing on making capacity-building opportunities as accessible as possible. Locally, in addition to ongoing work with Scranton Area Community Foundation and The Institute, new partnerships with Wayne County Community Foundation and Greater Pike Community Foundation were developed to increase in-person training and collaboration opportunities for nonprofits in rural counties.

National organizations have also continued to partner with the Foundation to provide nonprofit effectiveness resources to local grantees. The use of Catchafire—an online platform that connects nonprofits with professional volunteers for marketing, strategy, translation, and other supports—has grown steadily in the region. Over the past two years, 39 organizations have engaged with the platform for 179 projects and consultative calls, which resulted in a total of 2,165 hours donated. Catchafire estimates the in-kind savings to the community at $481,878.

We also partnered with other local funders to help several nonprofits participate in a new offering through Listen4Good (L4G). L4G helps organizations gather, interpret, and respond to feedback from the people they serve. After previously supporting several cohorts of local nonprofits through the organization’s core program, in 2025 we funded four past participants to take part in L4G’s new Advanced program to more fully embed listening practices in their organizations.

Finally, our direct investment in the capacity-building needs of individual nonprofits remains a valuable resource, especially in helping nonprofits navigate volatile periods such as the first half of 2025.