Capacity building is not just about the capacity of a nonprofit today -- it's about the nonprofit’s ability to deliver its mission effectively now, and in the future. Capacity building is an investment in the effectiveness and future sustainability of a nonprofit.
Capacity building enables your organization to focus on its mission — not simply on survival.
Nonprofits issue solutions to needs that a community relies on.
Capacity building is important because it encourages the leaders of the nonprofit to evaluate their abilities to perform. The evaluation process of capacity building together with the implementation component ensures the organization’s success and sustainability.
You run the risk of focusing all of your energy and attention on providing services and expanding projects without capacity building. This lack of a strong foundation may lead to the organization’s instability, which might be seen in poor communication between leaders and staff, and "mission drift" — a loss of focus on your founding principles.
Why invest in capacity building?
Strengthen program delivery.
Capacity building helps develop leadership, infrastructure, evaluation capacity or other skills needed to design, implement and assess programs.
Free up space for strategic thinking.
Support for capacity building gives nonprofit leaders the time and space they need to think about the big-picture.
Pave the way for organizational growth.
Your organization needs a strong base to create more impact.
Position organization to be a better partner in collaboration.
As the organization needs to start efforts to grow impact from a solid base, the nonprofit will be better partners in collaborative efforts if their organizations are healthy.
References:
https://www.councilofnonprofits.org/tools-resources/what-capacity-building
https://www.geofunders.org/resources/what-is-nonprofit-capacity-and-why-does-it-matter-675