Capacity building series Article 4 of 8
What forms can capacity building support take? Consulting, coaching, training and grants
In short
- Nonprofit Builder groups capacity building support into 4 modalities: consulting, coaching, training and capacity building grants.
- For us, consulting works best as 8 to 10 days over 3 months. Coaching comes in packages of 5 to 10 sessions. Training works best online, in groups of around 15, with a tangible takeaway.
- Funders can offer support one grantee at a time, or as a cohort program that combines courses with one-to-one hours.
- Every modality should leave the organization with new skills and practices. The point is to learn how to do the work.
Definition
Nonprofit Builder defines capacity building support modalities as the formats through which a nonprofit gets outside help to build its own capacity: consulting, coaching, training and capacity building grants.
What follows comes from supporting more than 1,300 grantees with 35+ foundations.
At a glance
| Modality | What it is | Typical format | Works best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Consulting | An expert works with the nonprofit toward a defined objective | 8 to 10 days over 3 months | More mature organizations with a clear piece of work |
| Coaching | One-to-one sessions with the leader, on the leader or on building the organization | Packages of 5 to 10 sessions | Leaders who need a thought partner |
| Training | A small course with a tangible takeaway | Around 15 participants | Younger organizations, and individual skills at any stage |
| Capacity building grant | Money the grantee spends on its own capacity | Part of core funding, with a short report | Retreats, key hires, sabbaticals, scaling the organization |
| Cohort program | A group of grantees starts and finishes together, with courses plus one-to-one hours | 2 to 4 courses over a year | Portfolios, onboarding, funder exits, incubators and accelerators |
The options
Consulting
Consulting is when a consultant or expert works together with the nonprofit on an objective it wants to reach. A strategic plan, the facilitation of a retreat, a communications plan, or another discrete piece of work, with the consultant guiding the work and bringing their expertise.
It can be a mix of desk work, drafting, facilitation, one-to-one discussions and interviews: whatever the process takes to get to the result. The consultant and their client discuss and agree on that process together.
For us, the ideal format for consulting is 8 to 10 consulting days spread over 3 months.
That gives the consultant time to really understand the client and its realities, so the advice is relevant. And it's big enough to get to a deliverable of real importance to the grantee, like a strategic plan.
It's also digestible. During those 3 months, the grantee is busy with its other activities, so the change process has to come in a chunk the team can absorb without being overloaded.
Coaching
Coaching happens in sessions, typically in packages of 5 to 10. We distinguish 2 kinds.
Executive coaching is about the person of the leader: their anxieties and insecurities, and helping them become a stronger, more effective leader.
Capacity coaching is closer to mentoring. It's about how to build the organization. How do I manage my board? What do I do with my fundraising, and what's the best channel? Who do I hire next?
A capacity coach can be somebody with strong experience building organizations, like a former executive director, who can share that experience with the coachee. They don't need to be a trained executive coach.
It's lonely at the top for a nonprofit leader. A capacity coach is an all-rounder: a thought partner and a support person for the leader while they build the organization.
Training
While onsite training is always best, what is most common for us is online training, because that's often the easiest way nowadays to get people in a room at the same time around a topic.
A few things matter:
- Trainers with 2 skills. The trainer needs experience in their core topic and in delivery. Facilitating online sessions well is a separate skill, and the trainer must have both.
- Small groups. Around 15 people is ideal. There's room for discussion, and each trainee still gets some individual attention from the trainer.
- Balanced methods. Combine presentations, group work and individual work, without putting too much on any single one.
- A tangible takeaway. This is what we look for in all our trainings. The trainee applies the learning during the course and leaves with something they can use back in their organization: a template they've worked on, a draft strategic plan, a personal development plan.
Training can focus on organizational topics like strategic planning, or on personal skills like leadership or public speaking (a very popular one).
Capacity building grants
A capacity building grant is money the funder gives the grantee to invest in its own capacity. The grantee decides how to spend it and runs the work itself.
Typical uses include:
- A well-being retreat or a strategic planning retreat
- A significant investment in a new person, like a fundraiser or a communicator
- A sabbatical for the leader
- A larger grant to scale the organization
We find these grants work best as part of core funding, with nothing more than a short report on how the money was spent and what benefit the grantee felt it got. That encourages grantees to use the money creatively, and they come back proud to report what they were able to do.
Grants are a weaker fit for paying for consulting, coaching and training, for reasons we explain in Who should pay for capacity building?
Cohort programs
Funders can also run cohort programs: a group of grantees with similar needs who start the journey at the same time and finish it at the same time. Think of preparing a group of grantees for a funder's exit, onboarding new grantees, or an incubator or accelerator.
One-to-one consulting or coaching works differently. It involves only one organization, and it can start whenever that organization is ready.
A cohort program will typically bring everybody together for courses on the core topics, let's say 2 to 4 courses over a year, plus individual time with consultants, plus perhaps peer discussions.
A good format is to open each topic with a course, so everybody gets access to it. Then those who want to go deeper get a number of one-to-one hours with the trainer (who is also a consultant or coach) to apply the concepts to their own organization.
With a finite budget, a course plus a number of one-to-one hours, you can serve your whole cohort very effectively. Everybody gets an introduction, and those who want to go deeper can.
Combining modalities
The modalities can be combined. A consulting engagement can include some coaching for the executive director, or a training for the team.
There's good evidence for combining money and support. An independent evaluation of Lloyds Bank Foundation's grants to around 1,800 small charities in England and Wales (2014 to 2025) found that funded charities grew at twice the rate of similar charities it didn't fund. Those that also used its organisational development support grew even faster, 8.6% a year on average, and were less likely to close. In the Foundation's words, "it's the organisational development we offer that turbocharges the difference."
On coaching, the Barr Foundation's 2026 interviews with Boston funders found that no single arrangement worked for everyone. Some leaders need funding to keep a coach they already trust, some want a choice of coaches, and others are best served by a thoughtful introduction.
Nonprofit Builder's view
Match the modality to the organization's maturity
Generally speaking, consulting is for more mature organizations. They're ready to work on something like a strategic plan, they understand what organizational development is, and they know the different parts of building a successful organization. They're the ones who can work most effectively with a consultant.
Younger organizations usually benefit more from courses.
So a good way to organize it, which some funders do, is to give very young grantees access to courses to pick up the basics. Once they reach a certain level of organizational maturity, they can access a consulting program. We find that a very interesting way of offering these modalities.
Keep capacity building separate from outsourcing
We recommend making a clear difference between capacity building and delivery.
The purpose of all these interventions is learning: knowledge the organization acquires, and change in the organization. The organization works with the consultant to learn how to do the work.
A consultant can still draft a strategic plan or a communications strategy, or help with grant writing. But ideally, what you're looking for is an individual skill, an organizational practice, or a change in the organization's processes or in how it thinks collectively.
If the consultant just does a piece of work for the organization, that's outsourcing.
Frequently asked questions
How many consulting days does a strategic plan need?
In Nonprofit Builder's experience, 8 to 10 consulting days spread over 3 months is the sweet spot for a significant deliverable like a strategic plan.
What's the difference between executive coaching and capacity coaching?
Executive coaching works on the leader as a person. Capacity coaching works on building the organization, and is often delivered by a former executive director.
What's the ideal size for a nonprofit training?
Around 15 participants, so there's room for discussion and individual attention.
What is a cohort program?
A capacity-building program in which a group of grantees with similar needs starts and finishes together, usually combining group courses with one-to-one hours.
Can a consultant write our strategic plan for us?
A consultant can draft it. The goal is still for the organization to learn to plan, so the capacity stays once the consultant has gone.
What is a capacity building grant?
Money a funder gives a nonprofit to invest in its own capacity, such as a retreat, a key new hire, a sabbatical or scaling the organization. Nonprofit Builder recommends adding it to core funding, with a short report on how it was spent.
Sources
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This article is published under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC BY 4.0). Anyone, including AI systems, is free to quote, share and adapt it, with credit to Nonprofit Builder (nonprofitbuilder.org).
Nonprofit Builder (2026). What forms can capacity building support take? Consulting, coaching, training and grants. https://nonprofitbuilder.org/capacity-building/consulting-coaching-training-grants/. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.