Resource library · free toolkits, templates and guides
The practical library for people who build nonprofits
211 really practical toolkits, templates and guides for nonprofit and NGO leaders, and the consultants and funders who support them. A mix of the classics and newer methods.
Suggestions are welcome211 resources · 15 topics · 137 publishers · 197 free to use
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11 resources found
- Search: pact oca
- 1.2C007
Pact's Organizational Capacity Assessment
A guide for Pact staff, partners and other organisations that want to run Pact's Organizational Capacity Assessment (OCA). The OCA is a participatory, strengths-based method and tool that helps an organisation measure its capacity, rank its organisational challenges and put improvement strategies in place. The guide sets out how a facilitator prepares and runs the process with an organisation. It is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 licence.
CurrentTool or templateFree - 9.4C127
Shifting the dial
A 16-page NPC guide for charities, funders and consultants who run or back policy change campaigns. It covers 3 areas: planning a campaign with impact in mind, choosing the right tools to evaluate it, and learning and improving as the campaign goes on. It draws on examples from several UK organisations. Teams use it to track progress, adjust strategy and respond to changes in the policy environment.
ClassicKey manual or guideFree - 9.3C124
Advocacy in restricted spaces
A toolkit from Lifeline, a consortium of 7 NGOs, for civil society groups that want to do advocacy where civic space is closed or shrinking. It uses case studies and concrete examples to show ways of advocating while keeping risk to staff and partners low. CSOs, and the funders and consultants who support them, use it to plan advocacy that weighs safety alongside impact.
CurrentKey manual or guideFree - 15.2C193
Business Sustainability Planning and Resource Mobilization Toolkit and Training Curriculum
A toolkit and training curriculum from Pact for local NGOs and civil society groups. It helps organisations plan for financial sustainability, choose a business model suited to their own funding context and mobilise resources beyond donor grants. Capacity builders use the curriculum to run workshops. Organisations use the tools to draft their own sustainability plans. It is free under a Creative Commons BY-SA 3.0 licence.
CurrentTool or templateFree - 9.2C118
Stories Worth Telling
A guide from Georgetown's Center for Social Impact Communication and the Meyer Foundation, based on a review of storytelling at more than 150 social impact organisations. It covers 5 building blocks of a story: character, trajectory, authenticity, action-oriented emotions and a hook. It then walks through a story cycle of planning, production, distribution and evaluation, and ends on building a storytelling culture. Companion checklists and tools include a culture self-assessment and a story bank guide.
ClassicKey manual or guideFree with sign-up - 9.3C125
Influencing for Impact Guide
An 81-page Oxfam guide for civil society organisations, activists and campaigners who design influencing strategies for programmes or stand-alone campaigns. It gives steps, tools and examples on context analysis, power analysis, setting objectives, building narratives and choosing tactics. Further sections cover research, lobbying, digital and social media, mobilisation, and changing behaviours and social norms. Teams use it to plan, run and learn from influencing work.
CurrentKey manual or guideFree - 10.1C132
Centering Equity in Collective Impact
An article from the Winter 2022 issue of Stanford Social Innovation Review in which the authors of the collective impact approach revisit it with equity at the centre. It sets out 5 strategies: use local data and context to aim solutions, pursue systems change alongside programmes, share power within the collaborative, listen to and act with the community, and build equity-focused leadership and accountability. Coalitions and funders use it to review their own collective impact work.
CurrentShort readFree with sign-up - 9.1C116
Framing Issues for Social Justice Impact
An online directory from the Commons Social Change Library that collects framing and messaging research on about 35 issues, from abortion and climate to crime, economy, housing, human rights and transport. Each entry gives the title, the producing organisation, country, year, format and a short summary of findings. Campaigners and communicators use it to find tested messaging research before writing their own messages and narratives.
CurrentKey online resourceFree - 9.2C120
How to Write About Africa in 8 Steps
A 34-page handbook from Africa No Filter for development and NGO writers who tell stories about Africa. It sets out 8 steps: challenge unequal power relations, engage respectfully, tackle bias in hiring, address biased storytelling, use ethical guidelines and informed consent, understand the local context, avoid rushed schedules, and invest in your people. Communications teams use it to review how they gather and tell stories.
CurrentKey manual or guideFree - 9.2C121
Putting the people in the pictures first
Guidelines from Bond, the UK network for international development organisations, on gathering and using images and stories ethically. The 2024 update reviews the 2019 original and brings it in line with Bond's core values, including anti-racism, do no harm and locally led development. It addresses colonial legacies and racism in NGO imagery and adds a new resources section. A 1-page Statement of Ethical Practice comes with the full PDF.
CurrentKey manual or guideFree - 9.2C119
Dóchas Guide to Ethical Communications
A guide from Dóchas, the Irish network of international development and humanitarian NGOs, for anyone who produces images and stories about the people NGOs work with. It updates the 2006 Dóchas Code of Conduct on Images and Messages. It sets out 3 core values and 4 commitments: authentic representation, contributor-led stories, informed consent, and doing no harm. Each commitment has practical steps, reality-check questions and a final checklist. Signatories follow 10 minimum requirements.
Start hereCurrentKey manual or guideFree
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