In an effort to understand the extent to which it is adhering to best practices in organizational effectiveness and how well its structure and offerings support desired goals, the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving (HFPG) contracted with LFA to conduct a strategic review and assessment of their Nonprofit Support Program (NSP). The assessment explores alignment between the spectrum of needs among Greater Hartford Area nonprofits and NSP offerings, as well as questions of program effectiveness and impact. LFA will conduct a literature review, key informant interviews with HFPG/NSP staff and consultants, and develop and administer a survey to all NSP grantees.

As a follow-up to LFA’s strategic review and assessment, the Harford Foundation for Public Giving asked LFA to help the Nonprofit Support Program (NSP) develop logic models for each of their four program areas (Agency Automation, Financial Management, Technical Assistance Grants, and Workshops) as well as a comprehensive Theory of Change for the entire NSP. LFA led a retreat of NSP staff to get their ideas about how the NSP seeks to affect change in nonprofit organizations in the Greater Hartford community. The logic models and theory of change will help NSP in a variety of ways, including planning new strategic initiatives, assessing its impact, and communicating its impact to key stakeholders.

The Hartford Foundation for Public Giving engaged LFA to provide technical assistance in developing and implementing an evaluation system for the Nonprofit Support Program. The evaluation system is designed to provide the NSP with access to information on an ongoing basis that will help them understand the effectiveness of NSP offerings and identify areas for program improvement. This project builds on the work that LFA has helped NSP engage in to clarify and model the logic behind each of its offerings. This project also support and aligns with NSP’s current effort to develop an offering for HFPG grantees in the area of organizational learning and evaluation.