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This case study documents the impact of a Ford Foundation initiative that targeted financial resources in five geographic areas to increase the capacity and support of community organizing in those areas. The initiative established expectations for the organizations receiving the grants and also required local funders to collaborate and deepen their support of community organizing.
Using a variety of methodologies, including surveys, focus groups, and interviews, the authors reported on the general success of the initiative in reaching its four goals of:
§ Strengthening the capacity of grassroots community organizations for policy advocacy
§ Helping develop stronger peer networks
§ Increasing the knowledge about community organizing
§ Broadening the pool of experience and sharing information among funders
The authors describe the accomplishments in the different geographic target areas and also discuss the role internal Ford Foundation policies had on the project's success.
This case study offers insights not only into the evaluation of community organizing capacity within organizations and within regions, but also of technical assistance and capacity building efforts in the arena of community organizing.
The appendix includes some tools that organizations may be able to adapt for their own purposes, such as a detailed listing of the indicators that were used to evaluate the progress of organizations in building organizing capacity and survey questionnaires. | 
