Capacity Development Lab:
Strengthening Your Organization
Lab Outline
Capacity Development Lab is a blend of in-class learning and expert consulting. Our non-profit clients have seen transformative benefits through this guided self-assessment process. Members of our consulting team will work with you to build a Capacity Enhancement Plan for your organization.
We define capacity as the health of your organization in five areas:
- Programs
- Governance
- Business model
- Management
- Administrative Systems
Suggested participants: A few team members who want to conduct a deep review of your organization. This can include senior staff (Executive Directors, CEOs, general managers, etc.) and non-profit board members.
Important note! Capacity Development Lab includes space for up to four individuals from your organization to participate. We recommend having your executive director (or most senior staff person) and one board member participate for the entire program. The additional spots can be alternated with different staff or board members for specific sessions, depending on the topic relevance.
Lab Outcomes
By the end of this lab, you will be able to:
- Understand the seven stages of your organization’s lifecycle.
- Assess the five areas of your organizational capacity (programs, management, governance, systems, and financial resources).
- Get clarity on your organizational development activities that offer the greatest impact.
- Develop a detailed organizational capacity enhancement plan.
Registration Details
Capacity Development Lab is a three-month guided self-assessment process that blends virtual learning sessions with consultant advisory support between sessions.
Application Deadline: 2 weeks before the start date
Bursary Application Deadline: 1 month before the start date
Location: Online/Virtual
Cost: $2999 Non-Members | $2699 Members
Lab Schedule
Check out what our Capacity Development Lab program looks like.
February 5, 2025 | 9am - 12pm
February 19, 2025 | 9am - 12pm
March 5, 2025 | 9am - 12pm
March 19, 2025 | 9am - 12pm
April 2, 2025 | 9am - 12pm
April 16, 2025 | 9am - 12pm
April 30, 2025 | 9am - 12pm
Meet Our Facilitators
Fatima Al-Samak
Facilitator
Fatima is one of our Planning Consultants at Vantage Point, specializing in working with clients in the vibrant Fraser Valley region. Her approach is rooted in nurturing community engagement and fostering intersectional partnerships, driven by her deep passion for empowering grassroots organizations to amplify their impact.
With a 15-year career in the non-profit sector, Fatima brings a wealth of experience, and a versatile skill set that includes collaboration, relationship-building, participatory facilitation, and innovative problem-solving. Her journey has been marked by transformative roles and impactful projects.
Maria Turnbull
Facilitator
Maria Turnbull brings over 20 years of leadership experience in staff and director roles within the non-profit sector, both here in Canada and in the UK.
With a BA in International Relations and MBA, Maria is a skilled facilitator and consultant in board governance, organizational development, and management. She has consulted for Foundations, the City of Vancouver, various colleges, and hundreds of other not-for-profit organizations.
JP Baker
Facilitator
JP is our Planning Consultant, ready to support organizations strategize the most effective ways to reach their goals. JP has extensive experience as a facilitator, consultant, researcher, and writer.
As a consultant, JP is sought out for his expertise in governance, organizational culture, strategy, process design, and change management. Over the past ten years, he has done strategic planning with a wide variety of non-profit organizations and university departments and led the development of several community-wide plans.
Kylie Hutchinson
Guest Expert
Kylie Hutchinson is an independent consultant to non-profits and principal of Community Solutions Planning and Evaluation She specialises in strategic planning, program sustainability planning, and evaluation.
Kylie has a strong background in training and facilitation and is well-known for her engaging workshops and webinars. Her passion is creating order from chaos. She also enjoys designing practical tools and resources for evaluators and non-profits including free tip sheets, a video on systems thinking and evaluation, a mobile learning course in evaluation for senior decision-makers, and an online evaluation glossary.
She is the author of three books on program planning and evaluation: Survive and Thrive: Three Steps to Securing Your Program’s SustainabilityA Short Guide on Innovative Evaluation Reporting, and Evaluation Failures: 22 Tales of Mistakes Made and Lessons Learned.
Brian Mills
Guest Expert
Brian Mills is a senior leader with extensive experience in strategic planning, policy development, system effectiveness, project direction, efficiency organizational structure and organizational improvement in complex and high-profile, multi-stakeholder and public-sector environments and experience in the not-for profit sector.
Brian has led strategy and policy development, plan development, collaborative development of project and program scope and alternatives analysis typically bringing stakeholders together to develop a shared understanding of core issues and common interests.
Mark Friesen
Guest Expert
Mark Friesen came to Vantage Point after 14 years working and volunteering in the non-profit sector. Before returning to school to pursue a Masters’ of Urban Studies, he served as an association founder, executive director, and has led fundraising, strategic planning and program development efforts in the sport sector. Mark is most excited about the possibilities for citizen engagement through the voluntary sector, researching ways to include diverse interests and perspectives in decision-making. An experienced facilitator and dialogue convener, Mark recently coordinated 100 conversations on the BC economy with SFU Public Square.
Pamela Oliva
Guest Expert
TBD
Lab Benefits
- Identify transition stages that may be causing pressure and how to move through them.
- Outline realistic steps your organization can take to build capacity in governance, management, financial resources and/or administrative systems.
- Understand how your current challenges and opportunities are part of a normal progression.
- Complete a comprehensive self-assessment to identify your organization’s current lifecycle stage and identify next steps to build capacity.
Lab Topics
Topics covered in the 7 half-day learning sessions.