Organizational Capacity in Digital Civil Society: Worksheet

Use this worksheet as part of team meetings, strategic planning processes, or organizational capacity assessments. It’s designed to prompt discussions about how you do your work and how prepared you are for the shifts discussed in Philanthropy and the Social Economy: Blueprint 2016. Think about the questions independently, and then also with your team.

You can also download this in a worksheet format by clicking "Download PDF" on the righthand side of the screen. 

Automation

1. How is automation changing the domain in which you work (e.g., arts, community development, criminal justice, education, environmental preservation)?

2. How is it changing the nature of your profession?

3. What digital skills does everyone in your organization need now? Three years from now?

4. What other employment options exist to do the kind of work you do? How does your workplace compare to these other options?

5. How are you going to adapt to your answers to the questions above?

Information and digital assets

6. If every piece of information you needed to do your job was open, accessible, free, and findable, how might the nature of your mission change and what new approach to pursuing it can you imagine?

7. If every piece of information you needed to do your job was open, accessible, free, and findable, how would the lives of your constituents change?

8. If every piece of information you needed to do your job was no longer available except for a price, how would your organization need to change?

9. How dependent are you on digital data and infrastructure? Could you do what you do without any use of the Internet, electronic communications, digital storage, or mobile phones?

10. How well do you (or your organization) understand and manage digital resources?

11. How well distributed is digital knowledge in your organization? Are you reliant on one person to “know how it works?”

12. How are you going to improve your ability to use digital resources ethically, safely, and effectively?

Social economy

13. What other social economy enterprises do what you do? If you are a nonprofit, are there co-ops, social businesses, and commercial firms doing what you do in your area? If you work at a foundation, are there investors or political campaigns shaping your issues?

14. What advantages do you have compared to those other enterprises? What disadvantages?

15. How do current regulations or social norms account for those advantages? How might that change?

Ask Yourself, Then Share
If you use this worksheet or are otherwise considering these questions in your organization, consider sharing your thoughts as a way to both solicit feedback and inspire others to do the same. Post thoughts to your website or social media, put it on the agenda at your next peer funder group meeting, or connect with
GrantCraft at [email protected] to share on one of Foundation Center’s platforms.