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project type Capacity-Building
client type Advocacy Organization

How the National Council on Aging Uses a Custom Assessment to Help Develop Business Capabilities of Organizations Across the US

It’s increasingly important for community-based organizations to exhibit strong business acumen capabilities (knowledge, skills, and competencies) that drive organizational sustainability alongside programmatic performance. But it’s not always clear where individual organizations are strong, where they have opportunities for improvement, and what assistance they need to increase their chances of success.

Such insights are valuable to entities committed to the performance of community-based organizations, such as foundations, advocacy groups, and trade associations. So when the National Council on Aging (NCOA) wanted to understand how they could help organizations funded by the US Administration for Community Living (ACL) improve business acumen through their resource centers, they turned to Collaborative Consulting for help.

The Client

The National Council on Aging (NCOA) was founded in 1950 as the first advocacy organization in the United States dedicated to representing the needs of older Americans to service providers and policymakers. Today, NCOA brings together various organizations, businesses, and government agencies to improve the lives of older adults. NCOA’s work is funded in part by the US Administration for Community Living (ACL) to provide technical assistance and support to community-based organizations across the country that have received ACL grant funds to deliver certain evidence-based wellness programs.

Project Highlights
  • Developed a custom Business Acumen & Network Development Needs Assessment to evaluate organizations’ capacities and capabilities needed for growth and impact.
  • Conducted the assessment four times over three years.
  • Designed and delivered capacity-building recommendations to address grantee self-reported gaps.
  • Facilitated a three-part technical assistance webinar series to enhance grantees’ knowledge and skills relating to building market intelligence.
Project Goals

NCOA engaged Collaborative Consulting for our experience in developing and deploying comprehensive organizational assessment tools for health and social sector organizations, and for curating capacity building and technical assistance programs and initiatives.

The project focused on:

  • Understanding grantees’ capabilities relating to business acumen, healthcare partnerships, and network development.
  • Capturing and analyzing organizations’ self-reported data to inform design of capacity building and technical assistance programs to support grantees’ growth and development.
  • Inspiring grantees to better understand business acumen capabilities, maximize strengths, and address weaknesses.
How We Helped

Collaborative Consulting designed a custom Business Acumen & Network Development Needs Assessment to evaluate the critical capabilities driving CBO growth and impact. This comprehensive assessment, deployed across multiple grantee cohorts, provided invaluable insights into seven key domains:

  • Leadership
  • Strategy
  • Administration
  • Market Intelligence
  • Program Management
  • Partnership Development
  • Finance

By analyzing the assessment data, we identified a common challenge: CBOs often lagged in financial acumen and market intelligence. Armed with this knowledge, we took action:

  • Targeted Capacity-Building: We recommended specific initiatives to address these critical gaps.
  • Technical Assistance Series: We designed and delivered a three-part webinar series focused on helping organizations advance their market intelligence.
  • Tactical and Technical Tools: We developed three tools that CBOs can use to improve their market intelligence:
    • Community Health Needs Assessment Guide
    • Program-Market Fit Assessment Tool
    • Strategic Conversation Canvas
Key Outcomes

Our collaboration with NCOA has yielded significant outcomes:

  • Enhanced Business Acumen: CBOs gained a clearer understanding of their strengths and weaknesses, enabling them to focus on areas for improvement.
  • Data-Driven Decision Making: NCOA gained valuable insights into the evolving needs of their grantees, allowing them to design and deliver tailored capacity-building programs into the future.
  • Sustainable Impact: By strengthening the business acumen of CBOs, we’re helping to ensure they can continue delivering vital services to older adults.

This project highlights our deep expertise in developing and deploying effective organizational assessment tools for the health and social sectors. We’re passionate about helping organizations like NCOA drive positive change and achieve their missions.

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