The Community Leadership Project (CLP) is a collaborative effort between the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the James Irvine Foundation, and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation to build the capacity of small, community-based organizations (community grantees) serving low- income people and communities of color in the San Francisco Bay Area, the Central Coast, and the San Joaquin Valley regions of California.
During its second phase, CLP 2.0 is specifically investing in increasing the sustainability of nearly 60 community-based organizations by focusing on common outcomes in three areas: resilient leadership, adaptive capacity, and financial stability. CLP 2.0 is characterized by integrated and intensive support for community grantees in the form of multi-year general operating support, self- directed capacity building, coaching and mentoring, and a structured menu of leadership development and technical assistance options. These supports and opportunities are provided through partnerships with five regranting intermediaries and five technical assistance (TA)/leadership intermediaries.
Social Policy Research Associates (SPR) has been serving as the evaluator for CLP 2.0. Our overall goals for the evaluation are to: (1) inform improvements in CLP 2.0 implementation; (2) share lessons with the philanthropic field on effective capacity-building strategies for small organizations working in low-income communities and communities of color; and (3) assess the impact of CLP 2.0 on community grantees. This mid-point evaluation report is intended to summarize capacity- building progress taking place across the CLP 2.0 community grantee cohort, as well as to reflect on CLP 2.0 implementation thus far.