Capacity Building Program

*These criteria do not need to be met for an entity and/or request to be deemed eligible for the CSSGP, but organizations who meet these criteria will be given additional consideration.

$1,000-$10,000, although we encourage requests towards the lower end of that range.

First, fill out our interest and eligibility survey: https://waterfoundation.givingdata.com/portal/campaign/capacity. This will help you self-identify whether or not you are eligible, and will provide us with critical information on the demand we have for this kind of opportunity. That information will help us adapt this program over time. 

If you’re still unsure of your eligibility status, please contact the lead staffer, Lauryn Magno at lmagno@waterfdn.org and, if you are a current grantee of the Water Foundation, carbon copy (CC) your program officer.

For this first pilot, the Water Foundation has three open submission rounds:

• Round 3: February 24 2025 – March 14 ***
• Round 2: September 9-27, 2024 [PAST]
• Round 1: launch of the program-June 28, 2024 [PAST]

*** Note that the dates for round 3 have been pushed back by a few weeks from what was originally scheduled to open on February 24.

Requests for each round should support activities that start or occur between when the round of funding starts to the close of the subsequent round. This means that activities supported by funds from round 3 should start or occur between March 14, 2025 through August 31, 2025 (subject to change based on funder interests). If your activity start date falls slightly outside of these general periods or in between them, that is okay. We use these timeframes to ensure that we address more immediate capacity needs. Contact lmagno@waterfdn.org if you are unsure of when would be best for you to apply.

As each new funding window approaches, Water Foundation staff will notify all past and present grantees via email about the opportunity and the organizational and request eligibility requirements.

First, ensure that you’ve filled out our interest and eligibility survey: https://waterfoundation.givingdata.com/portal/campaign/capacity. 

After checking the eligibility criteria and whether you meet the minimum requirements, contact lmagno@waterfdn.org and CC your program officer, if applicable, with the below information:

• A brief, written overview of what the funds would be used for and why, and how the proposed use of funds will support your organizational capacity and any related water work, as applicable. The format in which this information is provided can vary and can be informal (i.e., bullet points, short sentences, paragraphs). 
• An organizational budget that shows near-term planned revenue and expenses.
• (Optional) A simple informal project budget, if the funds are being split for several activities.

Please note that no format is required beyond needing them in a written format. A PDF, word document, or even bullet points in an email will suffice. If your request is approved, we will invite you to submit the same materials to our grants management system, GivingData, at a later date.

Eligible activities under the CSSGP include those that generally fall under categories of indirect expenses or back-office support. The request must respond to a discrete need that the organization might not be able to fund through core programmatic grants.  A range of capacity and organizational strengthening activities are eligible for funding, including but not limited to: 

1. 1. organizational trainings for financial management, communications and storytelling, or strategic planning, for example; 
   2. individual trainings and/or professional development for early- to mid-career staff (including fellowships);
   3. organizational infrastructure both for physical space upgrades or technology upgrades (i.e. upgrading antiquated computer equipment or certain website infrastructure,  purchasing new database, CRM subscriptions, legislative trackers subscriptions); 
   4. event attendance costs, especially for conferences.

*** Most major recurring expenses such as staff salaries, rent, or insurance are not eligible for funding under the CSSGP. However, some small, first-time recurring expenses are eligible for support, such as to purchase a new CRM or database subscription that an organization wants to test out. ***

If you have an idea, but you’re unsure of whether or not it meets the eligibility criteria, contact lmagno@waterfdn.org. We encourage you to think beyond the examples we’ve listed above.

Over the last two rounds, we have seen past and present Water Foundation grantees apply for a wide range of eligible and specific activities that support their organizational capacity. Below is a list of some of the activities we have seen. These activities *** can include opportunities to: 

• Participate in mid-career fellowships 
• Support temporary positions like interns or fellows engaging in discrete and relevant water work
• Host or participate in internal staff trainings on topics including:
  • Indigenous relationship building
  • Facilitation 
  • DEIJ 
  • Leadership and management
  • Executive coaching 
  • Communications 
  • Graphic design 
• Attend or participate at relevant water-related or water-adjacent conferences (i.e. storytelling conferences, water user association meetings)
• Hire consultants (or support a portion of consultant fees) on topics including on fundraising and development and strategic planning 
• Enhance outdated website infrastructure (i.e. hire a graphic designer to redesign a website, invest in search engine optimization)
• Upgrade antiquated computer and office equipment including poorly functioning laptops and old desks and chairs 
• Purchase new subscriptions including: 
  • Software subscriptions to the likes of CRMs or Adobe products 
  • Legislative trackers 
• Support one-time costs for hiring, recruiting, etc.. 

*** Note: while all of these activities have been deemed eligible previously, they do not guarantee a CSSGP grant.

The purpose of the CSSGP is to provide flexible and adaptable opportunities for our grantees to strengthen their organizational capacity. As such, grants from the capacity strengthening fund have no reporting requirements. However, we would still love to hear how these funds are being spent! 

If you feel inclined to share your experiences, we welcome any format such as an informal check in call, video recording, email recap, or a written reflection which can be emailed to lmagno@waterfdn.org. You are also welcome to include a short 2-3 sentences about your experience using the capacity building funds in your final report for a pre-existing programmatic grant(s).

Water Foundation grantees are eligible for grants from this pot of funds more than once. However, the Water Foundation aims to have a broad impact and serve as many interested grantees as possible. Thus, our staff may deny new requests from organizations that have previously received grants from the capacity strengthening project.

For ease in the review process, we will not roll over applications previously submitted by a CSSGP applicant. If a grantee would like to reapply, they must resubmit their materials using the same method described above.

You need to have a proposal for an activity before we can confirm funding. You are welcome to submit in any open round. 

The Water Foundation will work to share opportunities with grantees. We also host a google group available for grantees to opt into, which serves as a peer-to-peer sharing platform where grantees can share opportunities directly with one another. To join the google group, indicate your interest in the eligibility survey or email lmagno@waterfdn.org with the email addresses you’d like to include for verification purposes.

Grantees based in Texas are eligible as Texas is considered a Western State, and grantee partners who are recipients of Texas Wellspring dollars are additionally NOT required to meet the freshwater conservation criterion listed in the materials. For example, if your organization is based in Texas, has received support through the Texas Wellspring Fund, and works on a non-conservation issue such as urban stormwater capture, you are still eligible for the CSSGP. These differences in eligibility are due to funder interests. 

If you have questions about your eligibility, reach out directly to lmagno@waterfdn.org and clieberknecht@waterfdn.org.

Contingent on resource availability, the project funds will be available through October 2025.

In 2023, the Water Foundation received funding to pilot a 12-month capacity building opportunity with the online platform Resilia. Resilia offers a suite of services, including personalized coaching, and online trainings and resource toolkits. At the start of the program, Resilia hosted a series of informational webinars and the opportunity to opt into the program was available to eligible grantees. As the program closed out in early January 2024, Resilia surveyed participating partners and we used the lessons learned to inform this new program.