The National Resource Center

The CCF National Resource Center provides program management and administrative support to the Compassion Capital Fund (CCF) program office. The National Resource Center (NRC) helps ensure that organizations that are awarded grants under the CCF Program are able to fully meet the objectives and goals of their award and appropriately manage their grant.

The NRC performs the following functions:

• Serves as a repository and distribution center for information, tools, and resources needed by CCF intermediary and mini-grantees, sub-awardees and other faith-based and community organizations to improve their organizational capacity, knowledge, and skills and assist with their programmatic and grant management.
• Provides training and technical assistance to CCF-funded intermediary organizations and mini-grantees.
• Supports oversight and tracks major activities performed under the CCF program by intermediaries and mini-grantees.

Since it was established in 2002, the CCF National Resource Center has been operated through a contract with Dare Mighty Things, Inc. of Arlington, Virginia.

The Four Components of the National Resource Center:

• Information Clearinghouse
The National Resource Center provides easy access to capacity-building resources through websites,
e-newsletters, and a toll-free information line.

The NRC also publishes The Grassroots, a quarterly e-newsletter with a circulation of over 4,000. Each newsletter features information about the Compassion Capital Fund, links to funding opportunities of interest to faith-based and community organizations, and articles of interest to nonprofit leaders. Sign up for The Grassroots newsletter here.

• Useful Tools
The National Resource Center develops resources in print and electronic format to support organizational capacity building and CCF grants management.

An example of these tools includes:

The Intermediary Development Series Guidebooks, a set of eight books available online that cover topics such as Revenue Sources, Grant Acquisition, Grants Management, Best Practices, Establishing Partnerships, and Outcome Measurement.

• Customized Technical Assistance
Through one-on-one onsite visits, offsite support, and teleconferences, the National Resource Center supports capacity-building in CCF grantees by helping to identify and meet their unique needs.

• Specialized Workshops
The National Resource Center creates learning opportunities for CCF intermediaries to learn from each other and from expert presenters. The workshops convene leaders of CCF-funded intermediary organizations from around the country, expose participants to new ideas, teach leadership and management skills, facilitate networking opportunities, and address important policy matters related to CCF.