Western New York Foundation’s iCAP Core Program

The Western New York Foundation offers the Impact Capacity Assessment Program Core, known as iCAP Core, a specialized program aimed at emerging and smaller nonprofit organizations. The Foundation, through this initiative, seeks to strengthen the performance, effectiveness, and impact of nonprofits by enhancing their internal and external capacity. The Western New York Foundation is committed to supporting the nonprofit sector and believes that capacity building is a key component of organizational success. According to Grantmakers for Effective Organizations, nonprofit effectiveness is defined as the ability of an organization or network to fulfill its mission through sound management, strong governance, and a commitment to achieving results. The iCAP Core program focuses on building a strong relationship between the Executive Director and the Board Chair, fostering an appreciation of this relationship’s importance through best practices. The program also includes intensive board education and development, enhancing board members' understanding of their roles, responsibilities, and the need to secure necessary resources for mission accomplishment. Throughout the program, the Executive Director, Board Chair, and board members collaborate to develop a capacity-building plan that guides future investment by the Foundation and other financial sources. Structured as a six-month intensive coaching program, iCAP Core addresses the complexities of capacity-related challenges and opportunities faced by nonprofits. Key elements of the program include a leadership focus that offers one-on-one consultation and coaching for the Executive Director and Board Chair to enhance leadership skills, strategic thinking, and organizational vision. It also includes board training to equip members with knowledge and tools for effective governance and resource mobilization. Comprehensive organizational development is another focus area, covering leadership structure, board governance, financial management, fundraising strategies, communications and marketing, program implementation and evaluation, and building information technology systems. Participants are required to develop a one- to two-year organizational capacity-building plan with clearly defined goals and progress measurements. This plan will inform future foundation investment decisions related to the organization's capacity development. To support participation, the program offers a $10,000 stipend to offset administrative expenses during iCAP, made possible by funding from the Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Foundation. Eligible applicants must be nonprofit organizations with tax-exempt status under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Service Code or be fiscally sponsored organizations. Organizations must be food system organizations dedicating at least 90 percent of their work to food systems efforts, arts and culture organizations, or rural organizations. Additionally, organizations must have been in operation for at least two years and report a minimum of $50,000 in annual revenue. Each applying organization must be led by an Executive Director or Director. Applications can be submitted in two ways: by submitting a Letter of Intent through the online grant portal or by scheduling a meeting with the Foundation’s Program Officer to submit a verbal Letter of Intent. Meetings must be scheduled by July 7, 2025. The timeline for the May grant cycle is as follows: the Letter of Intent opens on May 27, 2025, with a submission deadline of July 21, 2025. Notifications regarding the Letter of Intent decisions will be issued by August 4, 2025. The full application deadline is August 25, 2025, with site visits scheduled for October 2025. Final proposal decisions will be made in November 2025. The November grant cycle follows a similar pattern with the Letter of Intent opening in December 2025, a January 2026 deadline, and final decisions issued in May 2026.