Technical Assistance for Nonprofits: Types, Providers and How to Use It

A funder offers technical assistance, or a board member suggests you get some. The phrase sounds like computer help, which is what the author of Nonprofit Nav’s explainer first pictured. In practice, technical assistance for nonprofits covers almost any specialist skill an organization lacks. The work is picking the right kind and scoping it so something stays behind.

What Types of Technical Assistance Are There?

Candid defines technical assistance as any specialized service or skill a nonprofit does not have in-house but needs to operate more effectively. Its examples are grant writing and other fundraising, strategic planning, marketing and communications, computer technology, and legal and accounting services. Nonprofit Nav adds governance, board development and program evaluation.

• Fundraising and grant writing. A fundraising plan, committee training or a capital campaign plan.
• Strategic planning. Direction and priorities, set with an outside facilitator.
• Governance and board development. Board training, a retreat or an onboarding process. Our guides to developing the board and to governance practices cover what a board can do on its own first.
• Legal and accounting. Compliance questions, a dispute or setting up the books.
• Marketing and communications.
• Technology and data. From the donor database to file sharing.
• Program evaluation.

Funders often file all of this under capacity building, the wider work of strengthening an organization.

Who Provides Technical Assistance?

Technical assistance comes from independent consultants and firms, funders’ own support programs, state associations of nonprofits, pro bono platforms and university programs. Candid notes that providers vary greatly in cost, complexity and oversight, and that some offer free or low-cost services. Start with the funder that raised the subject.

• Funders’ own programs. Greater Hartford Gives gives eligible nonprofits in its region with revenue under $300,000 up to 3 hours with a technology consultant, plus technology grants of up to $10,000.
• Your state association of nonprofits. Candid suggests it for consulting, referrals and lists of local consultants.
• Pro bono platforms. The Taproot Foundation matches nonprofits with skilled volunteers and says it has served more than 35,000 nonprofits.
• Consultants and firms. Check references and ask for a written scope.
• Colleges and universities. Professors sometimes match students with local nonprofits.

Is Coaching Technical Assistance?

The sources that define the two keep them apart. Candid treats technical assistance providers and consultants as basically the same, and the Coaching and Philanthropy Project calls coaching a distinct discipline differentiated from consulting. A consultant brings technical expertise and owns a deliverable. A coach supports the leader’s own solutions.

Adapted from the Coaching and Philanthropy Project’s 2010 comparison. The last row is ours.

The Trust-Based Philanthropy Project’s 2023 guide to support beyond the check lists coaching, mentorship or professional development as its own item, apart from help with gaps in grantees’ technology resources.

In our experience, board members most often confuse coaching with consulting and expect a report at the end. Six coaching sessions shift two or three of the executive director’s patterns instead, such as delegation or board communication. They do not fix a tight budget or a missing system. For a missing system or skill, bring in technical assistance.

CNPC provides coaching only, no technical assistance or consulting. For more, see coaching vs training vs consulting, whether you need a coach or consultant, and our guide to leadership development for nonprofit staff.

How Do You Ask for Technical Assistance?

Ask with a written scope your program officer can approve: the problem, the staff member who will own the result, the deliverable you will hold at the end, and the end date with an hour or dollar budget. Then ask whether the funder supports it through a grant, its own program or a referral.

We call this The Four-Line Scope.

1. Problem. One sentence with the evidence. For a governance gap, a board self-assessment makes the case.
2. Owner. The staff member who runs the result after the provider leaves. Without one, the work fades.
3. Deliverable. A plan, a working system or trained staff.
4. End date and budget. Weeks and hours, or a dollar figure.

Rules differ, so ask before you write. The New York Community Trust’s Long Island program generally does not support technical assistance projects that benefit a single organization.

Coaching has a scope too: six sessions, as laid out in how coaching engagements work.

A quick win for this week: write the Four-Line Scope for your biggest gap and send it to your program officer.

Technical assistance brings in a skill your organization lacks. Coaching works with the leader who has to put it to use.

If the gap is the executive director’s own leadership, start with the professional development line, in our experience the most accessible source. Capacity-building grants come next, and our guide to funding leadership development covers grant language. CNPC’s volunteer coaches donate their time, which is why six sessions of coaching for the executive director cost $300, $400 or $600 depending on operating budget, 85%+ below market rate. We serve leaders of 501(c)(3) nonprofits, government agencies, and analogous non-U.S. entities. When you are ready, start an application.

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