Capacity-Building Grants: Learn to Be a Self-Sustaining Nonprofit, Part 1

That's why Sacramento, Calif.-based Sutter Medical Center developed what it calls a capacity-building grant specifically geared toward promising nonprofits in its region that need to learn how to become self-sustaining for the long haul.

"There were people in the community that we wanted to collaborate with because they were either doing a good job or had the potential to do an excellent job but were lacking in some particular area — maybe they didn't have a strong board, maybe they didn't know how to market themselves, could have a been a number of different things," Gagen says. "… We wanted to make sure that we were investing our funds most appropriately. It wasn't just to give money. It was to help the community and help these organizations become self-sustaining."