Programs & Services

Nonprofit Capacity Building Program

The Community Foundation of Southeastern Massachusetts offers Nonprofit Capacity Building Programs designed to build the skills of non-profit staff and their board members. This program offers workshops on grant writing and management issues at varying locations across the region. All workshops are available to non-profit representatives from the 41 towns and cities we serve at little or no charge.

Management Workshops

To serve the management training needs of Southeastern Massachusetts nonprofits, we offer half-day training sessions throughout the year. Each session, taught by an expert in the field, will concentrate on one area of nonprofit activity, will include exercises or participatory learning, and will provide materials for subsequent use. Topics from past programs include: "Getting your Message Out: Public and Media Relations for Nonprofits," "Nonprofit Law and Fundraising Issues," and "Strengthening Your Annual Fund."

Please note that space is limited for workshops. Registration is on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Recent workshops included "Roles and Responsibilities for Nonprofit Board Members," sponsored by CFSEMA with the Community Development Clinic at the Southern New England School of Law.

Also, a workshop on the new Massachusetts Health Care Reform legislation and how it impacts nonprofits was sponsored by CFSEMA and HUB International Feitelberg at 8:30 a.m. on April 11. The workshop was held at White's of Westport.

Other workshops available throughout the year include:

Grantwriting Workshops

Led by CFSEMA staff, thegrant writingworkshops train board members, volunteers, and staff in how to identify the most promising funding sources through careful research and to submit an appropriate proposal to private and corporate funders. These workshops are an overview for those who are interested in beginning or expanding their private and corporate grants research. For more information about our current workshops, please call CFSEMA at (508) 996-8253.

New Bedford ACTS

(A Community Together Succeeds) formed in November 2004, is an all-volunteer group of New Bedford area residents, educators and businesspeople working to creatively and urgently identify short-term and long-term solutions to violence in New Bedford through a Community Dialogues process. As its fiscal agent, the Community Foundation of Southeastern Massachusetts has worked as a leader and convener for New Bedford Acts, bringing various communtiy groups to the table. CFSEMA also provides vital administrative support.

To learn more about New Bedford ACTS, visit their website

S.E.E.A.L.

The Southeastern Environmental Education Alliance (SEEAL) formed under the auspices of the Community Foundation of Southeastern Massachusetts in 1997 with the initial goal to provide educational experiences to young people of New Bedford , Massachusetts . The natural extension of this original goal has led to a regional development of SEEAL’s environmental education and stewardship activities to encompass the watersheds of Buzzards Bay and parts of the Taunton River watershed in Southeastern Massachusetts. SEEAL is a group of approximately 28 nonprofit organizations, service organizations, public agencies, public schools and others committed to a collaborative effort for environmental education administered through the Community Foundation. The only requirement for membership in SEEAL is a commitment to the stated mission. The mission of SEEAL is to encourage environmental awareness and stewardship in Southeastern Massachusetts.

For more information, or contact Jennfier Marshall (jmarshall@seeal.org), SEEAL coordinator.

The Women's Fund

Established in 2001, the mission of the Women’s Fund is to support programs that develop, promote and protect the mind, body, spirit and choices of women and girls.

The Women's Fund focuses on the following areas:

Change happens when people work for innovative solutions to common problems. The Women's Fund is a unique opportunity for you to impact positively the lives of women and girls in our region. For more information, please visit the Women's Fund website.

Resource Library

The Community Foundation also houses a Resource Library for area nonprofit organizations to find new resources and strengthen their organizations. If your nonprofit is located in one of the 41 towns and cities we serve, we invite you to make an appointment to learn more about this extensive information on funding sources and nonprofit management.

For nonprofits seeking funding, the research collection includes local and national directories of grant makers and the Foundation Center ’s current database on CD-ROM, FC SEARCH 11.0, featuring information on more than 80,000 grantmakers.

The library collection includes books, periodicals, and reference materials. Topics covered by publications include funding directories, proposal writing, board development, nonprofit management, corporate and foundation fundraising, and foundation management. Periodicals such as The Chronicle of Philanthropy, Contributions Magazine and the Nonprofit Times.

The library also contains one computer workstation with internet access and printer.

The library is open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday-Thursday, by appointment. If your organization is interested in using the library, please call to make an appointment at (508) 996-8253

A quick Internet reference guide for non-profit organizations

Advances in information technology tools are changing the way individuals access information and the way organizations operate, collaborate, and partner to accomplish mutual goals. The Community Foundation of Southeastern Massachusetts has developed a compendium of Internet sites to provide information technology tools to increase strategically the capacity of non-profit services. The Internet sites listed on our links page, although not comprehensive, offer a suite of information and services. We hope you find them beneficial.