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	Strategic Planning Framework		Strategic Capacity Diagnostic (SCD)
	Operational Capacity Diagnostic (OCD)		Program Logic and Performance Assessment (PLPA) Framework
	Social Return on Investment (SROI) Tool		Strategic Funding Framework
	Financial Management Tools

Capacity Diagnostics
The capacity diagnostics enable non-profit organisations to identify areas where they need to develop their strategy and their capacity to deliver on their strategy.

There are two capacity diagnostic tools:

1. Strategic Capacity Diagnostic (SCD) – Helps an organisation to assess where it needs to develop its strategy and pinpoints strengths and obstacles to performance and growth.
   
   
2. Operational Capacity Diagnostic (OCD) – Enables a diagnosis of an organisation’s operational strengths and challenges. 

 Taken together the Diagnostics:

• Deliver a clear picture of organisational strengths and weaknesses
• Provide a best-practice benchmark for strategic planning and operations
• Help an organisation to generate a capacity building plan
• Reduce the risk of organisations over or under-estimating their capacity to deliver on their goals
• Provide a tool for quickly and easily communicating the key strengths and areas for improvement within the organisation
   

Testimonial

“I love the simplicity of the capacity diagnostics. They have provided me with the ability to clearly identify our organisation’s strengths. It’s very clear to me how much value they provide when they are applied to the whole enterprise.”

Amanda Emuin, Food Connect

Strategic Capacity Diagnostic (SCD)

The Strategic Capacity Diagnostic (SCD) helps you to assess your organisation for performance and growth.  
The goal of using the tool is to capture a snapshot in time of the current situation for your organisation and to be able to build organisational capacity over time.

The key benefits include:

• Identifies weak spots and strengths in organisational strategy
• Helps the organisation to develop a robust strategic planning proces
• Provides a best-practice benchmark for key dimensions of strategy
• Facilitates the process of evolving organisational strategy and the strategy development process

The Strategic Capacity Diagnostic takes into account five dimensions:

1. Mission
2. Understanding of context
3. Assessment of program and capabilities
4. Goals and strategic alignment
5. Strategy development

The tool asks you to rank your organisation across the five dimensions. For example, in order to establish the relative strength of your organisation in regards to its Mission, you would rank yourself on:

I.    Existence of Mission
II.   Clarity of Mission
III.  Uniqueness of Mission
IV.  Understanding of Mission

Each of the five dimensions is broken down into a number of criteria and you are asked to give your organisation a score of 1, 2 or 3 where:

1  =  A clear need for increased capacity
2  =  A moderate level of capacity in place
3  =  A high level of capacity in place


 More Information 

For additional details on the Strategic Capacity Diagnostic, download and read this more comprehensive description.  

Taste Test

Since a tool is best understood when it is actively applied, we have included here a section of the Strategic Capacity Diagnostic (OCD). It provides you with an opportunity to review your organisation’s Mission and Understanding of Context against a number of key criteria.  The criteria for ranking your organisation have been condensed to allow for ease of use.




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Operational Capacity Diagnostic (OCD)

• Generates a list of clearly described operational weak spots and strengths
• Helps the organisation to rank capacity challenges according to priority and extent
• Provides a best-practice benchmark for the most important aspects of organisational operations
• Facilitates the development of a plan for growing operational capacity
  

1. Programs and activities
2. Leadership
3. Team
4. Board
5. Networks and Marketing
6. Funding and Business Model
7. Performance Management
8. Systems and Infrastructure

The OCD tool asks you to rank your organisation across eight dimensions. For example, in order to establish the relative strength of your organisation in regards to its Board, you rank yourself on:

I.    Board composition and commitment
II.    Board involvement and support
III.    Governance

Each of the eight dimensions is broken down a number of criteria and you are asked to give your organisation a score between 1 and 3, where:

1  =  A clear need for increased capacity
2  =  A moderate level of capacity in place
3  =  A high level of capacity in place

The goal is to build capacity so you achieve a score of three for each dimension. As the organisation moves, grows and responds to internal and external pressures and opportunities, these scores will inevitably change. Knowing that your capacity has increased or decreased makes it easier for you to manage these fluctuations.  


 More Information

For additional details on the Operational Capacity Diagnostic, download and read this more comprehensive description. 
 

Taste Test

Since a tool is best understood when it is actively applied, we have included here a section of the Operational Capacity Diagnostic (OCD). It provides you with an opportunity to review your organisation’s Programs and Activities, and Funding and Business Model against a number of key criteria.  The criteria for ranking your organisation have been condensed to allow for ease of use.

 

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To find out more about SVA Organisational Tools contact Lisa Hagan on (02) 8004 6722.

 Click here to learn more about SVA Workshops or SVA Consulting

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SVA's online organisational tools are proudly supported by the Macquarie Group Foundation.