Capacity Building Activities for Youth Innovations and Family Innovations Grants

Within grants offered by the Youth Opportunities Fund (YOF), the capacity building budget line is a unique and valuable tool for grassroots groups looking to learn and grow.

Often, grassroots leaders can get so caught up in the delivery of the day-to-day work that it can get in the way of supporting your own educational development and growth. At YOF, we see capacity building as an ongoing process that is essential for your group to grow, adapt, and succeed in achieving your mission.

This page explains the purpose of the capacity building budget line and outlines the eligible and non eligible expenses.

What is Capacity Building?

Capacity building refers to the process of strengthening the abilities of your core group members to effectively achieve your goals. This can include developing new skills, improving existing ones, strengthening your systems and processes, and increasing your knowledge and awareness.

The capacity building budget line is a specific line item in your budget that is dedicated to funding activities that build the capacity of your team members and the team as a whole.

All Youth Innovations and Family Innovations grantees are required to allocate $2,000-$4,000 towards capacity building.

The capacity building budget line covers costs related to:

Participation in capacity building opportunities that meet the specific needs and priorities of your group and align with YOF’s mandate. These opportunities may be broader in scope than your grant.
Participation in any YOF gatherings or summits, virtual or in-person. The funds are intended to cover lost wages, childcare and local transportation to YOF gatherings.

Program Managers are always available to support grassroots groups. They can answer your questions and support you with your capacity building expenses. Please reach out to your Program Manager if you:

Need more funding than you currently have available in your capacity building budget line.
Have not used or do not plan on using all your capacity building funds by the end of your grant.
Have questions about how to track your capacity building spending for your annual report.

Eligible Topics and Activities

Capacity building activities may fall under skill-building, awareness and learning activities, and/or under one or more of the following areas:

Administration: financial management, project management, risk management and strengthening your human resources practices.
Core group development and growth: core group wellness and effectiveness, dynamics, and conflict management.
Sustainability planning: fundraising and resource diversification.
Leadership development: networking to build your leadership capacity, management coaching and communication.
Program Model Learning and Refinement: program evaluation and effective program design.
Organizational development and growth: strategic planning, sustainability planning, governance models and fundraising.
Communications: effective communication, social media, and branding.
Other project specific learning opportunities that are related to your initiative type, approach, or sector.

Eligible Expenses

Below you will find a list of eligible expenses you can use your capacity- building funds for. This list is not exhaustive but covers the most common expenses. If your capacity-building expense falls outside of this list, please reach out to your Program Manager for clarity:

Hiring a consultant, community expert, and/or Elder to support learning in a specific topic area.
- Note that this expense cannot be used to compensate an existing core team member and/or board member.
- Please note that your CB dollars can only be spent in Ontario and on Ontario- based consultants/service providers. In exceptional circumstances, where you can provide evidence that suitable, Ontario based expertise is not available, you may request approval from your PM to hire an out of Ontario expert.
Learning conferences, training or event registration fees, travel, and accommodations.
- All capacity-building events or conferences must take place within Ontario.
Core group team gathering expenses (this may include local travel, accommodations, meeting space and hiring facilitators).
Educational/tuition expenses for studies related to your role in the core group.
Purchasing software that will enhance your groups efficiency, reporting or organization (accounting platform, tracking tools).
Online learning platform subscriptions.
Online courses.
- Online Courses offered outside of Ontario are eligible if there is nothing similarly available within Ontario.

Capacity-building activities must take place in Ontario and be delivered by people living in Ontario. If you have any questions about unique activities outside of Ontario, please reach out to your Program Manager.

**Examples**
Example	Why it is eligible
A group uses their funds to provide standard first aid, CPR, and AED training to its group members.	Eligible expense: Conferences, training, or event registration feeds. A clear capacity-building focus: Project-specific training to respond to crisis.
A core group member, responsible for project coordination in their work, wants to enhance their Project Management skills. The group uses their capacity-building funds to have them take part in training to obtain a certificate called the Certified Associate in Project Management.	Eligible expense: Educational/tuition expenses for studies related to your role in the core group A clear capacity-building topic of focus: Administration skills.
A group in the last year of their scale grant is interested in defining and understanding their vision for the future of their organization. They use their capacity-building dollars to hire a strategic planning expert to lead 3 sessions with them and produce a strategic plan.	Eligible expense: Hiring a community expert to support the group in building knowledge. A clear capacity-building topic of focus: Organizational Development and Growth.
A youth-led group that delivers land-based work uses their capacity-building dollars to work with an elder to discuss how to strengthen their community engagement and practices when working with youth.	Eligible expense: Engaging with an elder to build a skill relevant to the project and core group. A clear capacity-building topic of focus: project specific learning on strengthening community engagement practices.
A core group that lives in different parts of the province and delivers province-wide work, uses their capacity-building dollars to gather as a team for 3-days, with the purpose of fostering deeper connections, trust and relationships with one another. They find reasonably priced accommodations and build out an agenda that aligns with the number of days they will be at the gathering.	Eligible expense: A clear and defined purpose of gathering as a team, that is focused on strengthening their core group. A recognition that the group is resourced through public funds and a commitment to finding accommodations at a reasonable price. An agenda articulates the activities of the retreat, which provides documentation for future reporting or a possible audit.
A group wants to use capacity-building dollars to pay for incorporation fees to become a not- for-profit organization?	Eligible expense: grantees can utilize CB dollars to cover incorporation fees

Ineligible Expenses

Hiring staff members to perform a specific role related to the delivery of your project.
Paying honoraria to volunteers.
Organizational infrastructure or equipment, such as computers, chairs, desks, etc.
Wellness activities used for an individual member such as gym memberships, therapy, etc.
Any in-person activities taking place outside of Ontario.
Activities that don’t strengthen your core group or relate to building skills to enhance your project delivery.

Important notes

It is important for groups to be mindful that they are using public funds and have a responsibility to use YOF grant dollars in a responsible and accountable manner. This includes being mindful of the value of the capacity-building services in relationship to the cost and ensuring that they are paying a price for these activities.

In the case of an Audit, groups will be required to offer a rationale and clear explanation for the selection of their activity and expenses of their capacity-building expenses, along with applicable invoices and receipts. Please refer to your Organizational Mentor’s policy for guidance.

**Examples**
Example	Why it is ineligible
A group is interested in travelling to a conference in the USA that would bring together over 2000 non-profit professionals to take part in a variety of trainings and workshops.	Ineligible expense: engagement in an in-person capacity-building event outside of the province of Ontario.
After returning to in-person workshops, a group wants to use their capacity-building dollars to purchase items (iPads, desks, chairs) to get their space ready for their participants.	Ineligible expense: organizational infrastructure/equipment. Note: You can reallocate funds from capacity building or contingency to a project expenses line. Please reach out to your PM for reallocation approval.
A group wants to use capacity-building dollars to pay for incorporation fees to become a charitable organization?	Ineligible expense: The fees associated with obtaining charitable status cannot be covered by dollars. Additionally, while managing a Youth Opportunities Fund (YOF) grant, grantees cannot obtain charitable status.
A group is interested in hosting a core group retreat to meet up. They want to treat their staff, and intend on booking an expensive hotel and a 1-day spa package for all core group members.	Ineligible expense: a gathering without a clear purpose or capacity-building need and a spa package are ineligible expenses. Unreasonable expense: the expensive hotel is not eligible. Please keep in mind reasonable spending practices when booking travel and accommodations as part of the responsible management of public funds. Note: Core group gatherings with a clear purpose, focused on building skills relevant to their needs or specific projects, are eligible capacity-building activities.