About Technical Assistance (TA) & TA Grants

What is Technical Assistance?

Technical Assistance (TA) can be broadly defined as any specialized skill or service that a nonprofit may require to fulfill its mission that isn’t available within the organization’s existing staff or board of directors.  The range of services may vary greatly from grant-writing, meeting facilitation, development of a strategic plan, or website development.  And how these services may be delivered will vary greatly as well, in terms of the cost, complexity and oversight.   

Managed well, technical assistance helps an organization leverage its limited resources to effectively reach new milestones.  However, without proper planning and management, technical assistance efforts can drain time and energy, distracting the organization from its core mission.  

Technical Assistance Grants

All nonprofit organizations need help from time to time in order to function more effectively and efficiently. This is especially true of new or emerging nonprofit organizations or those with smaller budgets.

The Denver Foundation has set aside funds specifically to provide grants for nonprofit organizations to get this kind of help, usually called "technical assistance." Technical Assistance (TA) can be many things, and what is most important is that TA helps the staff and/or board of the organization learn something new and increase its capacity to lead, manage and direct the organization.

Examples of purposes for a TA grant include obtaining training on a specific topic, such as marketing, volunteer management, financial management or fundraising; hiring a facilitator for a board retreat; or working with a consultant to develop a fundraising plan or a strategic plan for the organization.

TA grants are available to organizations that meet the following basic criteria:

- Organizations that meet the basic eligibility criteria for The Denver Foundation's Community Grants Program and are current or former grantees of the Foundation's Community Grants Program.  Under certain conditions, an organization that has been declined by the Community Grants Program may be eligible to apply.

- Organizations with budgets of $500,000 or less (based on the most recently-completed fiscal year) with one exception: if this is a grant for inclusiveness work, the $500,000 limit is waived.   

Please review the TA grant guidelines brochure available by link below to determine your eligibility for a grant and to learn how to apply.

Technical Assistance Grant Guidelines 

Submitting Technical Assistance Grant Reports
We have transitioned to an online reporting tool designed to enhance the collective knowledge of the nonprofit sector. You should have received this link with your contract. Please contact Christiano Sosa for more information. 

Technical Assistance Consultant Database
The Denver Foundation has compiled the Technical Assistance Database as an information resource for Metro Denver nonprofit organizations.  To search the database click here.

This Blog contains comments from past grantees as well as articles which will introduce the basic concepts necessary to help you hire a consultant who will provide technical assistance.  We encourage you to contact previous TA grant recipients for further information. We ask that if you post comments or questions about consultants, that no specific names are used.  Lastly, if you have pertinent articles you would like to share to help others, please email them to tablog@denverfoundation.org.

Click here to visit The Denver Foundation’s Resources for Nonprofits web page for more information.