A key component of the Robusteciendo la Justicia Social project is the self-diagnostics that participants must perform in order to better understand their organizations’ weaknesses, needs and opportunities. With this knowledge, this cohort will begin three years of grant deployment to develop & improve their organizations.

Following Ford Foundation’s Organizational Mapping Tool (OMT), facilitators, Kenia Colón and Maia Sherwood, gathered as many members from each organization as possible and guided them through discussions on each of these topics:

At the end of the self-assessment facilitation, participants had to reach a consensus on the top three priorities for each organization. The output of these discussions is confidential for each nonprofit to use as a guide to draw future plans.

We spoke to Kenia to learn insights about the process and its impact. 

What’s the importance of these self-assessments?

Nonprofits don’t have the time or space for organizational self-reflection that is holistic, honest and that allows them to ask difficult, yet pertinent, questions. Creating this space was very important for their evolutionary processes.

Additionally, it was important for the staff’s honest and sincere opinions on the functioning of each organization to be listened to by its directors.