Lifecycles Lift: Nonprofit Capacity Building Cohort Program

Lifecycles Lift is an intermediate-level cohort program led in-person by the NLI team. Participating nonprofits are partnered with a Lifecycles-trained consultant* to develop a Capacity Self-Assessment and a Capacity Improvement Plan within a 3-month timeframe. This is followed by a guided 12-month implementation phase to ensure successful execution.

Lifecycles Lift Includes:

• Preparation & Planning (3-6 months)
  • Recruiting organizations, managing applications, and conducting the consultant RFQ process.
  • Final matching of a Lifecycles-trained consultant to each organization (ideally 6-8 nonprofits).
  • Each nonprofit receives one copy of Nonprofit Lifecycles: Stage-based Wisdom for Nonprofit Capacity.
• Consultant Pre-Training for Cohort Process (1 month)
  • Consultants are prepped for the cohort program structure.
• Lifecycles Cohort Program (15 months)
  • Capacity Self-Assessment & Improvement Plan (3 months): Facilitated creation of an organization-specific plan.
  • Capacity Improvement Implementation (12 months): Execution of the Improvement Plan.
  • Includes six Consultant Prep & Check-In Meetings (2–3 hours each) and six Leadership Team Cohort Sessions (3–4 hours each).
  • Review and approve the Organization Self-Assessment and Capacity Improvement Plan
  • Oversee grant disbursement to ensure fidelity during implementation.
• Closeout Process (3 months)
  • Reflection sessions for consultants and nonprofits.
  • Final report summarizing outcomes, lessons learned, and key recommendations.