Charitable Services Group

Goldman Sachs is committed to helping businesses grow and succeed, and helping clients achieve their goals. We take the same approach with the nonprofit sector, and over the years have dedicated staff and resources to provide nonprofits with advice and support. This enables the firm to strengthen its relationships in those communities and drive their growth.

Goldman Sachs continues this tradition with the launch of The Capacity Building Initiative, a program that helps nonprofit organizations increase their impact through capacity building assistance. The program provides two levels of support.

Capacity Academy

Through the Capacity Building Initiative Academy, organizations in New York, Chicago and London receive a range of educational support, including organizational assessments and workshops about capacity building.

Workshops/Conferences provide organizations with the opportunity to attend sessions about specific areas of capacity building, including board development, program evaluation, financial management, strategic planning and staff development.

Capacity Partners

The Capacity Building Initiative Grant Program offers support through a grant making program both in the US and EMEA. A select number of organizations that meet baseline criteria, have a proven track record and demonstrate they can achieve significantly greater results with targeted support are named Capacity Partners. These organizations will receive funding to support the infrastructure and development of their organization.

Our capacity building assistance focuses on areas that align with core competencies of the firm and the expertise of our people, including leadership development, strategic planning, financial management and technology.

In 2006, the following organizations were selected as Capacity Partners. They received operating support and funding for targeted efforts to build capacity.

Action on Addiction (UK)
Mission: To be the leading drug and alcohol addiction charity in the UK, providing the most effective treatment to addicts and their families throughout the country, supported by a Centre of Excellence in addiction research and training.

The Cara Program (Chicago)
Mission: The Cara Program assists homeless and at-risk populations in their efforts to achieve real and lasting success by providing comprehensive training, internships, permanent job placement and critical support services.

Everybody Wins! (New York)
Mission: Everybody Wins! seeks to increase children’s prospects for success in school and in life through one-on-one reading experiences with caring adults or older students.

Hope & Homes (UK)
Mission: To give hope to the poorest children in the world – those who are orphaned, abandoned or vulnerable – by enabling them to grow up within the love of a family and the security of a home, so that they can fulfill their potential.

The HOPE Program (New York)
Mission: The HOPE Program intervenes in the lives of poor men and women who indicate they can achieve self-sufficiency if given appropriate training and support. HOPE addresses the underlying causes of chronic unemployment with a strategy of education and on the job experience to promote economic independence and further participation in society.

Mama Cash (Netherlands)
Mission: To help create a peaceful and just world, where women and girls have freedom to make their own choices and express and develop their talents and skills.

Rocking the Boat (New York)
Mission: Rocking the Boat is a boat building and on-the-water education program based in the Bronx, New York. Through a hands-on alternative approach to education and youth development, Rocking the Boat allows high school students to acquire important academic and social skills that will help them achieve tangible goals.

Sanctuary for Families (New York)
Mission: Sanctuary for Families is the largest agency in New York State offering integrated legal, clinical, shelter and economic stability services exclusively to domestic violence victims and their children. In addition to providing services for nearly 10,000 women and children each year, Sanctuary for Families also works to end domestic violence and its far-reaching impact through outreach, education and advocacy.

Tower Hamlets Summer University (UK)
Mission: To work with young people through innovative educational opportunities in the summer holidays and year round, helping them make informed positive decisions that enhance their lives and the lives of those around them.

York Street Project (Jersey City)
Mission: York Street Project helps homeless women and economically disadvantaged women and children step out of poverty and into a life of self-sufficiency. Their network of programs simultaneously provide the housing, education, child care, counseling and job- and life-skills training a woman needs to break the cycle of poverty.