Organizational Capacity and Organizational Effectiveness among Street-Level Food Assistance Programs

Abstract

Organizational capacity is a critical issue for street-level charitable organizations, such as food pantries and soup kitchens, which are increasingly involved as partners with government in the provision of social services. Capacity refers to a set of attributes assumed in the literature to bear on organizational effectiveness. This survey of food programs in the Detroit metropolitan area not only attempts to develop a capacity profile, but it empirically seeks to link the notion of capacity to effectiveness, that is, to mission fulfillment. The key attributes of organizational capacity that bear on mission fulfillment among this sample of organizations are the presence of a paid staff person and computerization of records. Institutionalization and seeking technical assistance from other organizations, other aspects of capacity, seem to do little to increase organizational effectiveness.