Organizational capacity is necessary for nonprofits to meet their missions and contribute to society. Less is known about rural nonprofits’ organizational capacity and characteristics, as most research focuses on urban nonprofits. The present study first considers the utility of an organizational capacity assessment and identifies pertinent areas of organizational capacity in rural nonprofits. The second objective of the study is to examine relationships between areas of organizational capacity and organizational-level characteristics. In May 2019, nonprofits (n = 290) from persistently poor, rural counties in 14 southern states participated in a survey providing organizational characteristics and assessing organizational capacity. An exploratory factor analysis on the organizational capacity assessment revealed four organizational capacity areas: Organizational Identity, Fund Development, Volunteers, and Organizational Procedures. Then, descriptive, bivariate, and multivariate analyses were conducted to understand the relationships between the organizational capacity areas and organization characteristics, including organizational age, expenses, life stage, NTEE classification, and executive director tenure. Findings indicate significant relationships exist between organizational capacity and characteristics, consistent with previous studies. Older, mature, and/or larger rural nonprofits have increased capacity in several areas. Thus, targeting younger and smaller rural organizations for capacity-building efforts may be impactful.

Undergraduate social work students often have anxiety and aversion to research methods and macro or community-level content. Community-engaged learning (CEL) projects involve an experiential approach to teaching that addresses community needs and have shown promise as a high-impact practice in social work and related disciplines. The present study uses a qualitative design to examine a threaded CEL project executed across two undergraduate courses: Social Work Research Methods, and Community and Organizational Practice. By analyzing reflection essays with a deductive, two-cycle coding strategy, investigators sought to understand how the CEL project affected students’ anxiety, interest, and self-efficacy. Overall, essays illustrated that real-world experience of the CEL process effectively increased interest and self-efficacy while reducing anxiety among students about course content. Implications for implementation and future research are discussed.