What are the CSBG Organizational Standards?

The CSBG Organizational Standards are a comprehensive set of standards developed with input from the entire CSBG Network through a three-year multi phase process led by the Center of Excellence. The Organizational Standards were announced in January 2015 with the OCS release of IM 138, State Establishment of Organizational Standards for CSBG Eligible Entities, directing States to establish organizational standards by fiscal year 2016.

The Organizational Standards are organized in three thematic groups comprising nine categories and totals of 58 standards for private, nonprofit entities and 50 for public entities.The purpose of the organizational standards is to ensure that all agencies have appropriate organizational capacity, in both critical financial and administrative areas, as well as areas of unique importance to the mission of the Community Action network.

• IM 138, State Establishment of Organizational Standards for CSBG Eligible Entities under 678B of the CSBG Act, 42 U.S.C. § 9914

• CSBG Organizational Standards

In 2012, the National Community Action Partnership launched the Organizational Standards Center of Excellence, with support from the Office of Community Service, at the Department of Health and Human Services as a part of a broader effort to enhance the accountability and organizational performance of CSBG funded programs. Toward this end, the Organizational Standards Center of Excellence spearheaded the network-wide effort to develop high-quality performance standards with the mission of ensuring all Community Action Agencies have the capacity to provide high-quality services to low-income individuals and communities.

Since the establishment of the Organizational Standards in 2016, the Center of Excellence continued to collaborate with network partners through 2019 to provide ongoing training and technical assistance that supports the implementation of the Standards across the network. As a part of this work, the Center of Excellence has produced a number of publications and toolkits offering guidance on each category of the Organizational Standards, as well as complementary materials designed to equip agencies with the ability to both meet and exceed the Organizational Standards.  Similar work on performance management and accountability, including the Organizational Standards now continues through the Human Capacity and Community Transformation (HCCT) Center of Excellence.

The Center of Excellence developed resources related to the Organizational Standards can be found on this page, below.