Rethinking Capacity: Doing Differently with What We Have

September 9, 2026

by Victor S. Valentine, CEO of NHSA

“The greatest danger in times of turbulence is not the turbulence; it is to act with yesterday’s logic.” — Peter Drucker

I have spent a good portion of my career thinking about training others to strengthen organizational capacity in terms of people—how we recruit them, retain them, develop them, and, when resources allow, add more of them. These core human capital strategies still matter. But increasingly, my thinking has evolved into believing a broader definition of capacity is required. In an environment of financial uncertainty, growing demand for services, rapid technological change, and limited resources, the question cannot simply be, “How many more people do we need?” It should also be, “How can we make better use of the people, knowledge, technology, relationships, and resources we already have?” For many of our organizations, the answer may not be about expanding or spending limited resources externally but becoming more intentional about identifying and activating the capacity that already exists around us.

At NHSA, we are leaning into this mindset. As a relatively efficient organization serving national nonprofit human services leaders, we simply could not accomplish everything we do if we viewed capacity as staff alone. Our board members, volunteers, members, and partners bring extraordinary experience and expertise to the table, and we have worked to create more opportunities for them to share it. NHSA’s webinars regularly draw upon board members, partners, and subject-matter experts to provide leadership development and practical guidance to our members. As CEO, on behalf of the organization, I seek opportunities to co-author op-eds, support public policy initiatives led by others, and enter into collaborative business enterprises with sector colleagues, combining perspectives and extending our collective voice. NHSA’s CEO Roundtable turns the experiences of nonprofit chief executives into a resource for one another—creating a space where leaders can candidly share challenges, lessons learned, and solutions. Add our recent exploration into responsible uses of AI with our continuing support of group purchasing, and capacity begins to look much larger than the number of names on our organizational chart.

None of this is to suggest that organizations should simply find another way to “do more with less.” Our sector has heard that message long enough. I would offer something slightly different: perhaps we need to deploy our current capacity in different ways. Capacity-building should mean developing our talent, certainly, but also recognizing talent beyond our operational infrastructure; using technology to give people time back rather than simply adding more work; sharing expertise instead of unnecessarily duplicating it; and continuing to use the expertise of our board members, volunteers, partners, and peers not only for their support, but for their action. In challenging times, our greatest untapped resource may be the collective capacity already sitting around our tables. The opportunity before us is to recognize it, organize it, and put it to work in service of our missions.