The CCAT is a survey which is generally taken by all senior staff and at least two to three board members. The organization chooses one person to be the CCAT Organizational Lead (Org Lead) who will be responsible for the CCAT administration and downloading the report. After purchasing the CCAT, the Org Lead is notified to begin the CCAT administration process. First, the Org Lead enters the names and email addresses for all individuals who are being invited to take the CCAT. Then the Org Lead emails login instructions to these individuals through the system. Each person answers 146 questions about the health of the organization. One person also provides descriptive information about the organization (including budget size, staff size, area of focus).

After everyone has taken the survey, the Org Lead receives an email that the report is ready to be accessed online. The CCAT report only shows responses in aggregate — providing reliable information and maintaining each individual's confidentiality.

The CCAT was created as an assessment tool for nonprofit organizations. Foundations, corporate funders, and management support organizations (MSOs) may purchase CCAT packages as a service for their grantees or as a tool for determining their long-term capacity-building needs. However, the CCAT may not be used by funders as a "screening tool" to determine which organizations to support.

The cost for the CCAT is:
$300 for an individual nonprofit
$260 per CCAT for funders, associations, and MSOs (purchasing from 2-5 packages)
$240 per CCAT for funders, associations, and MSOs (purchasing 6-99 packages)
$200 per CCAT for funders, associations, and MSOs (purchasing 100 or more packages)

Purchase of one CCAT package includes a report based on responses from an unlimited number of respondents within a single organization, and free telephone technical support for using the tool and registering users. The CCAT report includes information on interpreting the results, as well as scores for each capacity area, and recommendations for building your organizational capacity. It also classifies the organization into a particular lifecycle stage and generates a capacity-building plan with prioritized recommendations to assist your organization in moving forward. Organizations may also download their report with comparison bars for organizations of similar budget size. Additional comparison reports based on service focus, type of programming and location may be accessed for an additional fee of $100 as the comparison information becomes available. For those organizations requiring assistance in interpreting their report, telephone assistance is also available for an additional fee of $75 for 30 minutes.

The CCAT report can be used as a:

• Starting point for discussions
• Suggested checklist for changes
• Barometer for comparison to similar organizations
• Way to track organizational growth and development
• Method for involving board members in discussing organizational capacities

The CCAT report provides an analysis of an organization's current status in the four core capacities that TCC Group believes are crucial for organizational effectiveness. The CCAT is intended to help a nonprofit organization determine its strengths and opportunities for improvement within each component making up the four core capacity areas (Leadership, Adaptive, Management and Technical).

The lifecycle score provides a reflection of the organization's current stage of development. Not every new organization is in the Core Program Development stage, and not every established organization is in the Impact Expansion stage. The lifecycle score provides guidance on where to focus capacity-building efforts for the greatest impact.