Operationalizing Activity-Based Costing Findings for Impact, Sustainability, and Growth

The Activity-Based Costing toolkit helps community foundations assess the true costs of their products and services to donors. Now, we’re offering support to help you apply the toolkit’s findings, align your business model to your mission and strategy, and drive greater impact.

We now offer follow-on support to community foundations looking to leverage the key findings from a completed CF Insights Activity-Based Costing (ABC) study by:

• Facilitating strategic decisions that align donor services, fund administration, staffing, and fee structures with organizational priorities.

• Guiding the development of multi-phase plans to implement changes to fees, donor offerings, and resource allocation in sync with the foundation’s operational cycles.

• Streamlining administrative processes to enhance fundholder services in alignment with administrative fees.

• Identifying potential opportunities for alternative revenue through strategies including annual fundraising, foundation partnerships, and earned income or fee-for-service models.

• Delivering board and staff training and moderating discussions to build a deeper understanding of the strategic and operational implications of ABC-driven recommendations on business models, sustainability, and impact to generate organization-wide buy-in.

Implementation plans are customized and delivered through bundled consulting packages.

This service is available through a pilot partnership with the Community Foundation Impact Initiative, led by former CEOs Peter Taylor and Katie Allan Zobel. Through this partnership, community foundations will learn from peer successes, become equipped to prioritize recommendations more efficiently, and implement complex changes with practical technical assistance and coaching.

About the Community Foundation Impact Initiative (CFII):

CFII helps community foundations thrive and grow through expert technical assistance, coaching, and strategic support led by former CEOs and senior leaders. In partnership with The Philanthropic Initiative (TPI), CFII combines executive insight with decades of consulting and field‑building experience to guide foundations at pivotal moments of change.