Understanding the Full Cost of Social Impact: A Funder + Grantee Pilot

The Weingart Foundation (WF), in partnership with the California Community Foundation (CCF) and Nonprofit Finance Fund (NFF), has begun undertaking an effort to promote funding for nonprofits that reflects the full cost of service delivery. A key strategy in this initiative is to support skills building for nonprofit executives and funders to allow them to accurately account for full costs, clearly identify those costs, and discuss funding mechanisms that allow nonprofits to receive funding that takes those costs into account. To implement this strategy, WF, CCF and NFF developed the Full Cost Funder/Grantee Pilot. This report summarizes the findings of our evaluation of the pilot and elevates considerations for the future implementation and scaling of this and similar initiatives.