Stories

Foundation For The Carolinas

Scaling Impact: Community Catalyst Fund dramatically scales local nonprofit capacity by funding shared services

The Community Catalyst Fund wanted to support coordinated back-office services that would enhance efficiencies and generate savings for nonprofits in the Charlotte/Mecklenburg region.  The Fund tapped Tides, a national leader in shared services and spaces, to conduct a comprehensive feasibility study focused on sharing services to benefit area nonprofits.

With its proven expertise and established relationships in the field, Tides consultants were able to quickly combine practical experience, national best practices, and rigorous analytical models to create locally relevant solutions.  The feasibility study determined the nonprofit market size, competitive landscape, and the highest-impact shared services that would benefit local nonprofits.  Based on its findings, Tides developed a series of recommendations and operating models that helped FFTC and The Community Catalyst Fund identify a financially-viable solution to meet its goals for efficient, effective organizations.

As a result of the study, The Community Catalyst Fund contributed over $350,000 through FFTC. This was the fund's largest grant to date and it is helping two local shared services providers dramatically scale their services.  The nonprofit providers will leverage this investment to provide high-quality technology and human resources services to allow more than 50 mid-size nonprofit organizations to better serve the Charlotte-Mecklenburg region.