Last December, Inside Philanthropy reporter Wendy Paris interviewed staff from the San Francisco Study Center, Social Impact Fund and me for an article about fiscal sponsorship.
The topic was suggested to her by IP founder David Callahan, she told Study Center Executive Director Geoff Link in an email requesting the interview. It would be an overview, she said, “looking at the growth of the field, how a new (project) founder can get one, how to judge them, what to look out for, what’s in it for nonprofits considering being a fiscal sponsor.”
Don’t be put off by the headline, “Inside the Murky, Labyrinthine World of Fiscal Sponsors.” Paris’ article is positive and fair, and captures the complexity of our field.
“At IP, we see the growth of fiscal sponsorship as a good thing overall,” she writes. “Fiscal sponsors facilitate getting work done more quickly and efficiently than if every social service visionary had to stop and form a 501(c)(3) first. … (They) reduce barriers to entry for would-be do-gooders, democratizing nonprofit founding.”
Paris displays a real appreciation for the dynamics that produce good working relationships among projects, funders and fiscal sponsors. And she addresses the key question of how a project and its potential funding sources can find a 501(c)(3) that will be a good match, using the Fiscal Sponsor Directory and networking with organizations that are already prominent in the field or local community.
Hopefully, widely circulating her piece will raise consciousness among institutions, including big universities and religious and health organizations, that they are, in fact, serving — or could better serve — their communities with well-designed models of fiscal sponsorship.
Growth in the field of fiscal sponsors has provided projects with more choices from which to find the best fit. Today there are 3 times as many practicing fiscal sponsors as there were 2 decades ago.
Photo: Prototype PGH, fiscally sponsored for two years by New Sun Rising in Pittsburgh, PA, grew its project offering members access to tech tools, equipment and workshops geared to women entrepreneurs. It became an independent 501(c)(3) in 2019. Courtesy New Sun Rising