Guidelines from The National Network of Fiscal Sponsors Help Improve and Promote Standards and Best Practices for Fiscal Sponsorship

Denver, CO, April 25, 2010 — The National Network of Fiscal Sponsors (NNFS) today announced the release of the first ever Guidelines for Fiscal Sponsorship.  Fiscal sponsors are nonprofits that enable the movement of resources from funders to projects, ideas, organizations, and activities. Unveiled at the 2010 Annual Conference of Council on Foundations in Denver, the guidelines are of particular value for fiscal sponsors, funders, and nonprofit leaders. The purpose of the new guidelines is to raise awareness and broaden the understanding of fiscal sponsorship and to promulgate standards of best practice in order to improve the field of fiscal sponsorship.

"As an emerging field, fiscal sponsorship can raise questions of regulatory compliance for funders and programs struggling to understand the true nature of the relationship between a fiscal sponsor and its projects," said Thomas C. Layton, President of the Wallace A. Gerbode Foundation. "The new guidelines help people navigate the territory of fiscal sponsorship and learn about best practices to consider when evaluating fiscal sponsors."

Fiscal sponsorship is practiced across the country to enable individuals and organizations to start new programs without establishing a new, separate nonprofit organization. As the charity of record, fiscal sponsors receive charitable donations and grants for their fiscally sponsored projects and may be legally and financially responsible for all project activities, depending on the model of fiscal sponsorship that is employed. The mechanism of fiscal sponsorship allows social innovators to focus on achieving their missions rather than establishing and maintaining the administrative infrastructure of an organization.  

The new fiscal sponsorship guidelines can be used by funders to better understand the relationship fiscal sponsors have with their projects so they can fund fiscally sponsored organizations with confidence.  They can be used by potential projects to better understand the relationship between project and sponsor and as a way to vet potential fiscal sponsors before engaging in a formal relationship. Organizations acting as fiscal sponsors can utilize the guidelines to help educate themselves and their boards of directors to improve their operations and enhance their ability to serve their projects effectively.  

Two separate sets of guidelines have been released: one focused on comprehensive fiscal sponsorship, the second focused on pre-approved grant relationship fiscal sponsorship. They can be downloaded free of charge at the links below:

Guidelines for Comprehensive Fiscal Sponsorship

Guidelines for Pre-approved Grant Relationship Fiscal Sponsorship

About The National Network of Fiscal Sponsors

The National Network of Fiscal Sponsors (NNFS)  was formed in 2004 when the leaders of six fiscal sponsor organizations from across the country came together to discuss the opportunities and challenges of fiscal sponsorship and its place in the nonprofit sector.  The initial group included Community Partners, Colorado Nonprofit Development Center, Community Initiatives, Earth Island Institute, Third Sector New England, and Tides Center. While the models and missions of various fiscal sponsors differ, the members of NNFS have common questions and aspirations to ensure responsible use of the tool of fiscal sponsorship. NNFS has worked collaboratively to define and build the relatively unknown, and sometimes misunderstood field of fiscal sponsorship within the nonprofit sector.  Today, NNFS has grown to over 60 active members with a list of over 200 practitioners and affiliated organizations and conducts quarterly Hot Topic Calls and an Annual Gathering in the fall.

Media Inquiries:

Heidi Hernandez Gatty

Tides

415.561.6322

hgatty@tides.org