We’ve written extensively on fiscal sponsorship on this blog and for others, including The Nonprofit Quarterly and the American Bar Association. Over the past few years, we’ve seen a great increase in interest in fiscal sponsorship, but also a rise in misconceptions and disputes, sometimes resulting from fiscal sponsors correcting past unlawful or imprudent practices. […]
fiscal sponsorship
DAO: What is it? What does it mean for nonprofits?
In the past week, ConstitutionDAO raised over $45 million to bid for a first edition copy of the United States Constitution. Ultimately, they did not win the auction held by Sotheby’s on Thursday, but they put the power and influence of DAOs on the map with heavy national news coverage. Notice from ConstitutionDAO We did […]
Fiscal Sponsorship – Some Tricky Issues: CLA Presentation
Today, NEO Law Group’s Erin Bradrick presented to the California Lawyers Association’s Nonprofit Organizations Committee on some tricky issues involving fiscal sponsorship. The focus was on 501(c)(3) fiscal sponsors and projects. Some highlights below: Common Models Comprehensive (Model A) Pre-approved Grant Relationship (Model C) For a brief summary of these models, see Erin’s article for […]
Fiscal Sponsor: Before You Accept a Project …
Many fiscal sponsors enter into relationships to support multiple fiscally sponsored projects (“Projects” or “FSPs”). Typically, these fiscal sponsors have some screening mechanism before agreeing to enter into these relationships, but often, the screening is superficial, resulting in significant risk exposure and/or undesirable administrative burdens for the fiscal sponsor. Proper screening is of critical importance […]
How to Find a Fiscal Sponsor
Social entrepreneurs have a number of options for housing a charitable project, and many recognize fiscal sponsorship as the best option. But how do you find and select a fiscal sponsor? What is a fiscal sponsor? While no legal definition exists, a comprehensive (Model A) fiscal sponsor is generally considered to be a tax-exempt organization […]
Nonprofits in Trouble: The Fiscal Sponsorship Option
The twin crises of pandemic and recession are straining the region’s philanthropies and could force as many as a third of nonprofits to close or merge before the economy recovers, according to top executives in the sector. The Washington Post (8/3/20) In these historically challenging times, there are predictions that we could see more than […]
Fiscal Sponsors and COVID-19
You’ll find a wealth of information provided by numerous organizations and law firms regarding COVID-19-related issues facing nonprofits, including this page from the NEO Law Group. Such issues include those related to new laws providing for paid employee leave, small business (and nonprofit) loans, and enhanced charitable contribution deductions. However, these new laws, understandably created […]
New Edition of Seminal Book on Fiscal Sponsorship
Earlier this month, at the American Bar Association Fall Tax Meeting, the San Francisco Study Center released the 3rd edition of Fiscal Sponsorship: Six Ways to Do It Right, authored by Greg Colvin and Stephanie Petit. This is a complete revision of the seminal book on relationships it coined fiscal sponsorship and should be available […]
Fiscal Sponsorship and Films: Part II
Filmmakers who seek philanthropic or public funding to support their works may be considering fiscal sponsorship as a vehicle for obtaining such funding. In our first post on this subject, we covered the basics of fiscal sponsorship and on the qualifications of a sound fiscal sponsor. Here, we’ll discuss the fiscal sponsorship agreement and termination […]
Fiscal Sponsorship and Films
Filmmakers who seek philanthropic or public funding to support their works may be considering fiscal sponsorship as a vehicle for obtaining such funding. And fiscal sponsorship can be of great value to a filmmaker. But it’s also a misunderstood and widely misapplied area of law that can create risks for filmmakers and their fiscal sponsors. […]