Facing Major Funding Loss? Educopia’s New Workshop Series Offers Tools, Structure, and Support
·
November 3 to 14: Book a 30-Minute Office Hour on Navigating Transitions with Educopia’s Consultants
·
The Shapes of the Maintainers: Mapping How a Fiscal Sponsee Adapted, Transitioned, and Sustained
·
Facing Major Funding Loss? Educopia’s New Workshop Series Offers Tools, Structure, and Support
·
November 3 to 14: Book a 30-Minute Office Hour on Navigating Transitions with Educopia’s Consultants
·
The Shapes of the Maintainers: Mapping How a Fiscal Sponsee Adapted, Transitioned, and Sustained
·

Fiscal Sponsorship

We provide financial and risk management, human resources, and capacity-building support, enabling sponsees to focus on their vision and mission while keeping costs low.

Educopia’s Fiscal Sponsorship services reduce administrative costs and risks, and simplify organizational functions.

Fiscal Sponsorship (FS) refers to the practice of non-profit organizations offering their legal and tax-exempt status to groups engaged in activities related to the sponsoring organization’s mission. Educopia’s Fiscal Sponsorship program seeks to provide administrative and operational scaffolding for mission-aligned and values-aligned projects and collectives explicitly interested in co-creating a more equitable knowledge landscape.

New Sponsee Inquiry Form
Application Materials and Process
Fiscal Sponsorship Program FAQs

Our Fiscal Sponsees

Educopia’s Fiscal Sponsorship Program seeks to provide administrative and operational scaffolding for mission-aligned and values-aligned projects and collectives explicitly interested in creating a more equitable knowledge landscape. 

Our Fiscal Sponsorship Models

Educopia currently provides support for two different models of fiscal sponsorship:

Model A

Comprehensive Fiscal Sponsorship

In this model a group / initiative / collective/ program of work / project does not have a separate legal entity and is looking for administrative infrastructure and operational capacity that Educopia can provide.

In this model, Educopia maintains all legal responsibility for the sponsored project, its employees, and activities. 

Model C

Pre Approved Grant
Relationship

In this model, Educopia receives grants and donations earmarked for a group/project, and re-grants those funds in furtherance of the group/project’s goals.

Fiscal sponsorship fees fall within a range, depending on the type(s) of revenue  the sponsee receives.

Educopia promises clarity and transparency regarding fees. We dedicate time and attention to recurring, annual assessment of costs associated with our Fiscal Sponsorship services.

Our Fiscal Sponsorship Services

Decorative image of a man working on a laptop

Working with Educopia unlocks a comprehensive suite of services and resources that provide operational efficiencies, compliance support, and opportunities for connections and peer-to-peer learning across our network of sponsees.

Finance

  • Comprehensive financial and accounting services
  • Utilize tax exempt status
  • Tax filing and annual audit review
  • Disbursement: invoices, reimbursements, grant requests
  • Receipt of monthly and quarterly financial reports
  • Monthly 1-hr meeting with Educopia’s Operations team to answer any questions regarding financial goal tracking, assistance with financial projections and tracking encumbrances, advice on nonprofit finance best practices
  • Monthly 1-hr meeting with a member of the Fiscal Sponsorship program team for capacity building support (e.g., tracking on project goals, evaluating governance models, comparing engagement strategies, etc.)
  • Referrals for affordable and effective professional services (e.g., web design and development, video production, illustration and graphic design, public interest technology and intellectual property legal advisors, etc.)
  • Participation in monthly convenings of fiscal sponsee leadership facilitated by a member of the Fiscal Sponsorship program team; a space for peer learning, resource sharing, and catalyzing new collaborations
  • Human resources and payroll services: hiring, training, and monitoring
  • Developing processes for meaningful co-design
  • Audience & market analysis
  • Strategic messaging and design
  • Virtual and in-person facilitation (e.g., retreats, board meetings, summits, annual meetings, work sprints)
  • Supporting strategic partnerships
  • Consulting: Additional consulting hours (beyond the monthly 1-hr meetings with members of the Operations and Fiscal Sponsorship program team). Educopia provides Consulting services in the following areas:
    1. Organizational Development & Strategic Planning
    2. Governance Modeling & Sustainability Planning
    3. Designing, Building, and Maintaining Knowledge Infrastructure
    4. Community Engagement
  • Legal Counsel: Special project requiring substantial time from legal counsel (beyond standard review)
  • Accounting Projects: Special projects requiring substantial time from accounting (beyond standard review)

Finance

  • Comprehensive financial and accounting services
  • Utilize tax exempt status
  • Tax filing and annual audit review
  • Disbursement: invoices, reimbursements, grant requests
  • Receipt of monthly and quarterly financial reports
  • Monthly 1-hr meeting with Educopia’s Operations team to answer any questions regarding financial goal tracking, assistance with financial projections and tracking encumbrances, advice on nonprofit finance best practices
  • Monthly 1-hr meeting with a member of the Fiscal Sponsorship program team for capacity building support (e.g., tracking on project goals, evaluating governance models, comparing engagement strategies, etc.)
  • Referrals for affordable and effective professional services (e.g., web design and development, video production, illustration and graphic design, public interest technology and intellectual property legal advisors, etc.)
  • Participation in monthly convenings of fiscal sponsee leadership facilitated by a member of the Fiscal Sponsorship program team; a space for peer learning, resource sharing, and catalyzing new collaborations
  • Human resources and payroll services: hiring, training, and monitoring
  • Developing processes for meaningful co-design
  • Audience & market analysis
  • Strategic messaging and design
  • Virtual and in-person facilitation (e.g., retreats, board meetings, summits, annual meetings, work sprints)
  • Supporting strategic partnerships
  • Consulting: Additional consulting hours (beyond the monthly 1-hr meetings with members of the Operations and Fiscal Sponsorship program team). Educopia provides Consulting services in the following areas:
    1. Organizational Development & Strategic Planning
    2. Governance Modeling & Sustainability Planning
    3. Designing, Building, and Maintaining Knowledge Infrastructure
    4. Community Engagement
  • Legal Counsel: Special project requiring substantial time from legal counsel (beyond standard review)
  • Accounting Projects: Special projects requiring substantial time from accounting (beyond standard review)
How We Work

Our mission is rooted in connecting diverse and historically marginalized groups with resources, power, and each another. Through our fiscal sponsorship portfolio, we equip sponsees with the tools and capacity-building support needed to tackle new challenges or enhance their current impact, all while centering their leadership.

Our team combines deep expertise in nonprofit management with lived experience in navigating the complexities of the knowledge landscape to support our fiscal sponsees in amplifying their impact. While providing essential infrastructure, we prioritize transparent communication and thought partnership, enabling our sponsees to make informed decisions that advance their missions.

All of our activities across workstreams are mutually reinforcing: our Consulting services often enable fiscal sponsees to surface common questions and insights, that in turn drive Educopia’s Research agenda. Ultimately, we provide diverse knowledge communities with resources that undergird organizational health, systems leadership, and collective impact.

Sponsee Updates

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Wintergreen Women Writers Collective Receives $750,000 Award from Mellon Foundation

Wintergreen Women Writers Collective Receives $150,000 Award from Mellon Foundation

Scaling Small: Partnerships and Organizational Resilience for Cita Press

Questions about Fiscal Sponsorship?

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