Commoning Approach
Management commons, a next generation approach to fiscal sponsorship, is a powerful way to share nonprofit resources that centers equity, inclusion, and diversity. It is “Model A” Comprehensive Fiscal Sponsorship, designed and operated according to commoning principles and values. Commoning is one of the oldest forms of resource sharing, found in practically every culture around the globe. Our approach has been inspired by and gently adapted from the work of David Bollier and Silke Helfrich.
Commoning is not just about the resources you share, but more critically how you share them. While there are many ways to engage in commoning, but certain central tenets are essential: bottom-up, peer-led governance, a commitment to ongoing learning, intentional community building, and practices rooted in mutuality.
The problems our sector faces with regard to equity, diversity, inclusion, and access cannot be addressed by programmatic “fixes” alone—issuing statements, adopting new policies, hiring diversity managers, etc. The urgent needs of our sector will only be addressed through the intentional design of equitable systems. Commoning provides an adaptable framework for managing together that focuses on equity and just relationships.
