The Possible Future

We challenge the idea that independence of mission, vision, and agency requires independence of infrastructure. The field of fiscal sponsorship encompassess multiple “models”, as classified by attorney Gregory Colvin in the early 1990s. The most prevalent two models are the “Model A” Comprehensive form and “Model C” the Pre-approved Grant form.

Whereas the pre-approved grant model, as an intermediary, is an efficient way to move charitable funds to a non-exempt person or entity, the comprehensive model, as a commons, can be an alternative to stand-alone nonprofit formation: shared corporate structure, finance, HR, legal, insurance, risk management, fundraising, capacity building, and other resources.

Applying commoning principles to comprehensive fiscal sponsorship creates a management commons, where multiple independent missions can share essential infrastructure and offer a more equitable, solidarity-oriented structures for stewarding nonprofit resources and amplifying impact. Management commons not only offers an alternative structure for sustained shared infrastructure for our sector, but also transforms the idea of fiscal sponsorship…

>> From a stop-over on the way to stand-alone nonprofit status, to a structure for sustained communities of sharing.

>> From merely transactional and compliance support, to true transformational collective capacity building.

Over 2023, we drafted a working vision paper for the field, Management Commons and the Future of Fiscal Sponsorship, which is intended to remain a living document where we can shape a discourse around the possible future of the field and identify hypotheses and potential trends in need of further research.