Giving Compass' Take:

· The authors discuss the rise of fiscal sponsorship in the United States and how it can also serve as a useful approach to international development projects.

· How has fiscal sponsorship been used in the nonprofit sector? What are some common misconceptions about fiscal sponsorship? How can fiscal sponsorship help with international initiatives?

· Learn more about fiscal sponsorship and what it really means in philanthropy.

A persistent challenge for organizations seeking philanthropic support is the need to demonstrate compliance with the fiduciary requirements of grant makers. Another is to have reliable and affordable backend support while being able to focus time, energy and resources on the organizational mission. In the United States, fiscal sponsorship has become increasingly popular, not least as it can address both needs. It can serve the purposes of grant maker and grantee alike and is increasingly being used by groups working internationally – including philanthropic support organizations, such as Human Rights Funders Network and Transparency and Accountability Initiative (TAI).

Every month another group reaches out to us seeking to understand our experience with sponsorship and what factors to consider. This got us thinking, if fiscal sponsorship can serve international development projects well, why don’t we see it replicated worldwide?

We don’t think it is due to a lack of interest. Networks based in other countries have reached out looking for hosts outside of the United States (US). Projects operating internationally are looking for mechanisms that can meet their requirements, including for hiring and grant-making abroad. Why isn’t supply emerging to meet demand? Here, we share what we’ve learned (so far) from incomplete investigations and speculate on the potential and drawbacks of fiscal sponsorship in other country contexts.

We know many networks base themselves at organizations in a variety of countries, but these organizations do not offer general fiscal sponsorship services. We have also heard more about organizations abroad incubating projects rather than sponsoring them. We have heard less about general sponsors supporting a variety of project types, though there are some that focus on specific sectors of interest.

Read the full article about fiscal sponsorship outside the US by Jenny Lah and Michael Jarvis at Philanthropy In Focus.