Fiscal sponsorship agreements are between two separate organizations, but the projects of the Association are not separate legal organizations as defined by classical fiscal sponsorship. Instead, we file a legal Fictitious Name Statement (DBA) for each Project that we accept, and we open a bank account in that name for the use of that Project. At least one officer of the Association is a signatory on all of the accounts, along with one or more representatives of the Project. Each project also names a Director to the Board of Directors of the Association (the nonprofit corporation), to assure responsiveness to the needs of all the Projects. All Projects use the EIN of the Association (20-5516191) but permit direct deposit into the account of the project without passing through a separate Association account, since all of the accounts are part of the Association in any case.

If you wish to donate to one of the Projects and normally require a copy of the fiscal sponsorship agreement in order to make the donation in the name of the Project, we suggest that you donate it to the Association instead, and stipulate that the funds are to be used only for the particular Project and should otherwise be returned. We are always obligated to comply with conditions on grants and donations, and if those conditions are unacceptable to us, we always return the funds. Donations in the name of a Project always go to that Project because that is clearly the intention of the donor. But sometimes donations made out to the Association also go to a particular Project, if the donor has expressed their preference in a different manner. In addition, the Association sometimes makes its own internal grants to one or more of the Projects. The Association used to assess the Projects for administrative costs, but we are currently blessed with sufficient direct corporate donations to cover our operating costs, allowing us to dispense with such assessment. When we have extra funds, we are happy to make additional grants to the Projects. We are thus (at the current time, at least) possibly the only “fiscal sponsor” that does not charge its sponsored groups for our services.