New Tools for Developing Fiscally Sponsored Project Advisory Councils
by Andrew Schulman & Josh Sattely
The use of fiscal sponsorship has exploded in recent years as innovative leaders of nonprofit programs increasingly work with fiscal sponsors where they benefit not only from nonprofit status but gain turnkey access to the back office infrastructure they need to flourish. Indeed, more and more charitable programs now regard their fiscal sponsor as their forever home. If you’re new to fiscal sponsorship, here’s a primer.
Although groups operating under a fiscal sponsor are not legally required to have their own separate fiduciary board of directors, many utilize an Advisory Council. At a basic level, an Advisory Council - also referred to as the steering committee or advisory board - is a group of people who provide strategic guidance to a fiscally sponsored project.
Research conducted by Social Impact Commons found that 31% of fiscal sponsors surveyed require advisory councils for projects with 32% recommending use of these advisory bodies. If not already doing so, we encourage sponsors and projects alike to consider building in Advisory Councils into their project structure. Common roles of Advisory Councils include, but are by no means limited to:
Being the counterparty on the fiscal sponsorship agreement and serving as a mutual accountability partner between sponsor and project.
Adding an additional layer of support and stewardship for the project; holding it accountable to its charitable mission.
Providing strategic thought partnership to project leaders.
Allowing for project-specific knowledge/voice to benefit overall project stewardship.
Providing fundraising, networking, volunteer, and advocacy capacity.
Advisory Councils need not have the rigidity normally associated with nonprofit fiduciary boards which must see to audits, personnel and other corporate policies, insurance, etc. Those important responsibilities are generally held by the Fiscal Sponsor’s board of directors. As such, Project leaders and their communities are free to reimagine what a group of focused stakeholders can accomplish and how they will work together to do so. To help keep things organized and everyone on the same page, we encourage Projects to consider putting some definition and structure around their Advisory Council. Additionally, some fiscal sponsors may require this.
While there are numerous quality resources aimed at developing and optimizing nonprofit fiduciary boards (e.g. Board Source), to date, resources tailored to inform and support the development of Advisory Councils for fiscally sponsored projects are limited and generally not publicly available. To address this knowledge deficit, we have created and are releasing under a Creative Commons license, the following resources all freely available here:
Orientation Deck or Fiscal Sponsors on policy and practice considerations when supporting the use of Advisory Councils.
Orientation Deck for Project Leaders on the definitions, benefits, and design considerations for developing an Advisory Council.
Advisory Council Charter Builder Project leaders can use this DIY tool to develop their own customized Advisory Council charter.
In the coming weeks and months we will host several orientation sessions on this topic for sponsors and projects and make the resulting recordings available via the link above. Our first two conversations will be for fiscal sponsors taking place on March 4th and 6th. The March 4th conversation will provide an overview of the project and review the Deck for Sponsors. For the March 6th conversation, we’ll orient sponsors to the charter builder that they can then take and repurpose to support their community of projects. Based on feedback and learnings from these initial conversations, we will design subsequent sessions for fiscally sponsored projects to be rolled out later in 2025. Please follow these links to register: Link to register for March 4th Conversation and Link here to register for March 6th Conversation. Also note - if you’re already registered for Schulman’s ‘FS Conversations’, you should automatically receive an invite for March 4th and if you’re already on Social Impact Commons’ mailing list, you should automatically receive an invite for March 6th)
About Schulman Consulting
Schulman Consulting is America’s only consultancy exclusively focused on the fiscal sponsorship sector. The firm works with fiscal sponsors and fiscally sponsored projects of all shapes and sizes to overcome a variety of strategic and operational challenges. In addition to client work, the firm operates the Fiscal Sponsor Conversations (weekly Zoom series) and Fiscal Sponsor Hub (online community) to facilitate learning and sharing among fiscal sponsor practitioners.
About Social Impact Commons
Social Impact Commons is a community of fiscal sponsors, sponsored projects, funders, and other ally organizations interested in advancing equity and effectiveness in the nonprofit sector through fiscal sponsorship. Through our research, advocacy, tools, and direct services, membership in Impact Commons is your connection to information and expertise on fiscal sponsorship and nonprofit infrastructure sharing.