Fiscal sponsors are often go-to platforms for start-up social ventures of all kinds. This work is accompanied by some significant risks: high demand for services and support along with potentially little money (at first) and untested program services and income streams.

To manage these risks with more intention and allow more “dating before marriage” for new projects, some sponsors have borrowed tactics and models from business incubators and accelerators. We will discuss some of the pros and cons of this approach to managing the speculative risk of start-up projects. Join us in discussing such questions as:

• How can we provide scalable support to start-up and grassroots projects?

• How do we thinking about subsidy or cost recovery for our support of nascent work?

• What are the kinds of support that start-ups need? What are barriers to accessing that support?

• Everything entails risk. But how do we assess our relationship with new projects and make decisions about ending a project relationship or continuing to invest/support the work?

This conversation may be of particular interest to sponsors (in particular Models A and L), funders, and project leaders engaged in any area of social impact work.