For Fiscal Sponsors & Projects

Social Impact Commons helps build equitable, resilient, and impactful fiscal sponsors and related backbone organizations through a whole systems approach. Through our membership model, we provide access to. . .

Commons Member Benefits

  • Organization Members gain access to a comprehensive suite of DIY tools, templates, and guidance docs developed by and for fiscal sponsors and fiscally sponsored projects. New resources are added regularly in response to the needs of our Members. A current inventory of our library can be found here.

  • We provide our members and their sponsored projects with direct advisory and consulting support in the below areas. While most of our support is for fiscal sponsors, we also regularly provide many of the below supports to sponsored projects of our member organizations. We do not offer membership or supports to projects that are not affiliated with current member sponsors.

    • Program Design

    • Lean Strategic Planning

    • Financial Management & Portfolio analysis

    • SAGE Intacct Planning & Implementation Support

    • Technology Procurement Staff Training & Professional Development

    • Interim Staff Augmentation

    • Policy & Procedures Review & Development

    • Legal & Risk Review & Advisement

    • Contract Drafting & Review

    • Structuring Complex Relationships

    • Project Transitions

    • Educational Workshops

    • 360 Planning & Review

    • General Problem Solving & Day to Day Advice

  • Social Impact Commons offers the only AICPA-approved, market-leading, multi-entity accounting system, Sage Intacct. Sage Intacct provides best-in-class accounting capabilities, access to a diverse set of data and reports, easy integration with CRM, payroll, and other enterprise solutions, allowing data to flow between multiple systems with ease.

    Our custom Intacct package and instance is designed by and for fiscal sponsors and is available through our exclusive partnership with the Sage Intacct Accountant Program (SIAP). Along with implementation support, we provide access to this globally acclaimed system to our Members at a fraction of retail licensing costs (up to 80% off retail!)

    For more information download our informational deck.

  • We routinely provide custom workshops and trainings for the boards, staff, and stakeholders of our Member Organizations.

  • Social Impact Commons values ongoing learning with, among, and for our Members. Through our bi-weekly Member Conversation Series we provide space to step back from the daily grind and dive into topics large and small that concern fiscal sponsorship, commoning, social justice, and other aspects of our field. We also engage in ongoing knowledge creation and sharing with our Member community through special research and learning initiatives.

Accessible Pricing

Our pricing model is structured to be hassle free and accessible:

  • Annual Membership Dues: $750/year, pro-rated to a July 1st annual cycle start date - provides access to membership library, discounted direct services and enterprise solutions tailored for fiscal sponsors.

  • Direct Support Time: We provide both on-call and scoped work to our organization members at a discounted rate of $200/hour for senior team support and $125/hr for finance support provided by non-senior staff, billed monthly. Impact Commons may charge for up to 30 minutes time for scheduled meetings Member does attend and does not cancel within 24 hours of the start time.

  • Enterprise Solutions: We offer deeply discounted access to a tailored instance of the SAGE Intacct accounting system and a pooled retirement plan we administer. Pricing is subject to Member’s level of utilization.

In most instances, Projects interested in accessing the benefits of Membership should refer their Sponsor to us. Occasionally we will provide individual projects with contracted support outside of a membership relationship.

Some Ways We Support

  • You’re on your way as a fiscal sponsor, but you need occasional brainstorming or sounding board support for new policies and practices. You call us and ask for feedback from time to time.

  • You have a project contemplating spin out and you want help evaluating the relationship from both sides and helping the project through the thought process. We use our Spin Out Assessment Tool to frame the conversation.

  • You have a bunch of new board members who want to learn how fiscal sponsorship works, as well as trends and strategic questions for governance. We conduct a board orientation and workshop.

  • You’re brand new to fiscal sponsorship and need policies, practices, updates to your accounting system, as well as template forms and Fiscal Sponsorship Agreements. We have you covered.

  • You want to upgrade your accounting system from QuickBooks to a true multi-entity accounting system where projects can access their own financial dashboard. We help you implement Sage Intacct at a deep discount.

  • You want to analyze and run scenarios on your portfolio and forecast when you’ll need to add more staff. We complete a Portfolio Analysis Tool that you can use to do scenario forecasts as well.

Learn More & Join

A new member intake form is currently in development. If you’re interested in membership, schedule a meeting with us to discuss. If you’re curious about Membership terms, check out our sample agreement below.

Review our Membership Agreement

Schedule a Meeting