Fiscal Sponsorship

 

Philanthropy New York offers fiscal sponsorship services for initiatives and projects led and funded by PNY member organizations.

What is fiscal sponsorship?

One of the challenges in starting certain new types of initiatives in the nonprofit sector is the vast amount of effort required to set up, establish, and administer new legal entities. Even after all the IRS filings to get things started, the establishment of a nonprofit necessitates the creation of financial, legal, and human resources infrastructure that can be a huge challenge for new entities. Fiscal sponsorship at Philanthropy New York is a valuable, cost-effective service we offer to members that enables charitable projects to quickly begin working towards their mission and efficiently manage back-office operations. Like all other fiscal sponsors, we are a 501(c) (3) charitable organization that offers charitable groups, projects, and donor collaborations a tax-exempt home. A fiscal sponsor provides administrative services such as accounting, human resources, and grants management. This enables the sponsored project to focus on mission-related activities such as programming and fundraising. Philanthropy New York provides fiscal sponsorship services to initiatives funded by our members.

Nonprofit 501(c)(3) organizations may act as a host and an administrator for external projects that require financial support but do not have tax-exempt status. The primary benefit is that the sponsor’s status enables donations to the project to qualify as tax-deductible contributions.

Current Philanthropy New York members interested in learning more about working with PNY on a sponsored project should contact Nafeeza Alie (Director of Administration and Finance).

For a larger directory of fiscal sponsors, visit the National Network of Fiscal Sponsors.

Why Philanthropy New York?

Fiscal sponsorship directly furthers our mission of encouraging and supporting effective, efficient philanthropic investment. For more than a decade, we have provided comprehensive fiscal sponsorship services to our members and we have the infrastructure and expertise to help you take your philanthropic vision from idea to reality.

  • EFFICIENT We take care of all the administrative and back-office details, so you can focus on your mission.
  • EFFECTIVE With more than ten years of fiscal sponsorship experience, we have the tools, expertise, and proven track record to help you succeed.
  • INFORMED We know the rules and regulations that govern the work in the nonprofit and philanthropic sectors.
  • COST EFFECTIVE Fiscal projects are assessed a fee of 9% on all income to the project. The fee is only taken on new income and does not apply to funds that roll over from one fiscal year to the next. These fees cover the services listed here. Philanthropy New York is not the only philanthropic infrastructure organization that offers fiscal sponsorship services. Our members come to us for fiscal sponsorship of their new projects because they know and trust us, have confidence that our proximity and deep knowledge of the sector works in their favor, and consider us a great value, as our management fee rate is, on average, lower than those of other fiscal sponsors.

As a Fiscal Sponsor, Philanthropy New York:

  • Hires and manages independent contractors on behalf of the project
  • Develops and executes contracts on behalf of the project
  • Maintains monthly financial statements, including P&L statement, balance sheet, and cash flow report
  • Reports monthly grant balances
  • Creates custom reports (e.g. Budget to Actuals, Balance Sheet, etc.)
  • Receives manages and disburses grant funds and deposits all funds into a separate bank account.
  • Receives and documents donations and other non-grant income/match funds
  • Generates donor thank you letters
  • Prepares weekly checks
  • Prepares/submits annual tax records including annual audit
  • Reviews grant application budgets prior to submission
  • Prepares and submits grant reports
  • Provides administrative forms, policy documents, and procedures
  • Files State Registration for each state in which the project will collect funds
  • Retains financial records at least 7 years after closure of project
  • Provides general liability insurance for the Project under our general liability insurance policy