As the nation's largest fiscal sponsor, Tides takes its leadership role seriously. That’s why we have acted as the host of the National Network of Fiscal Sponsors for the past six years and why we’re proud to promote the newly developed Guidelines for Fiscal Sponsorship. Congratulations to Tides’ Jane Levikow, who serves as the chair of NNFS, and the other members of the NNFS steering committee who have contributed to this important...
Fiscal sponsorship is practiced across the country in dynamic ways by dedicated organizations that believe social innovators should be more concerned with achieving their missions than with establishing and maintaining the administrative infrastructure of an organization. Yet, as an emerging field, fiscal sponsorship can raise questions of regulatory compliance for funders and programs struggling to understand the true nature of the relationship between a fiscal sponsor and its projects.
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Guest post by Timothy Smith, Senior Vice President, Environment, Social and Governance Group at Walden Asset Management
The investment portfolio at Tides has been managed for decades by Walden Asset Management (formerly U.S. Trust of Boston), a leader in sustainable and responsible investing. Here are four areas where Walden helps Tides' investments to support a double bottom line of financial returns and social change: Screening; Public Policy; Community Development Investing; and Shareowner Engagement & Advocacy.
There is a lot of talk in the air these days about networks. At a recent conference, activists discussed how the future of social change movement rests in how we network our individual efforts with one another to create more coordinated and unified action - examples of that power can be seen in the past weekend's successful efforts around Health Reform and the turn out for the Washington Immigration march. Today I'm part of a conversation with a few foundations at Monitor Institute about networks within philanthropy and how grantmakers that intentionally put their institutional egos aside and link with others around common strategies and approaches to solving key social issues will see greater impact from their grants. Funding the NETWORK, and the tools and capacities a network needs to succeed, has been a growing conversation in philanthropy as we search for ways to support the kind of social changes many of us were created to support.
I know it probably sounds silly when I say that I'm passionate about fiscal sponsorship, but the truth is—I am! I care about how fiscally sponsored projects are treated and I care about how fiscal sponsors practice in the field. Mistakes made in the field affect all fiscal sponsors in very real ways, regardless if the errors are malicious or honest. As Tides' Intake Manager, I am often one of the first people an aggrieved project comes to for solace and guidance after it realizes it’s been cheated or mistreated by their fiscal sponsor.
I was asked by the conference organizers to talk about fiscal sponsorship in the context of other infrastructure services provided by Tides. Attendees included heads of federations of nonprofits; representatives of women- or people of color-led organizations; senior leaders of the U.K. equivalent of Independent Sector and the Council on Foundations; and groups providing services on the county and local levels. Although, in fact, fiscal sponsorship does exist in the U.K. on an informal level (as it does in the U.S.), there are no organizations providing comprehensive fiscal sponsorship programs like Tides and Third Sector New England provide in the U.S. Indeed, many attendees had never heard of the concept. So my presentation was well received and my workshops well attended. I'm looking forward to follow up from attendees with Tides and Tides Canada on the viability of this smart, efficient, cost-effective model for the U.K.
I am excited to announce the launch of What's Possible: the Tides Blog – written by and for people interested in creating strong infrastructure for the social change sector. In this sector, what we do (the mission work that gets us up every morning for a vision of a just and equitable world) is interwoven with how we do it (the organizations we create to implement our vision). If we don’t pay attention to the infrastructure we are putting in place to support the work necessary to implement our visions, the lack of strong organizational practices and efforts will ultimately cause us distraction from our work, at best, and at worse, result in the dissolution of the very organizations we have created to do the work.
As doing more with less has become the new normal for nonprofits of all shapes and sizes, budget-savvy nonprofits are wisely teaming up to share resources and services through innovative “shared services” programs. Sharing workspaces, IT resources, administrative functions like accounting and human resources and other services through a shared services arrangement is a relatively easy—yet highly effective—way for nonprofits to increase their operational efficiencies, lower their operating costs and focus more energy on advancing their core mission and less on back office functions.
The nonprofit sector is a sector of innovation, creativity, and people working for the common good. More than 14 million Americans - 11 percent of American workers - are employed by or volunteer full-time in the nonprofit sector; more than the financial industry and the auto industry combined.
In a recent article entitled Charities Rise, Costing U.S. Billions in Tax Breaks, Stephanie Strom of the New York Times raises concerns about an out of control nonprofit sector that is flooding the IRS with frivolous new applications to establish new public charities that will deprive the federal budget of billions of dollars. She demonstrates her point by citing new groups such as Save Your Ass Long Ear Rescue, working to save donkeys from cruelty; new chapters of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, a group of cross-dressing nuns raising money for AIDS treatment; and the Red Nose Institute, a group of trained clowns trying to bring relief to US troops abroad by distributing clown noses.
The Tides mission is to partner with philanthropists, foundations, activists, and organizations across the country and around the globe to promote economic justice, robust democratic processes, and the opportunity to live in a healthy and sustainable environment where human rights are preserved and protected.
