Their job is to make it as simple as possible for their partner projects to focus on serving the community.

As a fiscal sponsor, the San Francisco Public Health Foundation partners with projects that benefit from having administrative support for their work and need tax exempt status for the fundraising that is critical in meeting their goals. They assist projects with bookkeeping, resource development, strategic planning, human resources administration and other services.

What is fiscal sponsorship?
A fiscal sponsor is a nonprofit organization that extends its tax-exempt status to unincorporated groups or projects engaged in activities related to the fiscal sponsor’s mission. Typically, in exchange for a fee, the established nonprofit provides such groups or projects with the benefits of a tax-exempt status, and a range of other financial and administrative services. Projects become part of the larger legal entity, but continue to fund raise and carry out their program strategies while the fiscal sponsor takes care of the administrative aspects of running the organization.

Why choose fiscal sponsorship?
Starting a nonprofit and gaining 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status on your own is expensive and time-consuming, as is developing the administrative, legal, and financial resources necessary to manage your organization. Fiscal sponsorship saves projects time and money by providing tax-exempt status and a shared administrative platform which may include payroll, employee benefits, publicity, insurance and grant seeking training. You can become a project as an interim step before creating your own 501(c)(3) organization, or like some of their projects, you can benefit from the efficiencies and cost savings of their shared platform for an extended period of time. Working under the umbrella of a fiscal sponsor makes sense for projects that are just starting out, choosing to stay small and lean, or working on increasing credibility and visibility to funders.

Why SFPHF?
They are as passionate about their community’s public health as the projects they support. Their projects all benefit from being part of a family of organizations working towards similar goals. They are also small enough to offer customized, individual attention and get things started quickly, but large enough to offer a full range of fiscal sponsorship services at a competitive rate.