Fiscal sponsorship plays a critical—yet often misunderstood—role in supporting early-stage, artist-led, and community-rooted work. This six-part brown-bag Lunch & Learn series is designed to give funders a practical, nuanced understanding of fiscal sponsorship as both an operational model and a strategic tool for advancing impact.
Across six monthly sessions, participants will explore how fiscal sponsorship functions in practice; why projects choose this structure; how due diligence, equity, and impact measurement look within sponsored models; and how funders can engage more effectively and responsibly with fiscally sponsored work. Each session will combine brief framing with facilitated discussion, centering real-world experience and shared learning rather than formal presentation.
Sessions are intended to stand alone, while collectively offering a cohesive learning arc—from foundational concepts to long-term partnership strategies.
Format: Virtual, brown-bag style
Time: 12:00–12:45 PM
Click here for a description of each session.
Core Goals
- Establish shared best practices for fiscal sponsorship in Philadelphia, clarifying roles, standards, and responsible engagement across funders, sponsors, and projects.
- Strengthen relationships between funders and fiscal sponsors through structured, ongoing dialogue that moves beyond transactional grantmaking.
- Build trust across the ecosystem by creating space for candid conversation, transparency, and mutual understanding.
- Clarify accountability among all participants — sponsors, projects, and funders — with shared expectations around compliance, reporting, and stewardship.
- Examine power dynamics explicitly, naming how funding structures shape sustainability, access, and decision-making.
- Advance equity in philanthropic practice, ensuring fiscally sponsored and community-rooted work is supported without undue burden.
- Position fiscal sponsors as critical infrastructure partners, encouraging long-term, strategic collaboration rather than short-term oversight.
- Create an ongoing learning network that strengthens alignment and coherence across Philadelphia’s cultural and social impact landscape.