Maine's Fiscal Sponsorship Landscape

There are relatively few fiscal sponsors in Maine—and none working at scale or offering a broad range of services. At the same time, there are many small organizations and programs that could benefit from using a fiscal sponsor. There also is considerable confusion about the roles of fiscal sponsors and sponsees, the requirements of funders, and the components and benefits of a sound fiscal sponsorship agreement.

For these reasons, six foundations—the Broad Reach Fund, the Maine Community Foundation, Maine Health Access Foundation, the Onion Foundation, the Sewall Foundation, and the Quimby Family Foundation—commissioned the firm Pivot Point to conduct research on the fiscal sponsorship landscape in Maine. The resulting report, based on a robust survey and interviews, presents themes from a robust survey and interviews, as well as recommendations for ways the funding community could invest in fiscal sponsorship capacity in Maine.

Key Findings

The research surfaced a number of themes:

1. Maine has a shortage of high-quality fiscal sponsorship capacity.
2. Financial concerns are a significant barrier to expanding fiscal sponsorship capacity and services. 
3. Maine has limited resources and supports specifically for fiscal sponsors and sponsees.
4. Personal relationships often drive fiscal sponsorship arrangements in Maine.
5. There is tremendous variation in the expectations and agreements between sponsors and sponsees.
6. Legal and financial standards of practice are not consistently adopted or required. 
7. Funders may have policies and practices that are inadvertent barriers to fiscal sponsorship, but they are keenly interested in taking beneficial actions.
8. Maine nonprofits often struggle to build and sustain capacity for day-to-day operations, which simultaneously increases demand and reduces the supply of fiscal sponsorship services. 

MANP hosted a webinar in June to amplify the findings of the report, and encourage nonprofit leaders and other interested parties to learn about the survey findings, ask questions, and offer their own insights and reactions. The recording is available below.

Questions/reflections/ideas about this research are welcome! Please reach out to Carol Kelly at carolkelly12@msn.com. 

Additional Resources

While we all continue to explore ways to strengthen fiscal sponsorship capacity here in Maine for the future, here are some resources available now:

• Fiscal sponsorship vs. fiscal agency (CharityLawyer)
• Overview of fiscal sponsorship models (FiscalSponsorship.com, Adler & Colvin)
• Social Impact Commons - learning community and technical assistance
• Fiscal sponsorship agreement, annotated template (Rob Levin, MANP Blog)
• ‘Model A’ Fiscal Sponsorship Agreement Template w/in doc guidance (for unincorporated projects & coalitions) (Social Impact Commons)
• ‘Model C’ Fiscal Sponsorship Agreement Template w/ in doc guidance (Social Impact Commons)
• Nonprofit attorneys in Maine
• Report: Reimagining Fiscal Sponsorship in Service of Equity (TSNE, 2021)