FAQ

 6.5% of all revenue received + $29/month ($29 x 12 months = $348).  The $29/month cost must be paid via a personal credit card. If your project raises $5,000 or more in a calendar year, the $348 will be refunded to you. We will work with projects with significant revenue to lower admin costs once the project reaches $500K in annual revenue.  Please see this resource for more information.

Typically, there are no additional costs. However, there could be direct costs to projects that require supplemental insurance for activities not covered by our general liability policy or projects that require legal review.  This will be discussed after you submit an application, during the inquiry call. 

First, complete an application.  Once it has been received, we will reach out to schedule an inquiry call with you if we feel we can serve your project well.  Depending on volume, calls are typically scheduled about two weeks from receipt of an application but can sometimes be longer.  We promise that we will answer all of your questions when we speak! How long it takes to onboard a new project depends on the needs of the project and our ability to meet those needs.  Typically, however, we can start a project within three to five weeks of speaking with you.

Once you click “submit” on the application for sponsorship form, a notification will pop up that says, “Success. Your form has been successfully submitted.” If we believe we can serve your project well, we typically reach out within ten business days to schedule a call.

While we aim to take on as many mission-aligned projects as we can, our capacity is not limitless. On average Social Good Fund receives approximately 1,000 applications per year of which we have capacity for approximately 100 new projects. Due to the limitations of our capacity and the high demand, it is often the case that we must say “no” to important mission-aligned initiatives. We apologize for this and encourage you to seek fiscal sponsor parterners using tools like www.fiscalsponsordirectory.org

Though we work to accept as many projects as we can, there are a number of factors that go into the decision making process including, but not limited to: Do the activities and mission of the project meet the 501(c)(3) standard for tax exemption?  Is the project well aligned with Social Good Fund’s mission, vision and values? Does the project have significant liability or risk? Does the project have realistic expectations of a fiscal sponsor?  Do we think we can work well with you/your project to achieve the mission? There are, of course, many other considerations that will be surfaced during the inquiry call, after you submit an application for sponsorship.

• Projects engaging in campaign work to either support or oppose a candidate for office, partisan political activity, or projects whose primary activity is lobbying
• Projects that lobby in or seek to change political systems in foreign countries
• Projects engaging in rallies/demonstrations and/or civil disobedience
• Projects wishing to apply for government funding
• Project offering professional services such as therapy/counseling and other services requiring licensing
• Projects intending to sell merchandise or engaging in other commercial activities (other than mission-aligned fee-for-service activities)
• Projects engaging in religious/spiritual practices
• Projects with employees in countries outside of the US or needing to pay non-USA based vendors
• Projects providing direct financial mutual aid
• Day schools, sleep-away camps
• Projects that manage and or provide housing
• Handling/housing of live animals (wild or otherwise), including equine activities
• Projects offering hands-on wellness/healing services e.g. massage, reiki, etc.
• Projects offering herbal remedies for therapeutic purposes or other traditional or non-traditional healing modalities
• Projects that want to prepare/cook food for public consumption
• Projects offering 1:1 mentorship
• Projects conducting medical research

Often, yes. SGF is proud to offer fiscal sponsorship to organizations operating out of religious value systems and traditions. However, SGF typically will not offer fiscal sponsorship to organizations that, as a primary feature of the organization’s activities, engage in religious practice, ritual, teaching or proselytization.

Typically, no.  Most projects will remain with us until they are ready to move forward independently or dissolve their project completely.  We ask for a minimum of 30 days notice when a project would like to terminate sponsorship.

Start with this excellent resource.  Don’t worry if you still have questions after reading it, we will address everything you need to know to make the right decision (A or C)  during the inquiry call, after you have submitted an application.

 First, complete an application for sponsorship.  Once we have received it, we will reach out to schedule an inquiry call with you. The speed at which we can move will depend on how full our project on-boarding schedule is and what your exact needs are.  After speaking, we can typically move a project forward in a few days if necessary.

In most cases, yes.  This will be discussed in detail during the inquiry call. 

In most cases, yes, if it is an allowable 501(c)(3) activity, not in support of a political candidate, and we are notified of your intention to engage in the activity PRIOR to carrying it out and it is in alignment with our mission and values. 

No.  Though we recognize the power of CD as a tool for social change, projects cannot break any laws or put people in harm’s way.

No, we do not accept government grants.

In most cases, yes, if it is tightly aligned with the mission of the project.  Details of earned revenue will be discussed during the inquiry call, after you submit an application for sponsorship.

In most cases, no, not directly within your project. Social Good Fund is not set up for projects to engage in eCommerce activities.  Your project can, however, offer a gift in return for a donation much like your local NPR station. E.g. Donate $100 and receive a t-shirt valued at $20, donation amount will be $80.

Generally, no. But maybe, and only if the expenditure happened in the current fiscal (calendar) year. This can be discussed during an inquiry call after you submit an application.

Generally, yes. 

No.

Yes your project can have employees but only if you have the funds to pay for them.  We require that projects with employees keep three months of salary and benefits liability, for every employee, in your account with us at all times. We offer nationwide health, dental and vision plans.  Costs will depend on several factors including age and location of the employee. We also offer commuter benefits, a 403b retirement plan, and health and child care FSAs. The details of our benefit plans will be discussed during the inquiry and onboarding phases.

No. However, you can often pay people working internationally as Independent Contractors depending on the exact circumstances of your project.

In most cases, yes, provided the work actually qualifies as IC work and not as employee work.  Check out these resources to learn more: Federal.  California.

In most cases, yes.  However, we always require that a U.S. citizen with a U.S. address sign the agreement and act as the Project Director.  The correct model of fiscal sponsorship for international projects will be determined during the inquiry call, after we receive an application for sponsorship from you.

Yes, feel free to take a look at our page of selected current projects.  Feel free to reach out to any one of them to discuss their experience with us.

Absolutely!  Once you’ve established your 501(c)(3) we’ll transfer any remaining assets of your project to your newly formed nonprofit organization provided the mission of your new org is aligned with the mission of your project with us.  For example, if your project with us is focused on helping homeless people and then you establish a 501(c)(3) with a mission to protect the Pacific Ocean, we would not transfer the assets of your project to your new organization as we must honor the original purpose for which donations have been made to your project. But it is our aim to transfer all project funds and other assets to any newly established 501(c)3 organization, and (in very rare cases) should any issues arise we will work together to resolve them.

No, SGF does not provide back-office support to current 501(c)(3) organizations and in order to be considered for fiscal sponsorship (with included back-office support ie. Model A fiscal sponsorship) the organization would need to dissolve its incorporated entity and let go of its tax exempt status.

No. A fiscal sponsor cannot enter a Model A agreement with another incorporated entity. This includes nonprofit corporations, LLCs, C corps, S corps, etc. However, Model C fiscal sponsorship is a possibility. 

If you’re serious about pursuing fiscal sponsorship, complete an application on our website.  If it seems like a good fit, we’ll reach out to schedule a call with you and answer all your questions at that time.

The first thing we assess is whether the work is charitable. For that reason, we strongly encourage potential projects to ensure that the proposed mission and activities would likely be approved by the IRS if the project was to apply for its own tax exemption. If you are unable to speak with an exempt law attorney for this purpose, we recommend using an AI chatbot using the following prompt: “Would the following mission and activities by approved by the IRS for 501(c)(3) tax exempt status?”  This prompt will give you the best chance of receiving reliable feedback from the chatbot. We suggest incorporating any AI feedback into your application for fiscal sponsorship. For example, the AI chatbot can help you refine your mission statement or tweak your activities such that they both meet the standard for IRS exemption. Please DO NOT copy and paste all the feedback you may receive from an AI chatbot into the application for fiscal sponsorship. Only use it to refine the mission and activities you are proposing in the application.

In addition, we need to understand – quickly – what the project will actually be doing/what the activities look like. This section of the application is incredibly important. Please describe your proposed work with enough detail that we could distinguish it from similar ideas and understand what the day-to-day might look like.

Further, we encourage you to be realistic about how much money you intend to raise and to spend time researching fiscal sponsorship Models. This article describing “Model A” and “Model C” is recommended reading.