Fiscal sponsors have shown rapid growth in the last 20 years, according to a report from Social Impact Commons and the National Network of Fiscal Sponsors (NNFS).

The report, Fiscal Sponsor Field Scan 2023 (101 pages, PDF), the first of its kind in 17 years, found that as fiscal sponsorship has grown, the sponsors have stewarded billions of dollars in community investment, while providing critical back-office infrastructure to diverse nonprofit programs. Based on surveys conducted during 2022 and 2023 from 100 fiscal sponsors, the report found that 73 percent of respondents were formed after 2000. More than half (53 percent) were locally and regionally focused sponsors, working within the communities they serve, followed by sponsors with a national reach (38 percent) and international reach (9 percent). According to the report, 58 percent of respondents were medium to large in budget size, with expenses of between $1 million and $50 million.

In addition to the field scan, Social Impact Commons published a position paper that presents a vision for the fiscal sponsorship field, focusing on a broader collaborative approach to nonprofit infrastructure sharing called management commons.

“Fiscal sponsors are a large and growing part of the nonprofit landscape,” said Social Impact Commons chief commons steward Thaddeus Squire. “They provide a wide range of support and guidance to the projects they sponsor, and our research shows they sponsor projects with very diverse leadership. Nonprofit organizations of all types should consider fiscal sponsorship in developing their programming, funding, and overall business model development. Seventy-six percent of the organizations that responded to our survey offered fiscal sponsorship alongside other programs, indicating that fiscal sponsorship, as shared infrastructure, is also a potential business model for nonprofits.”

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