[andrews]

Just to add a bit of clarification to @Kate‘s reply to #1 — if the project has a “board,” that group has no legal or fiduciary responsibilities. Those all roll up to the sponsor’s fiduciary Board of Directors. Some sponsors require an “advisory board” which can operate in any number of ways (it can be more informal advisory or operate a bit more formally — but it’s important to remember that it ultimately has very little-to-no authority to govern the project’s activities).

[andrews]

There’s already some good advice shared here but I’ll add that not all fiscal sponsors are the same and there are a few different models of fiscal sponsorship out in the world that have VERY different implications for the relationship and what your project’s responsibilities will be vs what the sponsor would be responsible for.

For background. I’m a consultant that focuses exclusively on the fiscal sponsorship sector – working both with sponsors and sponsored projects. If I can be helpful in any way, please don’t hesitate to reach out.

[andrews]

Also not an attorney, but it’s my understanding that a 501cX organization can only fiscally sponsor projects that fall into the same IRS designation. For example, 501c3 organizations can fiscally sponsor other c3-type organizations. Same for c4 organizations. While I have not come across many c7-type organizations seeking fiscal sponsorship, my understanding is that they’d have to seek that fiscal sponsorship from an existing c7.

But, as a counterpoint, if the organization has already has c7 status from the IRS, what’s the benefit of it becoming fiscally sponsored by another organization?