Providing capacity building training and coaching to non profit organizations on fiscal sponsorship, independent operational infrastructure, and justice-led opera
The Resilience Initiative (RI) offers support to over 200 member organizations, with a range of flexible, easy to access, bite-size offerings to help them jumpstart their operational and personal resilience.
RI’s membership was in need of more tactical support, training, and guidance on non profit operations. They were looking to educate their members on how to strengthen relationships with their fiscal sponsors, help their members determine when is the right time to transition out of fiscal sponsorship and what it takes, as well as how to ensure their internal operational infrastructure reflects their organizational values.
The Ops Collective Supported RI Members by:
Delivering a three-part training series on the following topics:
Session 1: How To Get The Most Out Of Your Fiscal Sponsor Relationship
The first part of the session focused on the question “How do I know my fiscal sponsor is best servicing me?”. We explored what we believe are the most important aspects of any fiscal sponsor engagement, including the relationship, the services, and the fee. This session gave organizations/projects an opportunity to evaluate their current fiscal sponsor engagement, and provided them with the tools, resources, and questions to do so.
This second part of the session explored what steps to take when projects/ organizations are frustrated with their current fiscal sponsor relationship. While transitioning into an independent entity is one option, there are a few others to consider. We went over the highlevel pros and cons of each option, shared tools and resources, and provided case studies of what can come next.
The last part of this session focused on projects/organizations that are ready to leave their fiscal sponsor, but are not sure on what the next steps would entail. We covered how to make that decision and what criteria to consider.
Session Two: When Is It Time To Move On? How To Plan For A Separation From Your Fiscal Sponsor
This session covered all aspects of transitioning out from a fiscal sponsor from The questions an organization / project will need to consider before making the decision to transition, how to make the decision, and the operational and financial capacity required to make that move.
It covered what is required for an organization or project to maintain independent operations; from finance and budgetary needs, to compliance, HR and people operations, as well as requirements for affiliated 501c3 and 501c4 organizations.
We will shared recommendations and best practices on topics like:
How to source and find an accountant/bookkeeper
How to utilize a professional employment organization (PEO)
The capacity building required to have strong operations (hiring operations staff, etc.)
Finally, we discussed the benefits as well as challenges of making these decisions, and how best to implement a strong operational strategy for independent operations.
Session Three: Grounding Operations from a Place of Liberation and Justice
This session focused on organizational operations in a more holistic manner. It dove into how to create a values based operational strategic plan, covering ways in which organizations can create policies, procedures, as well as build infrastructure, that are worker forward, and are rooted in equity and liberation. It discussed how to break down tenets of white supremacy that often arise in operations work, and where there are opportunities to infuse joy and justice into all aspects of the work. During the training, we shared examples, best practices, and provided recommendations and suggestions for ways to ensure organizations are leading from a place of liberation and justice.
Providing 1:1 coaching to RI member organizations at their request. Coaching topics ranged from financial management, fiscal sponsorship, to internal policy development.
