NNFS National Gathering 2023

Welcome to the 2023 National Gathering! Register with us and enjoy a light breakfast spread before the program starts.

South Ballroom
Moderated by Louisa Mfum-Mensah, Director of Executive Operations, UAC

Join us in welcoming two New Orleans based fiscal sponsors Learn about their work and some of the issues they face in the region, as well as how their fiscal sponsorship practices support their Projects/Partners' impact across the region. Hear from Jessica Kinnison (she/her), Fiscal Sponsorship Program Director from the Foundation of Louisiana (www.foundationforlouisiana.org) , and Carole Frances Lung (they/them), Executive Director of Antenna, (www.antenna.works)

Group sessions varying topics such as:

Teche
Community Voice on Governance
Sarah McCann, Director of Partnerships at Fusion Partnerships, Inc.

Fusion Partnerships believes deeply in governance by those impacted by that governance and we put our values into action by reserving three seats on our Board of Directors for leaders of our fiscally sponsored Partner organizations. These individuals are selected by our Partner Advisory Council and serve the same terms as other Board members. Learn more about this structure, it's pros and cons, and lessons learned.

Oak Alley
Arts
Madeleine Cutrona, Director of Fiscal Sponsorship, NYFA
Angela Carranza, ED, Fresh Arts

Affinity Meet up for Arts organizations.

Madewood
BIPOC
Blair Franklin, Principal & Lead Consultant, Alight Alchemy
Yeleen Lee, Portfolio Manager, Neo Philanthropy

Affinity meet up for BIPOC attendees.

Evangeline B
Field Scan Overview
Thaddeus Squire, Chief Commons Steward, Social Impact Commons
Asta Petkeviciute, Chief Financial Steward, Social Impact Commons
Joshua Sattely, Chief Legal Steward, Social Impact Commons

High-level findings of the field scan and recommended summary next steps. Followed by a full session encouraging conversation and questions about policy, advocacy and further research needed that we see emerging.

Evangeline C
Finance Staff
Noah Stockman, CFO, TSNE

Affinity meet up for Finance folks.

Evangeline A
HR Baggage Claims: Cultivating Healthy and Authentic Work Environments
Thembi Maiden, Director of Talent Operations, Urban Affairs Coalition
Louisa Mfum-Mensah, Director of Executive Operations

We will explore strategies centering care for our collective humanity to cultivate a culture of transparency and accountability and for improving workplace morale and encouraging staff to come to work as their whole and authentic selves.

Regal Suite
Emerging/New FS/First Time Attendees
Andrew Schulman, Principal, Schulman Consulting

Affinity meet up for emerging/new attendees.

Restaurant Revolution

Enjoy Lunch at the Restaurant Revolution in the Courtyard!

Teche
Taking Care of Fiscal Sponsorship Staff: One Year Later
Colleen Hughes, Director of Programs Compliance, Fractured Atlas Lauren Lattimore, Associate Director, Memberships & Operations, Fractured Atlas

Fiscal Sponsorship staff are necessary, but it can be taxing to support your program when your staff are juggling communications with multiple projects, some of which may be treating them unfairly. This can lead to burnout and rapid turnover. In this session, we'll talk about Fractured Atlas's approach to caring for our FS staff, and an overview of our Care-centered Customer Service techniques (fka Negative Interactions Guidelines) and how we continue to evolve them with time.

Oak Alley
Budgeting as a Fiscal Sponsor and Leveraging Budgeting Software to Escape Spreadsheet Hell
Braxton Cahill, Controller, Community Initiatives
Michael Aldred, Sr. Manager of Solutions & Client Success, Limelight

Fiscal sponsor budgeting can be particularly complex and overwhelming. For those looking for a more streamlined solution than spreadsheets, this session will examine how today’s FP&A software can make budgeting, forecasting and reporting more effective, efficient and even enjoyable. Learn how to make the journey from struggling with complexities to growing with transparency, accuracy and accountability.

Madewood
Part I: Transitioning Projects: Closing Out: Strategies for Transitioning
Julia Strauch, Senior Manager, BDO
Lauren Levine, Senior Advisor, Tides
Flannery Berg, Director, BDO

Fiscal Sponsorship comes to an end for many reasons. This session will describe practical approaches to spin-offs that serve both the sponsor and Partner projects so that sponsors can prepare for and navigate simple and complex transitions.

Evangeline C
Fiscal Sponsorship 101
Andrew Schulman, Principal, Schulman Consulting
Josh Burgner, Sr. Manager, Fiscal Sponsorship, Mission Edge San Diego

In this session, we will focus on the basic terms, concepts and activities of fiscal sponsorship. The session is geared toward attendees who are newer to fiscal sponsorship, or those who just want a refresher, and those in attendance will walk away with a firmer grasp of what fiscal sponsorship can be and how it can be operationalized.

Evangeline B
Advocating for the Fiscal Sponsorship Field
Thaddeus Squire, Chief Commons Steward, Social Impact Commons
Asta Petkeviciute, Chief Financial Steward, Social Impact Commons
Joshua Sattely, Chief Legal Steward, Social Impact Commons

This is an open conversation/Q&A about the field scan, along with some deeper dives into a few of the subsets of data and an overview of our planned research and advocacy work moving forward. What are the next steps beyond the field scan and what possible futures do we see emerging for the field?

Evangeline A
Strategies for Fiscal Sponsors to Navigate the Post Pandemic Era
Ali Chalak, Partner, Moss Adams LLP
Shannon Scott, CFO, New Venture Fund

Last year, we discussed the meaningful and positive impacts the relationship between a fiscal sponsor and its auditors can have on the sponsor and projects. This year, we will discuss how fiscal sponsors and projects can navigate and discover the need for changes in the post pandemic era, as many are facing transformation in leadership, staffing, technology and focus on mission. The panel will share ideas on how to create a collaborative relationship that satisfies compliance, mitigates risk, and fosters the success of the project and its mission.

Regal Suite
Managing Risk in the FS Relationship
Lori Gordon, Director, Fiscal Sponsorship, TSNE
Sam Chery, Assistant General Counsel, TSNE

Hear about TSNE’s journey over the past 2+ years in assessing risk of incoming fiscally sponsored projects, developing a new fiscal sponsor agreement (FSA) rooted in risk mitigation, and providing comprehensive training and learning opportunities, all which help our fiscally sponsored projects navigate the complexities of working in the social justice and equity space. There will be opportunity for discussion based on mini cases and individual attendee challenges.

Teche
More Accountable, More Possible: An Emergent Discussion with Fiscal Sponsors
Blair Franklin, Principal & Lead Consultant, Alight Alchemy
Yeleen Lee, Portfolio Manager, Neo Philanthropy

Accountability, often heard but rarely defined, is “a continuous, active, and voluntary process of being responsible to yourself and those around you for your choices and the consequences of your choices.” Transformative justice practitioners ask us to imagine accountability work as an opportunity to generate new ideas, build stronger relationships and care for one another more deeply. Join us as we explore and practice tools to unpack the axes of accountability within fiscal sponsorship - accountability to ourselves, our projects, our organizations, and our movements.

Belle Grove
Capacity Building for Fiscally Sponsored Projects: Advantages and Disadvantages
Jill Smith, VP of Operations, Possibility Labs
Jennifer Quaye-Hudson, ED, A Better Way Foundation
Laura Burfoot, Project Development Director, A Better Way Foundation
Randall Huerta, Operations Manager, Possibility Labs

Model A fiscal Sponsorship is a powerful tool to support efforts and might not otherwise succeed, especially for BIPOC project leaders who typically face hurdles to accessing funding and support. This session organizes a discussion about providing capacity building support for partners, welcoming a robust consideration of different models and how fiscal sponsors are navigating equity considerations.

Oak Alley
Fiscal Sponsorship from a Funder’s Perspective: Challenges and Opportunities
Henri Benaim, Associate General Counsel, Mellon Foundation

Over the past few years, many large funders have made a deliberate effort to diversify the grantees they support across many dimensions. Among other things, this has led to an increase of support for smaller and newer organizations – organizations which often turn to fiscal sponsorship as a tool for growth and fundraising. For many funders, the pool of fiscal sponsors is also growing to include organizations who are serving as first-time fiscal sponsors. This discussion-focused session will provide the perspective of one such funder on this changing grantmaking landscape.

Madewood
Partnering with Nonprofit Funders to Drive Social Impact and Lasting Change
Duane Thornton, VP, Development & Strategic Partnerships, Urban Affairs Coalition
Cheryl Pollard, Development & Strategic Partnerships, Urban Affairs Coalition

This interactive session will discuss strategies and share best practices for engaging funders who prioritize social impact. Based on learned experiences with real UAC’s fundraising initiatives including the Annual Urban Affairs Coalition Breakfast – Philadelphia’s Premier Networking Event! Attendees will be invited to share their experiences in a cross-learning opportunity and build a plan to drive partnerships and increase revenues.

Evangeline C
Implementing Technology Changes: Selection, Design, and Transition
Asta Petkeviciute, Chief Financial Steward, Social Impact Commons
Lupe Solorio, Vice President, Fiscal Sponsorship & Capacity Development, Community Partners
Noah Stockman, Chief Financial Officer, TSNE
Jacob Winterstein, Director of Finance and Operations, Movement Alliance Project

Shifting or upgrading technology remains a perennial opportunity for sponsors, mainly regarding financial (accounting) and other operational systems.n this fireside chat session, we will reflect on the data on functions and systems used from the field scan and explore how different organizations approach systems transition planning, readiness, and implementation. Most notably, during this session, Community Partners, TSNE, and Movement Alliance Project representatives will reflect on their current systems and share the learnings from the selection, design, and transition approaches.

Evangeline B
Does Being a BIPOC investor count for impact?
Luan Dinh, CFA, Senior Vice President, Bivium Capital Partners
Shannon Scott, CFO, New Venture Fund
Daryn Dodson, Managing Director, Illumen Capital
Jason Miles, Green Book Ventures
Bernard Roberson, COO, Hackett Robertson Tobe Group
Aleda Gagarin, VP of Influence, Candid
Brigette Lumpkins, Director, Client Portfolio Manager, Bivium Westfuller

Engage in a conversation related to the SCOTUS decision on affirmative action and what that may mean for impact investing and explore the effect on nonprofits and Racial/gender-based projects being targeted by certain political groups. Does this impact who fiscal sponsors take on as clients? Participants will come away having engaged in a real time discussion on the implications of moving in mission or impact aligned ways in today’s political climate, and the strategies required to measure and communicate impact, as well as the partnerships that must be formed to continue moving the work forward.

Evangeline A
Accounting and Financial Operations for Model C Fiscal Sponsorship
Tiffany Vergara, Senior Director of Finance, Fractured Atlas
Emily Kasak, Associate Director, Membership & Fiscal Operations, Fractured Atlas

It can be challenging to navigate the complexities of accounting for a new or evolving Model C fiscal sponsorship program and to build operational procedures to support those. In this session, Fractured Atlas will share its approach, taking into consideration GAAP principles as wellas fiscal sponsorship and accounting best practices and the programmatic operations that support it.

Regal Suite
Can we sponsor that?!? Assessing the 501(c)(3)-ness of prospective projects
Erin Bradrick, Principal, NEO Law Group
Nancy McGlamery, Principal, Adler & Colvin

Join us for an interactive session where we’ll explore how fiscal sponsors assess the “501(c)(3)-ness” and mission-consistency of prospective projects. In a (low pressure!) game format, we’ll tackle thorny issue areas on the edge of charitability, including economic development, cannabis, and abortion healthcare access. We’ll highlight potential approaches to the prospective project review process, discuss the role of staff and the Board, and address how the relevant considerations might differ between comprehensive (Model A) and grant relationship (Model C) fiscal sponsorship.

Fleu de Lis & Courtyard
Sponsored by Tides
Co-Sponsored by Moss Adams

Come join for a Happy Hour Reception at Fleu de Lis & Courtyard and network with Fellow Attendees. Enjoy light snacks and drinks.