Solving Problems for Nonprofits

Community Initiatives has supported hundreds of projects for over 25 years.

The Problem

What is the Problem for Nonprofits?

You’ve done the hard work.

You’ve identified a solution to a problem in your community. Now you want to create an effective, compliant, and sustainable organization to keep this solution going.

Many potential community leaders are stopped in their tracks by the overwhelming process of getting a business license, 501(c)(3) status, and costly steps like hiring, insurance, and legal liabilities.

Are you considering fiscal sponsorship? Learn more about it in our downloadable “Introduction to Community Initiatives” booklet below.

What is Fiscal Sponsorship?

A fiscal sponsor is a nonprofit organization that shares its 501(c)(3) status with qualified nonprofit projects.
Some offer a bare bones service model, where they simply share their status for a very small fee.
Other nonprofits become fiscal sponsors when they share their status with select partners in their network, but they do not always have the capacity or the know-how to support other organizations.
As a comprehensive fiscal sponsor, Community Initiatives takes on all legal and fiduciary responsibility for projects, its employees, and its activities.

Community Initiatives by the Numbers

Annually, Community Initiatives manages over $40 million in nonprofit assets for over 100 projects. Every year, we:

Administer around 350 institutional grants
Process over 8,000 individual donations
Support over 250 employees
Conduct nearly 200 background checks

Questions nonprofits projects have:

How will we complete the required sexual harassment training for 100% of employees
Can we find the time to file a 990 tax return and conduct an annual financial audit?
Are we prepared to build infrastructure to scale our programs?
Will we be able to provide accurate and timely reporting to our funders?

These questions and more are addressed in our booklet below.

“We could not have the success we have had without the support of Community Initiatives.”

Breakthrough Sacramento

In Service to Great Ideas

Introduction to Community Initiatives Booklet

This booklet offers detailed information about fiscal sponsorship. It provides an overview of fiscal sponsorship, including the benefits of working with Community Initiatives, the parties we partner with and serve, the services you would receive as one of our sponsored projects, and the important differences between comprehensive and casual sponsorship agreements. Moreover, it tells our impact story with data from our annual survey so you can understand how fiscal sponsorship works in practice. The booklet is an excellent resource if you are interested in exploring fiscal sponsorship as a viable option, or if you are a funder looking to benefit nonprofit projects through a fiscal sponsorship partner.

Read the booklet here.

Learn More

Frequently Asked Questions

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Our Projects

Community Initiatives portfolio of projects range in size and serve a variety of causes, including social justice, the environment, animal rights, education, youth development, capacity building, health & wellness, philanthropy, the arts, and human services.