In my third year coming to NetSquared, I find myself in a new role: as one of 21 designated "project leads" who will be trying to connect the featured projects with the developers ready to work on an NGO project.

I'm working with Roshani Kothari and Michael Litz of the Oneworld Connect project, and together we've started a wiki page with what we'd like to work on. I'm posting the story here too: please help us develop this further, shape our thoughts, and connect our ambitions to the endless possibilities :-)

The COMMUNITYMATTERS07 conference is coming to Burlington, VT, for three days of collaboration, engagement and innovation with fellow citizens, local elected officials, practitioners and professionals from across the country. Building on the success of PLACEMATTERS06, COMMUNITYMATTERS07 will pack a wide range of stimulating events and activities into three days, while still allowing participants time to connect with colleagues and explore Burlington’s beautiful city streets and surrounding landscapes. Sixteen panels fall into three tracks: Community Heart & Soul, 21st Century Issues, and Decision-Making Tools. Workshops will allow attendees to gain in-depth experience with planning tools and other topics.

Late last month the MIT Media Lab hosted a party for the launch of the Global iNames Registry. The system is one of several aiming to create a long-term way of identifying individuals and organizations across different contexts.

Curious about what it all meant, I knew of no one better to ask than Identity Woman, Kaliya Hamlin. She told me that the identity standards landscape is forming quickly, with the participation of organizations large and small, and that it's important for nonprofits to engage in the process now instead of struggling to change policies and technologies later.

 

 

Any number of nonprofit 501(c)3 organizations in the U.S. serve as fiscal sponsors (sometimes known as "fiscal agents") to unincorporated mission-based projects or associations.  For example, a 501(c)3 dedicated to saving the whales, might offer to serve as the fiscal sponsor of a project designed to save the sea otters, because their missions are congruent, and it's less trouble than setting up a separate entity.  But they're really in the business of saving the whales, not providing services to other nonprofit organizations.

However, a relatively small number of nonprofit mangement support organizations undertake fiscal sponsorship on a large scale, providing not only a legal umbrella but all sorts of back office services to unincorporated projects.  A well-known example is the Tides Center in San Francisco.

As I've previously mentioned in my blog, one of my clients that also does this is Third Sector New England.  As of this writing, TSNE has 26 fiscal sponsorship clients, and an entire team of accountants, HR specialists, and others who dedicate themselves to the needs of these projects.  It's intricate work, and they are very, very good at it.

Unfortunately, it's difficult to find accounting and finance applications that are up to this sophicated task.  The transactions involve multiple donors, grantmakers, vendors, and contractors - on behalf of 26 different projects, each of which having records that must be segregated as if they were completely freestanding organizations.  The security issues are enormous, and added to that are the challenges of integrating an accounting application with workflow management, digital signatures, and document management.

These days, I spend a lot of time researching applications that will meet TSNE's fiscal sponsorship accounting needs.  This is not a task for the faint of heart, because the specifications are numerous, the solutions are shockingly expensive, and the potential for spending a lot of time, energy, and money without actually improving capacity is very high.

Here are some of the applications that I have been checking out: