<div dir="ltr"><div><div><div>What Adam describes is called Fiscal Sponsorship, i.e. partnering with an established 501.c3 to receive a grant through their non-profit status.<br><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiscal_sponsorship">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiscal_sponsorship</a><br><br>It is actually is a common method for US-based non profits to affiliate with related groups in the grants they receive. I've been involved with several fiscal sponsorship relationships here in St. Louis (including WasabiNet).<br><br></div>The IRS guidelines for pursuing fiscal sponsorship generally require that whatever non-profit you're partnering with have a public mission statement that aligns somewhat with your own goals. Also, it is conventional that the partner non-profit take 10 to 15% fee of the grant award as administrative fee. Finally, the non-profit will need all records of how any grant funds are spent, e.g. receipts and such.<br><br></div><div>Any fiscal sponsorship relationship would need to be defined in a written contract between your group and the non-profit, and signed before pursing any grant applications. I have a boilerplate contract I've used in the past that I could share.<br></div><div><br></div>Do please note that many funders specifically do <i>not</i> award grants for fiscal sponsorships, and unfortunately they don't always announce this restriction publicly. Be sure to ask this of any funders you come in contact with.<br><br></div>(P.S. It is always a good idea to call up any prospective funder and chat. Just submitting forms online is pretty bland; they like to hear from the people they're supporting.)<br><div><br></div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, May 27, 2015 at 3:02 PM, Adam Longwill <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:Info@metamesh.org" target="_blank">Info@metamesh.org</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><p dir="ltr">I would do what our company, Meta Mesh, is doing and work with local community development corporations or local non profits to act as a fiscal pass through for a grant that you write and have the non profit present to a foundation on your behalf. </p>
<p dir="ltr">This will allow you to NOT be a non profit and to partner with a reputable organization for your project. </p>
<p dir="ltr">See if you can work with them to go for a small,easily applied for grant in your area for economic development.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Adam Longwill</p>
<div class="gmail_quote"><span class="">On May 27, 2015 3:54 PM, <<a href="mailto:dpeel@vtlink.net" target="_blank">dpeel@vtlink.net</a>> wrote:<br type="attribution"></span><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><span class=""><font face="times new roman" size="2"><p style="margin:0;padding:0;font-family:'times new roman';font-size:10pt;word-wrap:break-word">We're working on a pilot wireless mesh project in a downtown low income area in a small town in northern Vermont. We're doing pretty well with our own resources so far including some donated equipment, but if we are to involve very many residents we will need more money to provide free routers as most people here are not able to afford it themselves. We've thought about becoming a non-profit but that looks really complicated! We also thought about looking for an organization that is already a non-profit under which we could work to apply for grants. Or we could try crowdfunding? Does anybody have any insights or suggestions? Thanks--Diane</p></font><br></span>_______________________________________________<br>
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