Aspiration provides short-term fiscal sponsorship to nonprofit software development projects that are in the process of becoming official 501c3 nonprofit organizations.

Generally fiscal sponsorships last between 1-2 years. Aspiration's fiscal sponsorship model is that of a grantor (Aspiration) and grantee (Project) relationship, so while the project is being sponsored, the project remains a separate entity with its own Board of Directors who oversees the activities of the project.

Fiscal Sponsorship fees range from 5%-15% of charitable contributions.

Aspiration's Fiscal Projects:

• Idealware: Idealware provides candid Consumer-Reports-style reviews and articles about software of interest to nonprofits, centralized into a website. Through product comparisons, recommendations, case studies, and software news, Idealware allows nonprofits to make the software decisions that will help them be more effective.

• Solpath: Solpath's mission is to create, as a community, the non-profit sector's first open-source grants management software for tracking grant applications from initial request to fully funded and beyond. Solpath is committed to providing an easy-to-use, open application framework that supports all major hardware platforms and operating systems, and effectively and intuitively serves grant giving and seeking organizations.

Application Process:

1. Potential projects must fill out an initial fiscal sponsorship application (see document below) and submit a non-refundable application fee of $150.
   
2. Aspiration will then schedule a thirty minute interview to go over the details of the project. During the interview each project will be rated based on Aspiration's fiscal sponsorship criteria. (See document below).
3. After the interview, the project will be notified of Aspiration's Board of Directors decision.

Approved Projects:

1. Review and sign the fiscal sponsorship contract. (See document below).
   
2. Review and follow the fiscal sponsorship policies. (See document below).
3. Provide an annual financial and written report showing how the project spents its funds for charitable purposes.
   

Additional resources and suggestions for potential fiscal sponsorship projects:

1. Register as an actual entity. (Sole Proprietorship, LLC, or other entity).
   
2. Then learn how to form a 501c3 nonprofit (See Nonprofit Corporation Formation and Operation resource section at NEDLC).
   
3. Hire an attorney to help with applying for 501c3 status.
   
4. Recruit a Board of Directors to oversee the project.
5. Create a strategic plan for the project that includes both program and operational goals and strategy.
   

All our materials are licensed under Creative Commons License: Attribution-ShareAlike

Attachment	Size
FiscalSponsorshipApplication.pdf	40.52 KB
CriteriaForFiscalSponsorship.pdf	20.85 KB
FiscalSponsorshipModelCAgreement.pdf	84.5 KB
SponsorshipPolicies.pdf	41.08 KB