MSC Showcases Fiscal Sponsorship Strategy at National Conference

In early November, leaders from across the fiscal sponsorship sector gathered in Phoenix, Ariz., for the 2025 National Network of Fiscal Sponsors (NNFS) National Gathering. Members of the Movement Strategy Center (MSC) team participate annually and were excited to attend once again and present four different sessions at this year’s conference. Daniel Parada, Director of Fiscal Sponsorship; Lauren Wheat, Chief Operating Officer; and Christine Juang, Projects & Partnerships Steward, represented MSC in the community of fiscal sponsor professionals. 

In addition to attending and presenting at the event, and helping out at the event’s registration desk, Parada represented MSC as a key member of the conference planning committee, helping establish the core theme of the conference: “Radical Connection — Resilience, Innovation, and Solidarity.” In a time where nonprofits find themselves under political attack and fiscal sponsors struggle to secure stable operating income, this core theme aimed to bring conference attendees together to develop tools for survival, growth, and transformation.

The MSC team, excited about showcasing our approach to fiscal sponsorship in the Equitable Intermediary and Just Transition spaces, presented the four following sessions:

Many fiscally sponsored organizations are considered Model A projects, where programs take place within the intermediary and utilize the intermediary’s comprehensive suite of back office functions. Alternatively, Model C projects look to fiscal sponsorship exclusively for compliance and financial reporting. 

During “An Introduction to Model C Fiscal Sponsorship” — a collaboration with Fractured Atlas — Parada explained how fiscal sponsors often have “a hesitation” around expanding their services to support Model C projects. “They feel like they are giving up oversight” when compared to their existing Model A programs, he said. Parada walked through how MSC’s program is designed to alleviate these common worries and showed how funds are received and disbursed to projects, oversight is managed, and how Model C can be an effective tool to move resources to communities. As one attendee described, this session “was packed with helpful information” and “helped me think through changes and updates to make to our oversight.”

To learn more about MSC’s fiscal sponsorship programs, visit our website.

Led by Wheat and Shantelle Jackson, Program Manager at the Fund for Educational Excellence, “Technology Integration for Fiscal Sponsors: Model C & Model A in Practice” explored the core technology needs of fiscal sponsors. Wheat and Jackson walked through their organization’s technology stacks with examples of how their systems work in practice. Wheat showcased how “MSC has worked hard to put systems in place to meet the needs of our projects,” especially when “there aren’t a lot of dedicated technology options for fiscal sponsors.”

Wheat described the session as “a great opportunity to partner with another organization and to engage in dialogue with conference attendees about how they use technology and to be able to share MSC’s technology journey.”

As any fiscal sponsor can attest, understanding how to navigate the exit process when and if a project wants to move on is a crucial component of the sponsor-project relationship. To address this, the conference hosted “Navigating Transitions: A Panel on Project Spinouts and Sponsorship Change.” Moderated by Juang, the panel of experienced fiscal sponsorship staffers provided a variety of perspectives on the exit process: Parada as a fiscal sponsorship leader in charge of executing spinouts; Greg Nicholson, Senior Advisor at Tides, as a project advisor; and Julia Strauch, Senior Manager at BDO, as a consultant who helps projects during an exit.

As a part of the panel, Parada covered how MSC approaches conversations with projects who seek to transition away from fiscal sponsorship with a series of questions around roles, funding, and compliance. “Discussing why a project wants to become its own 501(c)3 is an important first step as the transition process begins,” Parada said. These talks include the  project’s future plans for independently maintaining their finances, HR, and grants management. Parada also walked session attendees through communications with funders around a project’s exit. “The biggest challenge,” Parada explained, “is communicating with funders and helping them understand how this process works.” MSC, with help from the other panelists, assembled this Successful Exits and Transitions Toolkit that was given to attendees as a valuable resource.

As a follow up session to MSC’s introduction to its Fundraising Support Initiative at last year’s NNFS conference, Parada, Juang, and Wheat presented “Scaling Support: Lessons Learned and Next Steps in Year Two of MSC’s Fundraising Support Initiative.” This session covered the second year of MSC’s trailblazing initiative, which pairs projects with specialized and values-aligned grant writers in an effort to drive operational revenue for fiscally sponsored projects. Parada noted “there is a lot of interest in being able to provide this support” among other fiscal sponsors, but the challenge comes down to finding funding partners.

“I was very inspired by how MSC’s Fundraising Support Initiative prioritizes equity and brings projects to the table to co-design services and supports,” one session attendee said.

After the conclusion of the three-day conference, Parada, Wheat, and Juang traveled back to their respective hometowns with renewed energy and focus on further increasing support for MSC’s growing role in the Equitable Intermediary space. When asked to summarize the conference, Juang was excited to share that “MSC is really seen as a leader and thought partner in our approach to fiscal sponsorship with a movement strategy and justice focus … From our portfolio to our Fundraising Support Initiative, our Just Transition-oriented approach is a valuable contribution to other fiscal sponsors in how they think about their work.”