Legal Webinar: Fiscal Sponsorship - for the Funders, Sponsors, & the Sponsored

11/12/2025 01:30 PM - 03:00 PM ET

Location

Zoom

Description

Fiscal Sponsorship: For the Funders, Sponsors, and the Sponsored

Wednesday, November 12 | 1:30 PM – 3:00 PM | Webinar

Presented by: Don Kramer, Esq., Partner, Montgomery McCracken, and Editor, Nonprofit Issues | Jeffrey Fromknecht, Counsel, Dentons, and Founder & CEO, Side Project, Inc., and Managing Attorney, Lawyers for Nonprofits

Moderated by: Melissa Sines, Interim Standards for Excellence Director, PANO

Offered in Partnership with: Nonprofit Issues

 

*NOTE: PANO does NOT offer CPE & CLE credits for accountants and lawyers. You MUST REGISTER HERE via Nonprofit Issues if you are interested in these credits. You can reach them at info@nonprofitissues.com.*

Fiscal sponsorship is a time-honored method to spawn new charitable activity when the people with the vision and the energy to do the work do not have recognition of federal tax-exempt status.

 

It can function smoothly as an incubator of important new projects. Or it can function badly as a serious trap for the unwary.

 

This webinar will define fiscal sponsorship and discuss the most common types of sponsorship arrangements. It will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each type and the special considerations for funders, sponsors, and the sponsored. It will review specific critical provisions of sponsorship agreements, particularly termination and exit issues.

Note: Fiscal sponsorship is an arrangement where one 501c3, the fiscal sponsor, serves as the administrative “home” of the cause of another organization that may not (yet, or ever) have 501c status. According to the National Council of Nonprofits, a fiscal sponsor provides fiduciary oversight, financial management, and other administrative services to help build the capacity of charitable projects. It is NOT a corporate sponsorship or other type of funding stream, but it may attract donors for causes that are not yet recognized as tax-exempt under the IRS Code Section 501c3.

 

WHO SHOULD ATTEND?

  • Organizations that are looking for a fiscal sponsor
  • Organizations that have been asked to be or have interest in being a fiscal sponsor

WHAT WILL I GET?
Registrants will receive a copy of the PowerPoint and the Standards for Excellence Educational Resource Packet related to this topic.

 

If interested in receiving CPE and CLE credits for accountants and lawyers, please REGISTER HERE VIA NONPROFIT ISSUES (Subscriber Price: $75.65 | Regular Price: $89.00). You can reach them at info@nonprofitissues.com. Please note that PANO does not offer these credits.

 

SINGLE LOGIN COST:
$45 per person for PANO Members | $100 per person for Not-Yet Members

Terms of Participation
Your purchase entitles you to a single login. Please do not share the login information with others, as it may interfere with your ability to join. If multiple individuals from your organization would like to join the webinar, please purchase separate tickets for each person or consider a group screening ticket (below).

 


GROUP TICKET (4-10 individuals):
$150 per group for PANO Members | $333 per group for Not-Yet Members

Terms of Participation
If you have 4-10 individuals interested in viewing the webinar, please have one person register selecting the group ticket. You can then enter the names and email addresses of up to 10 individuals to add to your group ticket. Each person registered will receive their own unique login instructions and may join from wherever is most convenient for them.

 

This option makes the most sense when you have 4-10 individuals interested in viewing the webinar. For fewer than 4 attendees, a single login ticket for each person is the most cost-effective option. For more than 10 attendees, please email Christina at christina@pano.org to discuss options.

 

MATERIALS & LOGIN INSTRUCTIONS:
Materials (PowerPoint and other handouts) and login instructions will be emailed to attendees the day before the webinar.

PANO uses Zoom as our webinar platform; you can familiarize yourself with Zoom and/or join a test meeting prior to these sessions.

All PANO registrants will receive a recording of the webinar.

ABOUT THE FACILITATORS

 

Donald W. Kramer, Esq., Nonprofit Issues & Montgomery McCracken

Donald W. Kramer serves as chair of Montgomery McCracken’s Nonprofit practice group. Don has more than 45 years of experience dealing with the concerns of nonprofit organizations, not only as a lawyer, but also as a teacher, writer, publisher, and board member.

He has worked with nonprofits of all types and sizes, helping structure startup situations and restructure multiorganizational health and educational systems. He counsels on a wide range of nonprofit corporate structure and governance, private and community foundations, continuing care retirement communities, exempt organization taxation, low-income housing tax credit transactions, real estate, charitable giving, and other nonprofit issues.

Don serves as the editor and publisher of Don Kramer’s Nonprofit Issues®, a national newsletter of “Nonprofit Law You Need to Know,” which he founded in 1989.

Prior to joining Montgomery McCracken in 1972, Don served as deputy development coordinator and assistant to the mayor of Philadelphia.

 

Jeffrey Fromknecht, Esq., Dentons, Side Project, Inc., & Lawyers for Nonprofits

Jeff is Counsel at Dentons in their Nonprofit Practice Group, is the founder and CEO of Side Project Inc, a fiscal sponsor with projects in Pennsylvania, Florida and Oregon and is the Managing Attorney of Lawyers for Nonprofits, a pro and low bono legal aid program for small and start up nonprofits, that is fiscally sponsored by Side Project Inc. Jeff is licensed to practice law in both Pennsylvania and Florida. His legal work focuses on the corporate, tax and compliance legal issues impacting tax-exempt organizations and their work. He holds graduate degrees in both social work and law and has over 20 years of experience working at nonprofit organizations in a variety of direct-service and administrative roles. He earned his Master of Social Work degree from the University of Pittsburgh School of Social Work, where his concentration was on community organizing, nonprofit administration, and disability studies. He attended Duquesne University School of Law, graduating Magna Cum Laude. During law school, Jeff worked as a community partner at Community Living and Support Services (CLASS) in Pittsburgh, where he developed and evaluated programs designed to help people with disabilities build social capital.

Learn more about Jeff here, Dentons here, Side Project, Inc. here, and Lawyers for Nonprofits here.

 

Melissa Sines, PANO

Melissa Sines is a dynamic leader and strategist and one of the co-founders of Colmena Consulting. Melissa brings deep expertise to her work with public sector organizations, focusing on building collective vision, nurturing emergent strategy, and developing and holding meaningful spaces for building community, learning together, and supporting leadership at all levels for nonprofit and philanthropy boards of directors, executive leadership, and program and operations staff.

 

At her core, Melissa’s purpose is to build deep and authentic connections, share knowledge, and be the voice that questions assumptions and challenges the status quo. She is a sense-maker, connector, and network strategist that can help navigate the space between what we are and what we have the ability to become – a sector full of people, movements, and organizations that live our values through our work.

 

Learn more about Melissa here.

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