Fiscal Sponsorship

Fiscal Sponsorship - Proteus Fund

Catalytic Partnership

Supporting and advancing the work of unincorporated initiatives is a critical, and often undervalued, element of creating and sustaining three-dimensional, flexible, and robust social justice movements. Through fiscal sponsorship, Proteus Fund partners with emerging initiatives and innovative movement leaders as part of a powerful ecosystem for change.

We view fiscal sponsorship as an essential strategy in achieving our mission. Our partnership with these strategic initiatives supports growth and collaboration that accelerates our collective impact and important wins for racial, gender, queer, and disability justice and inclusive democracy.

Impact Through Excellence

Our fiscal sponsorship is rooted in operational expertise covering all aspects of organizational infrastructure. We develop a deep understanding of projects’ needs in order to provide tailored, holistic, and comprehensive support. Projects work with Proteus Fund leaders across all operational departments, providing direct access to a team of experts as opposed to one singular contact. We are committed to continuous learning and collaboration to meet the evolving needs of our fiscally sponsored project partners.

We understand that each project has unique opportunities and challenges. As a partner with Proteus Fund, projects are more than just clients—they’re partners whose success is deeply tied to ours.

A Blueprint for Success

We understand what makes social justice initiatives grow and thrive. It starts with close partnership and a focused commitment to a cohort of projects – closely aligned with our mission, vision, and values – that we believe can have a significant impact on our world.

A key tenet of our shared success is the critical infrastructure expertise Proteus provides fiscally sponsored projects. So often the development and execution of these operational systems and processes hamper the work of and deter small social change organizations from succeeding. Proteus’ partnership with these initiatives enables them to focus on their programmatic impact while trusting an experienced partner to manage key aspects of their evolving operations.

With nearly three decades of experience in social justice philanthropy, Proteus Fund also has developed expertise in a full spectrum of strategies and tools to bring about social change. We support projects that are engaging in community and grass tops organizing, public policy advocacy and issue campaigns, litigation, narrative development and strategic communications, and evolving the practice of philanthropy itself.

Our Operational Expertise includes:

  • Financial Management
  • Risk Management & Compliance
  • Grants Management
  • Human Resources
  • Donor Services
  • Contract & Vendor Management

Transformational Outcomes

With decades of experience, our team has seen it all. We aren’t surprised by the common challenges and critical milestones that every initiative faces. From rapid growth to leadership transitions, we provide stability and trust that the mission will continue even as the project evolves.

Our focus is on sustained, long-term support that spans years – not months. We believe lasting change for the issues we’re tackling together require time, commitment, and partnership.

See our Fiscally Sponsored Projects

Grantmaking Expertise

Movement-centered grantmaking is at the heart of our work. From large sustaining grants to critical funds for emerging grassroots initiatives, we understand how to meet the needs of organizations at every phase of development. We specialize in providing support that helps grantmaking projects respond rapidly to the changing dynamics of the movements they’re resourcing.

Lobbying & Advocacy

Policy change is critical to our mission. We offer the infrastructure and expertise to help our fiscally sponsored partners navigate the intricacies of the lobbying and advocacy necessary to advance policy wins. Our 501(c)(4) affiliate, Proteus Action League offers a robust lobbying vehicle to support legislative impact – including through ballot initiatives.

Ready to Connect?

Proteus actively considers projects that:

  • Are working on racial, gender, queer, or disability justice, inclusive democracy, progressive narrative development, or evolving better philanthropic practice.
  • Are aligned with our fiscal guidelines; and
  • Share our vision of fiscal sponsorship.

If this describes your work and you share our vision and values, we’d appreciate the opportunity to explore a partnership. Please complete the form below.