From Giving Tuesday to Thanksgiving, there is a feeling around us to give back to our loved ones and community. Not only that – many companies' budgets are closing out at the end of the year and, they’re given the freedom to donate additional unused funds. While pairing a donation with the holiday season may be a logical action, it may not be the best practice to continue year after year.

The Nautical History Gallery Museum offers an up-close journey through the evolution of naval ships. However, they lacked a nonprofit status and infrastructure to accept donations. That’s where Mission Edge’s Fiscal Sponsorship came in. We decided to take on NHGM as a fiscally sponsored project under our own Community Give Back program because their cause aligns with the heart of our mission.

Fiscal sponsorship may be a powerful transition for your organization. While it represents an additional expense, the benefits — such as access to the sponsor's tax-exempt status, administrative support (a fully staffed accounting, HR, and operations department), and potential for increased funding — can outweigh these costs for nonprofits interested in restructuring.

With corporate volunteering increasing since 2020, companies understand the positive correlation between employee volunteerism and employee engagement and wellbeing. We’ll discuss the benefits of consistent volunteer engagements for companies, and offer ideas for how your company can provide a more sustained impact through employee volunteering.

Hands On San Diego’s mission to strengthen communities through volunteer action has created ripples of change in our city. Over the past decade, Mission Edge has been a constant for HOSD, providing the structure, support, and services they’ve needed to succeed. Most importantly, HOSD has expanded its ability to make an impact over the past 10 years, including helping 22 organizations.

If you're juggling this decision, you may be wondering which decision will be best for your long-term goals. In this article, we’ll unravel the long-term impact of fiscal sponsorship, discuss some pros and cons of fiscal sponsorship, and help you understand what you might be getting yourself into if you choose this route for your charitable mission.

At Mission Edge, our expertise in Community Engagement programming places us at the forefront of understanding the intricacies of volunteering. We've compiled a series of practical tips designed to ensure your employees are well-equipped during your CSR volunteer event and that they feel wholly supported as you send them off into the world to lend a hand.

Our fiscal sponsorship program has allowed the Majdal Center to focus on what it's best at: interacting with and impacting our local San Diego community. Our collaboration with Majdal Center led to significant growth, including the center’s budget has increased nearly 25% year over year since joining! Learn how Fiscal Sponsorship helped them continue to empower the Arab community in San Diego.

Fiscal sponsorship is when a nonprofit sponsor invites a charitable project to operate under its tax-exempt status. This arrangement allows the charitable mission to focus on fundraising and impact, while the sponsor handles administrative responsibilities, from finances to HR. Fiscal Sponsorship can be a helpful tool because it offers a streamlined way to access funds and operate efficiently.

Few things are as crucial as being audit ready. For organizations, audits can be stressful and time-consuming, but with the right preparation, it can be a smooth and headache-free process. At Mission Edge, our dedicated managed services accounting team understands the importance of audit readiness, and we ensure our clients are well-prepared to face any audit with confidence.

As HR professionals and business leaders, we're not just filling positions; we're shaping lives and molding the future of work for the next generation. Learn how flexible environments, transparency, and technology are redefining recruitment.

The best part about our jobs here at Mission Edge is helping our community's heroes go further, faster. Our collaboration with Indigenized Energy is one of our favorite stories to tell because the organization is creating waves of change for Native tribes across the country. Through fiscal sponsorship, we came alongside them to help them develop new practices and policies.

Traditionally, grantmaking is straightforward: the wealthy donate to the less fortunate to address societal issues. But here at Mission Edge, we want funders to bring an awareness of power and equity. Trust-Based Philanthropy seeks to rebalance the power dynamics in philanthropy. At its foundation, it acknowledges the reality that philanthropy has contributed to systemic inequities.

Fiscal sponsorship allows organizations to operate under the umbrella of an established nonprofit, giving them access to charitable funds without the hassle of setting up their nonprofit entity so they can focus on what they do best: bringing their social change projects to life. With Mission Edge, we handle the administrative workload and provide strategic support to help you scale and grow.

When considering Fiscal Sponsorship, both Model A and Model C have a range of benefits that vary depending on your specific situation. There are financial, administrative and cultural advantages to both options. Understanding the diverse ways fiscal sponsorships can affect your organization can help make your decision easier.

Qualcomm’s racial justice initiative sought to allocate $500,000 across 10 different organizations, each actively working to dismantle racial injustices in unique ways. Mission Edge facilitated this process, making sure the initiative was not just about financial support, but that it also brought employees together to engage in meaningful dialogues on racial justice.

There are two main types of fiscal sponsorship: Model A and Model C. Also known as "direct" or "comprehensive" fiscal sponsorship, Model A is an all-in-one solution; this is a nonprofit in a box. Model C is sometimes called "indirect" fiscal sponsorship or a "pre-approved grant relationship."

San Diego Gas and Electric came to Mission Edge at the beginning of the summer wanting help with getting their interns connected to the San Diego community in a meaningful way. We partnered with SDGE to facilitate a virtual social impact project for more than 40 of their summer interns who were eager to make a difference in the community through their roles supporting nonprofit partners.

When Illumina came to Mission Edge three years ago, they wanted to facilitate a volunteer project that engaged an important cohort: interns. Their goal was to help early-stage professionals understand that community engagement is an integral part of working at Illumina. Now, for the third year in a row working with the biotechnology company, we’re creating a virtual volunteer project for Illumina’s summer interns.

Mission Edge came alongside Qualcomm to advocate for nonprofits and provide Qualcomm’s employees with the information they needed to make selection decisions. Because Mission Edge understands both corporate and nonprofit cultures, we were able to create a CSR program that truly meets the needs of local nonprofits, and helped Qualcomm select partners that fit within the giving goals of the program.