Fiscal sponsorship is a formal arrangement where a 501(c)(3) public charity (like GDI Solutions) provides legal and financial oversight to a project or initiative that does not have its own US tax-exempt status. This allows your initiative to accept tax-deductible donations, apply for grants, and scale your operations without the administrative burden and costs of setting up and managing a standalone nonprofit entity.

The primary types of fiscal sponsorship are “Model A” (Comprehensive Fiscal Sponsorship) and “Model C” (Pre-Approved Grant Relationship). While other models exist, these are the two most frequently used by initiatives and organizational fiscal sponsors. 

• Model A fiscal sponsorship is a relationship where a 501(c)(3) public charity legally absorbs a charitable project. The sponsor takes total legal, financial, and operational responsibility for the project, handling all HR, accounting, and insurance so the project's leaders can focus entirely on their mission. 

• Model C fiscal sponsorship is a legal arrangement where a 501(c)(3) nonprofit accepts tax-deductible donations or grants on behalf of an independent project or business. The sponsor retains legal and fiduciary control, then re-grants the funds to the project to carry out its charitable work

Regranting is also known as Model C fiscal sponsorship and is the process in which a central funding organization provides money to an intermediary (i.e., a fiscal sponsor), which then distributes those funds as grants to local nonprofits, individuals, or community groups. GDIS acts as a financial cascade, allowing foundations and other donors to support grassroots projects without needing complex administrative structures or teams.

No, GDI Solutions does not provide direct funding or grants. Instead, we act as an operational and financial bridge. We provide the infrastructure that allows early and mid-stage social impact initiatives to safely receive, manage, and deploy funding from donors and philanthropic organizations.

GDI Solutions is a 501(c)(3) organization controlled by the Global Development Incubator (GDI). GDI Solutions was established to streamline the flow of capital to high-impact social ventures, with a particular focus on localizing development and supporting organizations in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).

GDI is an incubator for transformational development ventures, working to build and scale the next generation of social impact solutions. From climate to agriculture, health to economic inclusion, GDI builds across sectors to drive game-changing impact at scale. Over 12–36 months, GDI deploys its functional teams to help early-stage initiatives design their business strategy and model, develop their brand identity, hire and retain talent, and construct their financial and operational infrastructure.

GDI Solutions provides fiscal sponsorship support to receive and deploy funding while allowing them to focus on the delivery of their mission. If your initiative would like to be considered for GDI incubation, please reach out to the team here. 

At this time, neither GDI nor GDI Solutions provides professional accounting, finance, operations, or HR support to initiatives that are neither incubated at GDI nor fiscally sponsored at GDIS.

There is no standard definition of a threshold for “low-compliance” funding, per se; however, the following would be hallmarks that GDIS considers when assessing whether the potential donor funds fall into this category:

• Frequency and detail of reporting - lower- compliance donors typically require fewer overall reports and with fewer requirements (e.g., no transaction list of expenses, no supporting documentation for expenses, etc.)

• Flexibility of funding - lower compliance donors will either allow for greater budget variance between line items or will place fewer hard restrictions on the ways in which funding may be deployed. For instance, a general operational support grant would be an example of funding that has some of the greatest flexibility, as the donor does not place restrictions on specific budget categories or items as long as they are in support of the initiative’s activities. 

• Policy restrictions or requirements - lower compliance funding generally does not require that its awardees follow specific policies regarding allowability of costs or overall behavior. For instance, a government donor may have very strict requirements for the allowability of travel costs, may require prior approval to enter into subawards or subcontracts, or that the organization adopt and comply with their policies on safeguarding or conduct. 

This is not a specific offering from either GDI Solutions or GDI; however, given the frequency of questions from initiatives regarding whether we provide this support, a brief overview/definition is included below:

• Client Services support is a contractual arrangement between an initiative's legal entity and another organization (e.g., an accounting firm) that may provide support for an initiative’s finance, operations, accounting, human resources, and/or IT. Instead of serving as the organization or record for your initiative, client services arrangements support those functions on behalf of your own separate legal entity (rather than on behalf of the service provider’s legal entity).

No, unfortunately, we are unable to provide fundraising assistance to sponsored initiatives. Fundraising itself is the responsibility of the initiative and their team; upon securing interest/funding from donors, the GDIS team will only assist in due diligence associated with a committed donor’s grantmaking process. 

Model A (Comprehensive Fiscal Sponsorship) is for initiatives that are not legally incorporated. Your project becomes a structural part of GDI Solutions, and we handle your HR, payroll, finance, compliance, and legal hosting.

Model C (Pre-Approved Grant Relationship) is for organizations that are legally incorporated outside the US. We act as a temporary bridge, receiving US/international donor funds and regranting them to you as subawards while managing the donor compliance reporting.

In order to be eligible for GDIS fiscal sponsorship support, the inquiring initiative should generally meet the following criteria:

Model A (Comprehensive Fiscal Sponsorship)

• The initiative is mid-stage (3-5 years of performance) and typically embedded within an NGO, university, or think-tank

• The initiative is not legally incorporated in any jurisdiction

• They have a systems-change focus with a geographic priority in one or more LMICs

• They receive unrestricted, low- or moderate compliance donor funding

• They have an annual operating budget of at least $1.5M

Model C (Pre-approved Grant Relationship)

• Organization is legally incorporated outside of the US and has difficulty receiving donor funds for this reason (or they are incorporated in the US, but do not have their own 501(c)(3) determination

• Proposed donor funding is low-compliance or unrestricted

• Organization’s mission/activities align with GDI’s and funds will be used for a charitable/educational/scientific purpose, as required by our own tax-exempt status

• Proposed subaward is at least $100,000 

Please note that some of these criteria may be negotiable at the discretion of the GDIS Executive Director. If you have questions regarding whether your initiative is eligible for either type of fiscal sponsorship, we encourage you to contact us.

This depends both on the type of fiscal sponsorship and the initiative’s donors. 

• For Model A fiscal sponsorship, we typically estimate 2-3 months from signing the initial fiscal sponsorship agreement to ensure sufficient time to onboard team members, finalize donor agreements, receive funding, set up IT, etc. However, we encourage initiatives to start the process as early as possible to accommodate for any potential external delays, especially if you are working towards a specific deadline.

• For Model C fiscal sponsorship, the timeline may vary depending on the donor’s due diligence process and timing for sending an agreement and/or funds, as well as how quickly the initiative submits information to GDIS for our own due diligence process. Once the donor agreement is signed and funds are received, we estimate approximately 2-4 weeks to complete the due diligence process and receive a signed subaward agreement.