One of our favorite things to do is talk to people with ideas for a new charitable activity and help them figure out whether and how they want to move forward.

And, in those conversations, we find ourselves raising the same question fairly often, particularly for small projects or projects that may or may not last for the long-term: are you better off just doing this as a fiscally sponsored project instead?

While we certainly love to help people form new non-profits, it is undoubtedly true that not every project needs a new entity to bring into existence. Fiscal sponsorship represents a great alternative in many cases and helps people with a big idea keep things simple while they figure out if it is going to work or not.

In the spirit of helping clients make a more informed decision, our team (Charli Cleland, Cate Chang, and myself) worked together to create a guide to weighing the option between a new entity and securing a fiscal sponsor.

We’ve also added this to our Resources page — where it joins several other resources we hope will be useful to non-profits and the people who lead them (clients and non-clients alike).