Working with Community Partners Community Partners extends legal, corporate, and fiscal sponsorship to new projects, allowing them to operate under the auspices of a fully qualified tax-exempt public charity.
In addition to providing financial and administrative oversight, training and peer-to-peer learning, Community Partners offers a nurturing, supportive environment to help social entrepreneurs succeed.
Community Partners grants sponsorship after careful consideration of a project’s goals, methods, and the project leadership’s understanding of community needs. We review the project leadership’s ability to attract contributions to fund it. We look for a fit between the project leadership’s experience and capability, the project concept, and Community Partners’ mission.
Community Partners does NOT sponsor projects of a religious nature, commercial or profit-making ventures, one-time only events, and film or video projects unless they are integral to a larger direct-service program.
Sponsored projects become Community Partners’ legal responsibility, and what one project does affects all Community Partner programs. A relationship with Community Partners involves: | Sharing Operational Costs | Sharing costs across all projects enables Community Partners to equally assess all of its projects a very low administrative charge which is deducted from revenues as they are received. The administrative charge is currently set at 9% of project revenues and 12% on revenues from public sources (grants from and contracts with government agencies) because they require significantly more staff time to administer. The interest income generated by project funds in the Community Partners bank account is also part of the administrative charge. Learn more about Community Partners' finances. | | Maintaining Close Communication | Each project designates a leader as Project Leader to work closely with a staff contact at Community Partners. Community Partners' staff offer valuable information and insight to assist with each Project Leader’s professional development. | | Identification as a Project of Community Partners | All project materials must explicitly state that the project is sponsored by Community Partners. Checks to projects will be tax deductible for donors who itemize their tax returns only if they are made out to Community Partners FBO (Project Name). FBO means “for the benefit of.” | | No Political Affiliations | The IRS strictly regulates lobbying by charitable organizations and entirely prohibits any endorsement of candidates for public office. Project Leaders must consult with staff before engaging in any lobbying or advocacy activities. | | Procedures for Project Separation or Termination | Once accepted, a project is required to remain with Community Partners for a minimum of one year. If a project’s leadership decides to incorporate as an independent nonprofit corporation or to merge with another charitable organization, Community Partners will help guide that process. When satisfied that the project will continue to operate for substantially the same purposes as it began in Community Partners, we execute a Project Separation Agreement transferring any remaining assets and subsequent revenues or obligations to the new corporation. If a project ends, its assets will generally go to an appropriate successor charitable organization. Community Partners prefers not to retain the assets of any project after it has closed or left Community Partners |
For more information about Community Partners see our About Us section or Frequently Asked Questions.
Services Offered Project Leadership & Administrative Services | Advisory Boards Support Projects’ Goals | One of the keys to success for any community initiative is strong leadership at the helm. The people who serve as Project Advisors should be business and community leaders, clients from the community served by the project, and professionals in areas related to the project that care about the effort and will devote time to helping achieve project goals. Community Partners strongly encourages Project Leaders to create an advisory board with expertise in strategic planning, program development, service delivery, fundraising, staffing, community organizing, membership and leadership development, and financial and organizational management. Community Partners' Board of Directors assumes legal and financial responsibility for all project operations. | Technical Assistance and Training
| To provide Project Leaders with a strong foundation in the fundamentals of developing and leading civic initiatives, Community Partners offers individualized coaching, peer learning, and workshops in a variety of areas.
Community Partners offers one-on-one consulting services to sponsored projects and other groups in areas such as program planning, proposal writing, and strategic development.
In addition, Community Partners may connect Project Leaders with other resources throughout Southern California. See the Ideas Into Action Resources section.
| | Employees | Once a project has received sufficient funding to hire employees, Community Partners assists Project Leaders in recruiting, hiring, managing and maintaining employees. Community Partners is the legal employer of all part- and full-time project employees. We handle payroll and administer benefits, including insurance. Project funds pay all employee costs, including salaries, taxes and mandatory insurance. All project employees are subject to immediate layoffs in the event a project’s funds fall below the required six-week operating reserve. | | Insurance | Community Partners’ general liability insurance policy generally covers all normal project activities. Should the project conduct activities with especially high risk, we may require the project pay the expenses of needed additional insurance coverage to cover those risks. For example, if a project interacts with youth, additional sexual abuse and molestation insurance is provided. A project’s office space must be added to Community Partners’ policy and additional insurance may be required for special events. The cost of covering sexual abuse and molestation insurance, office space and special events is charged directly to each project. Anyone driving on behalf of a project must have adequate automobile insurance. | Project Funding & Financial Services | Budgets | We believe that financial competence – knowing how to plan and operate according to a budget – is essential not only for launching a community initiative but also for managing a successful organization. Prospective donors look at a group’s ability to plan finances and keep track of income and expenses when they consider grants and gifts to support a project. Community Partners assists Project Leaders in developing a budget for their activities by sharing materials, holding periodic workshops on budgeting and project finances, and discussing all other financial issues one-on-one as needed. | | Fundraising | Although Community Partners does not solicit funds on behalf of projects, we do provide counsel to teach Project Leaders to develop effective fundraising activities, strong proposals and solicitations, understand donor sensibilities, and operate within the local, state and federal charitable contributions laws.
As fiscal sponsor of our projects, Community Partners requires that all project grant proposals and fund solicitations be reviewed by staff in advance of submission. Staff will provide feedback and guidance, and endorses well-crafted requests for funds. Contributions made to a project of Community Partners are tax deductible to the full extent allowable by law. Community Partners sends appropriate acknowledgement letters to donors and assumes financial and legal responsibility for all fundraising efforts and assets.
| | Project Finances and Property | Community Partners administers project finances, including the signing of contracts and legal financial documents.
Once a project has begun to raise funds, we set up a project fund in Community Partners’ accounting system. We provide detailed instructions for handling donor checks, cash, and revenue from sales, different types of grants and other gifts and assets. Community Partners processes payment of project bills, using expense accounts keyed to your project’s annual budget. Every project with funds receives a monthly revenue and expense statement.
Community Partners handles all required federal and state tax filings and has one unified annual financial audit.
Because Community Partners is legally responsible for all project activities, projects may not enter into any financial or legal contract unless approved by Community Partners.
| You may also view and/or print our Incubator Services Brochure (2.89MB) in a PDF format.
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Attend a Planning Workshop to learn more about starting a community endeavor. See Success Stories to learn about other projects. If you’re ready to get started, check out How to Apply and step through the application process.
Learn about Community Partners’ core competencies. For other information, consult Frequently Asked Questions. back to top |
