Any number of nonprofit 501(c)3 organizations in the U.S. serve as fiscal sponsors (sometimes known as "fiscal agents") to unincorporated mission-based projects or associations.  For example, a 501(c)3 dedicated to saving the whales, might offer to serve as the fiscal sponsor of a project designed to save the sea otters, because their missions are congruent, and it's less trouble than setting up a separate entity.  But they're really in the business of saving the whales, not providing services to other nonprofit organizations.

However, a relatively small number of nonprofit mangement support organizations undertake fiscal sponsorship on a large scale, providing not only a legal umbrella but all sorts of back office services to unincorporated projects.  A well-known example is the Tides Center in San Francisco.

As I've previously mentioned in my blog, one of my clients that also does this is Third Sector New England.  As of this writing, TSNE has 26 fiscal sponsorship clients, and an entire team of accountants, HR specialists, and others who dedicate themselves to the needs of these projects.  It's intricate work, and they are very, very good at it.

Unfortunately, it's difficult to find accounting and finance applications that are up to this sophicated task.  The transactions involve multiple donors, grantmakers, vendors, and contractors - on behalf of 26 different projects, each of which having records that must be segregated as if they were completely freestanding organizations.  The security issues are enormous, and added to that are the challenges of integrating an accounting application with workflow management, digital signatures, and document management.

These days, I spend a lot of time researching applications that will meet TSNE's fiscal sponsorship accounting needs.  This is not a task for the faint of heart, because the specifications are numerous, the solutions are shockingly expensive, and the potential for spending a lot of time, energy, and money without actually improving capacity is very high.

Here are some of the applications that I have been checking out:

Toronto and Boston are currently competing to play host to Wikimania 2006, which will be an international gathering of those involved in the Wikimedia Foundation's various projects.

Although I'm very much a novice in this world, having just begun to learn how to edit Wikipedia articles, I'm delighted by the possibility that a large numbers of wiki-oriented geeks from many countries will land in Massachusetts next summer to discuss online projects for making knowledge in the public interest more accessible. (Here's a sample of these projects:  Wikipedia, Wiktionary, Wikiquote, and Wikinews.)

Yesterday evening, I attended the local Wikipedia Meetup, convened by Sj, for a discussion of plans for Wikimania 2006.  The Berkman Center for Internet & Society has very generously offered facilities at Harvard Law School, and Sj is busy lining up all the other necessities. 

The Boston area's nonprofit technology community is becoming more cohesive than ever, and I'm hoping that we can welcome and  make common cause with the Wikimaniacs if they come here. There's so much talk about Web 2.0, in which we will take online tools to the next level.  Both the Wikimedia community and the nonprofit technology community are dedicated to collaboration in the service of noble causes, and therefore we would do well engage each other in dialogue about how Web 2.0 can help us achieve our goals.