After months (years?) of discussion and beta testing, we are excited to launch the Fiscal Sponsor Hub (FS Hub) and make it available to fiscal sponsor staff everywhere!

With this being a new resource for the fiscal sponsor community, we know you have questions — some of which we hope to answer here (answers are below):

  1. What is the Fiscal Sponsor Hub?
  2. What is a community of practice?
  3. How is this connected to (or not) the weekly Fiscal Sponsor Conversations?
  4. There are two types of membership for FS Hub – what is the difference between them?
  5. Why is there a fee for a full membership?
  6. How is FS Hub different from existing spaces for discussion within the fiscal sponsorship sector?
  7. What can I expect inside the community?
  8. What platform(s) are used to develop this community?
  9. What do you mean when you say that this is a “private” or “closed” community?
  10. Why is Schulman Consulting launching this space?
  11. How do I register for an associate membership?
  12. How do I register for a full membership?
  13. Is there a free trial of the full membership?
  14. I have other questions, can you answer them?
  1. What is the Fiscal Sponsor Hub?
    The Fiscal Sponsor Hub is an always-on, online community of practice specifically for fiscal sponsor staff. It’s a place to connect with peers, ask questions, share your experiences, learn from others, and grow as a FS practitioner.

  2. What is a community of practice?
    According to Wikipedia, a community of practice (CoP) is:

    “a group of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly.     A CoP can evolve naturally because of the members’ common interest in a particular domain or area, or it can be created deliberately with the goal of gaining knowledge related to a specific field. It is through the process of sharing information and experiences with the group that members learn from each other, and have an opportunity to develop personally and professionally (Lave & Wenger 1991).”

    And that is the goal here, to create a space for communication and knowledge sharing so that everyone (and anyone) in fiscal sponsorship can grow and develop by sharing with — and learning from — their peers.

  3. How is this connected to (or not) the weekly Fiscal Sponsor Conversations?
    The FS Hub is connected to the FS Conversations (FSC) in a few ways:
    – The FSC archives live on the FS Hub (and are still available for free)
    – There’s an “after-session” chat area if you want to continue the conversation about the session with fellow attendees and members of the community
    – Moving forward, if you’re registered for the FSC, you will automatically be registered for a free membership at the FS Hub (and vice versa).
    – Finally, the impact of the FSC on the sector has really led to the creation the FS Hub. Please note: The FS Conversations will continue as is. There will just be more opportunities to connect with your peers before, after and in-between the Zoom sessions.

  4. There are two types of membership for FS Hub – what is the difference between them?
    Any individual who works in this sector can register for an associate membership, which includes access to:

    • The new, revamped FSC Archives
    • An FSC “Post-Session Chat” area to ask questions and post comments after the weekly sessions end
    • An area to suggest topics for future FSC sessions — and vote on suggestions from others
    • Dedicated areas for FS related news and resources from the around web
    • A specific space to facilitate project referrals
    • The ability to connect directly with other members of the community via private messages

    To register for an individual, associate membership, click here.

    Full memberships are sold at the organizational level and include all of the above, plus:

    • An area for general discussion
    • Individual areas for conversation among functional groups (finance/accounting, HR, operations, legal and more) with the ability to create as many sub-groups as the community needs
    • A place to share reviews of specific Vendors/Service Providers and Technology Platforms with your peers, and read those left by others
    • A space for document sharing
    • The ability to create Affinity-, Identity- and Interest-based groups as determined by the members of the community
    • The ability to create areas for targeted conversation among specific types of fiscal sponsor organizations including (i.e. Model A Focused, Model C Focused, New and Emerging, Large Practices, Place-Based,  Community Foundations)
    • Additional areas and spaces that will be determined by the community.
    • Eventually, we plan to host topical webinars, professional development opportunities and focused, facilitated working groups — all of which will be open to full members, at no additional charge.

    If your organization is interested in a full membership, please click here and tell us a little more about your practice. From there, we will get back in touch with next steps on how to get things moving.

  5. Why is there a fee for a full membership?
    The short answer is that there’s a substantial cost to hosting this community and managing it on a day-to-day basis. On a more philosophical level, we believe there is great value that can be generated and shared throughout the fiscal sponsor community and the FS Hub can be a vehicle for that. Finally, it’s been well-documented that when someone pays for something, they see that thing as having more value than if it was given away free — even if it’s the same exact item. That being said, we realize that some organizations may not be able to afford the full membership and for that reason we plan on keeping a free level of membership forever, and providing a substantial discount to those organizations that are already paying members of other FS sector membership organizations.

  6. How is FS Hub different from existing spaces for discussion within the fiscal sponsorship sector?
    Even with some existing spaces for fiscal sponsor conversation, our experience has shown that there’s a gap out there for a more community-based discussion and meeting place where fiscal sponsor staff can meet and get to know their peers and others from around the sector. One way the FS Hub does that from day one is by providing more focused spaces for discussion for specific functional groups across the sector. In addition, the platform that the FS Hub is built on is easy-to-use and familiar to many as it works in a similar way to some popular social media sites — but is fully private to our users.

  7. What can I expect inside the community?
    It’s brand new, so we’ll all learn that together. But, as mentioned in the previous question, our hope is that the FS Hub becomes a virtual meeting place for the fiscal sponsorship sector and allows anyone involved in practicing fs to learn from their peers. You can expect a welcoming, supportive, inclusive environment, where members will want to participate more deeply than just stopping by every so often to ask other members for a document of policy.

  8. What platform(s) are used to develop this community?
    This community is hosted on a platform called Circle. We did extensive research into potential platforms that could host this community and Circle rose to the top.

  9. What do you mean when you say that this is a “private” or “closed” community?
    Just like the Fiscal Sponsor Conversations, this community has been developed with fiscal sponsors in mind. Except for a few rare exceptions, only fiscal sponsorship professionals are eligible to join and be members. That’s what we mean by “closed.” By “private,” we mean that, except for a very small number of posts (those in the “Start Here” area) that are open to the entire internet, this community is only viewable to its members. Both associate and full members can view posts in the areas labeled “FS Conversations” and “FS News & Resources”; in addition, full members have access to all other areas of the community.

  10. Why is Schulman Consulting launching this space?
    Based on our experience with the Fiscal Sponsor Conversations, it became clear that there is a need for an “always-on” place for fiscal sponsorship staff to meet and connect with their peers and colleagues in a wider variety of ways as well as a way to (hopefully) bring more fs professionals in the sector “to the table” and facilitate connections across organizations from all functional areas and levels of seniority.

  11. How do I register for an associate membership?
    Just click here and fill out the form and you’ll be on your way!

  12. How do I register for a organizational full membership?
    If your organization is interested in a full membership, please click here and tell us a little more about your practice. From there, we will get back in touch with next steps on how to get things moving.

  13. Is there a free trial of the full membership?
    At this time, there is not a free trial of the full membership since the associate membership allows you to test out the functionality of the platform and get a feel for the community.
  14. I have other questions, can you answer them?
    We will certainly try! Please email us at hello@fshub.co.
Launching the Fiscal Sponsor Hub! (FAQ)