From a Small Social Justice Initiative to Coordinating More Than 40,000 Volunteers
How HandsOn San Diego has Benefited after 10 years of Fiscal Sponsorship Under Mission Edge
Hands On San Diego’s mission to strengthen communities through volunteer action has created ripples of change in our city.
For more than a decade, they’ve stood on the frontlines of volunteer coordination for local nonprofit organizations – enhancing the impact of both the nonprofits and the experiences of volunteers.
HOSD first joined Mission Edge in 2013 for fiscal sponsorship support. (Learn more about what that means in our guide to fiscal sponsorship.) Over the past decade, the organization has experienced challenges and triumphs related to its programs, funding and staffing.
Here’s how our long-term fiscal sponsorship relationship has benefitted HandsOn San Diego over the past ten years (and counting).
HOSD’s Long-Term Journey with Mission Edge
Over the past few years, HOSD started to pursue its own independent 501(c)(3) status and actually got it from the IRS. But when HOSD started to dig into the amount of work it would take to maintain their own entity, they decided to stay fiscally sponsored instead of doing all the work on their own.
Being fiscally sponsored means we provide HOSD with a proven nonprofit structure to operate within.
Here are the reasons many social justice initiatives, including HOSD, choose the fiscal sponsorship route:
Financial management and oversight
Legal compliance and liability protection
Access to charitable funding
Operational support
Capacity building
Increased credibility
Flexibility and efficiency
Read more about the benefits to fiscal sponsorship in our article about restructuring nonprofits.
How Mission Edge has supported HOSD as its fiscal sponsor
Since becoming fiscally sponsored by Mission Edge in 2013, HOSD has grown from a volunteer-led initiative to an organization with a hired Executive Director. They’ve also gone through two successions.
Over the past decade, Mission Edge has been a constant for HOSD, providing the structure, support, and services they’ve needed to succeed. It was this structure that helped them weather the pandemic.
Most importantly, HOSD has expanded its ability to make an impact on the San Diego community over the past 10 years.
From its inception to the end of 2022, HOSD has:
Placed more than 40,000 volunteers into action.
Served more than 100,000 hours.
Helped 222 organizations.
Completed more than 12,500 projects.
Trained 158 leaders.
This year, HOSD will be engaging 750 volunteers to participate in climate-based volunteer initiatives after Mission Edge helped them win state funding for a second year in a row.
Moving forward, HOSD continues to explore what operating as an independent 501(c)(3) organization looks like, and Mission Edge is fully supportive of whatever journey they choose.
Maximize your Impact with Mission Edge
Does fiscal sponsorship sound like something your organization could benefit from?
Do you need more time to focus on your mission, but can’t figure out how to outsource the administration work involved with running a nonprofit?
