Fiscal Sponsor Statement from Donations Work Group - Will be shared at GA tonight

[Chris Mason]

Please review and comment. 7 members of the Donations WG toiled to
get to this point.

Fiscal Sponsor Statement for Occupy Pittsburgh
Presented by the Donations Work Group
10/27/11

There are many people within the Occupy Pittsburgh movement, and those
who support it, who wish to donate funds towards the movement, to
strengthen it by allowing its various working groups to function well
and increase the number of actions, rallies, and marches, increase
outreach to the community, improve the Occupy site at Mellon Green,
increase educational opportunities for Occupy participants and members
of the community, and to guarantee longevity of the movement, whether
or not the camp continues.

Having the ability to accept online and check donations, and receive
cash and non-monetary donations which are tax-deductible to the donors
in a legal and organized way is an absolute necessity for the movement
to continue. In order for Occupy Pittsburgh to receive funds, it
must use another organization’s non-profit status. This is called
fiscal sponsorship. “Fiscal sponsorship is a formal arrangement in
which a 501(c)(3) public charity sponsors a project that may lack
exempt status. This alternative to starting your own nonprofit allows
you to…solicit tax-deductible donations under your sponsor's exempt
status.” (grantspace.org)

Several people participating in the movement have expressed interest
in creating a separate nonprofit arm of the movement, which could
apply for nonprofit status through the IRS, stating its mission is to
fund the Occupy Pittsburgh movement. This nonprofit organization can
be created by Occupy participants and become the fiscal sponsor for
the protest movement. Therefore, no outside organization is needed.
However, it will take time to create the organization and apply for
nonprofit status with the IRS. It takes some months for the IRS to
rule in favor of nonprofit status. In the interim, the Occupy
Pittsburgh movement must receive funding in order to survive.

Occupy Pittsburgh will have full discretion over how funds are used
and access to frequent reports about its account. An agreement will
be drawn up and endorsed by Occupy Pittsburgh. A fiscal sponsorship
is not an alliance, affiliation, or collaboration. It simply is a use
of another organization’s nonprofit status so that funding can be
received, while members of Occupy Pittsburgh work towards becoming
financially independent.

Occupy Pittsburgh has identified a nonprofit organization who is
willing to serve as fiscal sponsor, and indicated it is willing to
provide accounting services at no charge, i.e. no administrative fee
or withdrawal fees. Further, an online account would be set up using
WePay.com, so donors will be able to donate to Occupy Pittsburgh on
occupypittsburgh.org, and will know they are donating to the movement,
even though the movement is utilizing a fiscal sponsor. (Fiscal
sponsor will be announced during the GA). Taking this route will
insure that Occupy Pittsburgh complies with all Pennsylvania and
Federal statutes involving solicitation and use of charitable
donations so that Occupy Pittsburgh and its participants are not at
legal risk.

The Donations Work Group will work to set up the fiscal sponsorship
and collaborate with Work Groups to set up processes for receiving
funds. The Logistics and/or Internal Financial Responsibility Work
Groups could collaborate to develop streamlined processes for handling
both monetary and non-monetary donations, for both camp and online
Work Groups. It will also send the necessary reports of donations
received by Work Groups at camp to the fiscal sponsor for accounting.
These groups will also develop internal accounting controls to insure
that all funds are solicited, reported, and used in a legal and
transparent manner.