On March 15, 黑料福利社 (CI) Legal Director Brandy Shah and Senior Client Services Manager Audrey Roderick joined Angela Schreffler, COO, and Nicki Leszman (former Senior Client Services Manager at 黑料福利社), Senior Programming Manager, of the Colorado Nonprofit Development Center (CNDC) for a \u201cCOVID Conversation\u201d, a series of Tuesday hour-long panel discussions hosted and moderated by the National Network of Fiscal Sponsors (NNFS) Steering Committee. Each \u201cCOVID Conversation\u201d has a different topic, and the topic of that week\u2019s panel discussion was how both fiscal sponsors have grown over the last twenty-five years. Both organizations shared some of the strategic decisions that have been made over the years and discussed how their fiscal sponsorship programs function today. The engaging conversation explored the evolutions technology and the pandemic have driven in fiscal sponsorship agencies, and their focus on adaptation and customer service.<\/p>\n
After panelist introductions, the first question posed by the NNSF moderator, Sarah McCann, was, \u201cCan you tell us about your organizations and how the work has evolved?\u201d<\/p>\n
Shah began by acknowledging that 黑料福利社 started serving local projects in San Francisco and the Bay Area as part of the San Francisco Foundation, then talked about how they\u2019ve scaled their capacities and efficiencies to serve projects with a national presence and a few with an international footprint. She stated, \u201cthe changes to our staffing and our technology and the types of projects that are in our portfolio really have to do with (that) breadth and diversity.\u201d She also explained that the project portfolio has shifted to include more professional services and advocacy organizations from direct service organizations, which now make up a minority of the portfolio.<\/p>\n
Schreffler countered that CNDC was established by a group of individuals from foundations, so from an early date they had the support of the foundation community within Colorado. CNDC differs from 黑料福利社 in that they have chosen to maintain their geographic (Colorado-based) focus since their inception in 1999. However, over the past ten years, they have shifted their project portfolio to include an increasing number of projects from outside the Denver Metro area. The CNDC portfolio has also expanded to house more art-focused projects. Leszman chimed in that CNDC has, \u201cevolved over time as far as the risk we\u2019re willing to take.\u201d She also added that individual grant making has become an increasing part of their business model.<\/p>\n
Another topic that McCann posed to the panelists was, \u201cTell us how your administrative staff supports your projects.\u201d<\/p>\n
Roderick began by explaining that, except for a few large projects, the CI client services team has adopted a team-based approach to servicing projects once the projects have made it through an initial onboarding period. She also explained that with the team-based model \u201cwe\u2019re able to really focus on professional development skills with our team.\u201d Shah pointed out that projects have emphasized the importance of CI\u2019s financial services year after year in our annual project survey. For that reason, each project is paired with a project accountant for the life of their sponsorship. Shah also pointed out that the team service model helps minimize the impact of staff turnover.<\/p>\n
Leszman, having previously worked at CI, agrees that a team model is beneficial regarding turnover because (when someone leaves) \u201cit\u2019s less work than having to reteach somebody about all of those individual pieces of their programmatic work.\u201d She also explained that CNDC\u2019s programmatic team has implemented the practice of regular check-in calls. Leszman stated they are \u201cto really learn more about what\u2019s going on.\u201d In other words, they\u2019re a preventative measure; they help the programmatic team anticipate needed support ahead of time, which is helpful to their service model. Schreffler added, different from CI, most of the staff at CNDC are task specific. The individuals on their programmatic team are dedicated to a cohort of projects. She explained, \u201cthey (projects) can go to either their finance person or their programmatic person to get more individualized attention.\u201d Though, Schreffler acknowledges, that there is a downside to this individualized approach, which often confuses clients when one of their key staff contacts leaves.<\/p>\n
The next questions McCann posed to the panelists were, \u201cWhat role has technology played in your evolution? Where are you in your technology journey today and where are you going?\u201d<\/p>\n
Both fiscal sponsors were quick to acknowledge that the pandemic has expedited the adoption of new technologies. Both organizations\u2019 finance teams have adopted Intacct (a well-known accounting software). Using Intacct gives projects virtual access and greater visibility to their project financial statements. A desire for operational efficiency and systems security were mentioned as key drivers of recent technology enhancements for both organizations. An audience member asked, \u201cHas the cost of the technology investments been absorbed internally or passed on to the projects?\u201d In both cases, the cost of technology investment has not caused the organizations to increase their projects\u2019 fees. Also, \u00a0CI and CNDC have both eliminated their internal servers in favor of cloud-based systems.<\/p>\n
Beyond that, Roderick jumped in to explain that CI has also adopted Salesforce which is currently \u201ca massive undertaking\u201d, Bill.com, donation platforms, tech management, and DocuSign. She said, \u201c(We\u2019re) really trying to figure out how we can silo that so we can see a more 360 view of the interactions we\u2019re having with our projects to be able to track the cycle of a contact with us\u2026where we can make sure that the right people are getting tapped in and tagged in appropriately, and we can respond.\u201d Shah offered an example of the digitization of waivers. She said, \u201cWe do 1,000 waivers\u2026so we\u2019ve integrated a waiver, on an online platform that is more friendly to communities of color.\u201d As far as the future is concerned, Roderick articulated CI\u2019s desire to update the project portal, \u201cso our folks can get information.\u201d She summed up the desire for the future portal to be both more interactive and intuitive. Shah added that in the future state, a portion of Salesforce will be project facing.<\/p>\n
For CNDC, Schreffler reminisced that when she began with the organization in 2013, they were still tracking everything in Word documents and Excel spreadsheets. They didn\u2019t even have Office 365, so \u201cpeople couldn\u2019t work in the same document at the same time.\u201d She recognizes that it also was not great from a security standpoint. Since then, CNDC has adopted Salesforce and then added onto their initial buildout. Like, CI, CNDC would like to establish a project-facing Salesforce interface. Their goal is to make this happen within the next three years. Lezsman chimed in that CNDC is searching for a payment platform with great customer service. She calls this a \u201cunicorn\u201d and questions if one exists. (Please contact her if you know of one!)<\/p>\n
McCann concluded the discussion with the prompt, \u201cAny advice to stay productive and sane as we do this work?\u201d<\/p>\n
Shah affirmed that maintaining a sense of humor is imperative. Roderick agreed that humor is important and offered that \u201cwe are able to get some joy.\u201d She also added, \u201creally remembering the work of the projects as well as focusing on that piece of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Leszman summed up her motivation in three terms: \u201ccontinued learning, fun, and impact.\u201d Schreffler agreed with all the responses and had nothing more to add.<\/p>\n