Fiscal Sponsorship

New organizations face serious obstacles when seeking the funding necessary to continue and complete their work. Often they are hindered by the absence of legal status for the project, as most foundations and corporate funders restrict grantmaking to fully tax-exempt organizations. Similarly, potential individual donors often need the tax incentive of a charitable contribution before they will support an arts project. The SLF offers fiscal sponsorship, a mechanism widely used by the nonprofit sector, to help overcome these obstacles.

The SLF takes applications to serve as a fiscal sponsor for genre-related non-profit projects which lack 501(c)3 status. This enables such groups to apply for grants for which they might otherwise not be eligible, such as funds from 501(c)3 non-profit groups hosting local conventions, who are legally required to redistribute their profits to other non-profits.

There is no fee to apply, and currently no contracting fee. Any funds you or your group receives would be directed to the SLF; we would then take 5% as payment for our administrative costs (7% – 15% is standard in the non-profit world), and redirect the rest of the funds to you.

Application Process

Projects that are fiscally sponsored by the SLF are considered independent contractors. They retain their own identity and are not part of the SLF. In this way, they retain creative control and ownership of their project. However, the project is also responsible for tax reporting and liability issues to the SLF (which is legally responsible to the government for the disbursement of grant funds).

Complete the Application Form. Required materials include:

    • A cover letter: Include a short (less than 500 words) statement describing your work thus far and a bibliography of previously published work, if applicable. Applicants need not have prior publishing credits to apply.
    • A project proposal: The submitted work must be related to speculative literature
 

Accessibility

If you are unable to use the form for accessibility reasons, please use the form on the right or send an email to director@speculativeliterature.org, and an alternative means of submission will be provided for you.

Testimonials