501(c)3 Sponsorship
Regenerate Cascadia and it’s parent organization the Department of Bioregion is a fiscal sponsorship 501(c)3 organization, meaning that we offer our nonprofit status to a wide range of projects and groups helping to create a regenerative culture, economy and future within the Cascadia bioregion.
Fiscal sponsorship has evolved as an effective and efficient mode of starting new nonprofits, seeding social movements, and delivering public services. Fiscal sponsorship generally entails a nonprofit organization (the “fiscal sponsor”) agreeing to provide administrative services and oversight to, and assume some or all of the legal and financial responsibility for, the activities of groups or individuals engaged in work that relates to the fiscal sponsor’s mission.
All Regenerate Hubs and Guilds are a part of this 501(c)3 backend, but pre-existing projects and groups may also apply to become a non-profit program of Regenerate Cascadia. There are many advantages to this arrangement that allows a group to receive donations, gain insurance, an address, bank account, grants, services, and can assist as a stepping stone for projects to become their own 501(c)3 nonprofit if that is their goal.
APPLY HERE
- Project Application (template)
- Project Budget (template)
Project Application Quickfacts:
- Application Fee: Free
- Fiscal Sponsorship Fee: 10%.
- Who we sponsor: Projects that create the conditions for a regenerative culture within Cascadia to thrive.
- Application Process: Up to two months.
Frequently Asked Questions
Legally, and in the eyes of the IRS, when a project is sponsored, it becomes a nonprofit program of the sponsor 501(c)3 organization.
The Fiscal Sponsor directly receives Donations and Grants for the project or program, which are placed into a restricted fund (legally, only available for the project). The receipt and use of these funds are reported on the Fiscal Sponsor’s tax filings. The Fiscal Sponsor is responsible for the government filings, compliance tasks, fund disbursement, and financial reporting.
501(C)3 Sponsorship Means:
- Access to our insurance policy
- Payroll, tax reporting, withholdings for contractors and employees.
- Tax-deductible donations
- Grants
- Internal resources
- Library and non-profit tools
- Access to our dedicated bank account or direct payouts.
- End-of-Year Tax Reporting
- Protection from Personal Liability
Regenerate Cascadia sponsors regenerative projects hosted by organizers within the Cascadia bioregion. The Department of Bioregion supports regenerative projects outside of the Cascadia bioregion.
If you are interested in Fiscal Sponsorship for your group or project, we invite you to join us for a board meeting, a staff meeting, or a one-on-one Zoom call with Clare, Brandon, or our program officer – to introduce yourself and the project – and get to know us a bit better as well.
Steps for submitting an application:
- Download and fill out the Project Application and budget template.
When ready, complete the online form:
- Create a Regenerate Cascadia account: https://regeneratecascadia.org/add-yourself-to-the-map
- Fill out the online form on the Online Application page (must be signed in to access).
- Upload the 12 month budget template, included in the sidebar of the page.
After receiving your document, we will be in touch with you within a week for further review. When ready, your application will be reviewed by our staff and board of directories and the final step will be signing a Memo of Understanding between your project and Regenerate Cascadia.
Before starting this process, people should know that applications can take up to 2 months to approve and must be approved by our board of directors. However, the more familiar we are with your project and the more able we talk through things, the faster the process will be. We thank you ahead of time for your understanding. When you submit, we’ll follow up within the week and can also talk with you a bit more about your schedule.
Before submitting, we highly recommend discussing this application and budget with a Regenerate Cascadia team member. We’re here to answer any questions, and we would love to help you run through your application or budget.
For questions or assistance, contact:
cascadia@deptofbioregion.org
The Department of Bioregion charges an administrative fee of 10% for comprehensive fiscal sponsorship. For pre-approved short-term grant sponsorships, we charge 15%.
Each project is evaluated on a case-by-case basis by our board of directors. These costs cover providing you with a direct programming officer who works with you around your needs, processing fees, insurance liability, and general operating expenses.
Regenerate Cascadia sponsors projects that create the conditions for a regenerative culture and movement to thrive within the Cascadia bioregion. In addition, the Department of Bioregion our 501(c)3 nonprofit – sponsors projects outside of the Cascadia bioregion.
When this application is approved by Regenerate Cascadia, you become a part of the Regenerate Cascadia and our Bioregional Movement collective, and the benefits that come with that. From the perspective of the IRS, this means you become a part of the Regenerate Cascadia 501(c)3 umbrella and gain the same services and benefits that we collectively have, including:
- Access to our insurance policy
- Tax-deductible donations
- Grants
- A mailing address.
- Internal resources
- Library and non-profit tools
- Access to our dedicated bank account
- End of Year Tax Reporting
- Protection from Personal Liability
We also use our website, social media, and newsletter as a place to share updates, grow your reach, participation, and exposure for your project.
A Few Specifics
You retain full rights to your work and funds raised minus the admin fee, and this agreement can be ended by you at any point with 30 days’ notice. Regenerate Cascadia can end this relationship if it detects illegal activities, a negative banking balance, or deems your work to not be in alignment with our stated mission. You continue to maintain and handle the day-to-day operations of your website, social media, etc. We are here to help with the administration, accounting, and reporting requirements and to ensure legal and fiscal compliance.
Revenues you receive:
All charitable donations, ticket or merchandise sales, or any other revenues received must be received by Regenerate Cascadia for deposit into your project fund. Checks must be made out to “Regenerate Cascadia” and we encourage your project name on the “memo” line.
Deposit checks or cash at any BECU location (email @RegenerateCascadia.org for account number), or affiliate credit union, or using zelle, paypal, stripe or venmo, and report your deposit using our online form. Checks can also be mailed directly to BECU and please also report these deposits using our online form. Alternatively, checks or cash can be mailed to Regenerate Cascadia (address above.) Contact brandon@RegenerateCascadia.org to link your revenues to our BECU account, Stripe, Venmo or PayPal, or with any questions.
Money you spend:
Expenses must be included in the original project budget or approved by the Regenerate Cascadia backbone admin, or Department of Bioregion board of directors. There are three ways to spend money from your project fund:
- Submit an expense request at least three to five (3-5) business days in advance. We appreciate as much advance notice as you can give.
- Pay an expense out of pocket and submit your receipt using the expense request form. You will be reimbursed for the expense within three to five (3-5) business days.
- For projects that would like, we are happy to set up a dedicated BECU bank account, and create a card for the projects name. We use a two person auditing system, so they, and us will always have an account holder.
- In addition, we will work to automate as many types of payments as we are able, such as payroll and reporting within the US, etc.
Financial Statements:
Project Leaders may request a financial statement at any time with ten (10) business days’ notice, or request an updated project fund balance with three to five (3-5) business days’ notice.
In-Kind Gifts:
Any money spent on a project that a project leader does not wish to be (or does not have the funds to be) reimbursed for can be accounted as an in-kind gift. Please send itemized receipts for in-kind gifts to @RegenerateCascadia.org.
Online Reporting
Projects will have a space and page created for them that they are welcome to use and maintain on the Regenerate Cascadia website. Our goal is to empower nonprofit leaders to have all the tools they need for reporting to be available through the website.
However, from your end this means you
- Don’t violate our principles or perform illegal activities that could get our organization, other projects, or organizers in trouble.
- Maintain a positive account balance.
- Stay in touch, be active, and let us know about upcoming activities.
- Make sure we have an accurate idea of your budget and impact, especially for end-of-year reporting.
- For legal purposes, add a “501(c)3 Program of Regenerate Cascadia” on your website footer and marketing materials.
Project Leaders are expected and empowered to coordinate all aspects of their project, including organizing all project activities and raising funds independently to support the project.
They are also responsible for:
- Completing project reports (Regenerate Cascadia staff will contact you to remind you that the reporting deadline is approaching and provide a reporting template.)
- Disclosing the relationship between Regenerate Cascadia and the project on all published print and digital materials. This public disclosure is required by the IRS, and it can be as simple as including wording such as: “a project of Regenerate Cascadia.”
- Reporting all revenues and expenses to Regenerate Cascadia. Any funds received or spent that do not go through Regenerate Cascadia are the liability of the person whose name those funds are in. We cannot be responsible for taxes on or activities paid for by monies that are not in our books.
- Entering into contracts: As stipulated in our Memo of Understanding, a project may only enter into a legally binding contract (rental agreements, grant agreements, etc.) with the signature of a Regenerate Cascadia Co-Administrator in the country of your residence, DOB Board President, or Board Secretary.
Publicity:
Please advise Regenerate Cascadia ASAP of any upcoming project events or milestones. The more notice we receive, the more visibility we can lend to your awesome project achievements.
We believe the people living in a place are the best suited to take the lead on issues affecting that area. Through our work, we connect projects, organizations and groups together, and work to strengthen each by providing services such as outreach, website support, fundraising, legal support, and anything else we can do to empower their success.
We sponsor and support any work that builds greater understandings of bioregions, promote place appropriate technologies and policies, provide direct funding for community projects, and support the creation of centers to determine the carrying capacities and regenerative frameworks for each watershed and bioregion we live in.
No matter what, if your work aligns with ours, we would love to:
- share your work on our social media, our online updates and in our newsletter.
- empower, amplify and partner around campaigns or specific events your having.
If you would like sponsorship, we also can help by:
- Giving access to a suite of WordPress themes and plugins, as well as direct community space if helpful, as well as plugging in with our broader Regenerate Cascadia movement.
- Marketing, Fundraising, Communications and Nonprofit consulting.
- Ability for recurring and one-time donations, as well as a 501(c)(3) tax status for tax-deductible donations to empower your project.
- Support for strategic planning, raising awareness of your project and finding other volunteers.
- Mentorship collective with other project and project leaders.
