Prior to the workshop, my naivete inspired a creative interpretation of the title: I imagined that fiscal sponsorship might be an alternative to grant-seeking. This workshop would direct me and the other aspiring would-be founders to benevolent, financially solvent persons or entities, who, entranced by our game-changing ideas and irresistible charisma, would bankroll our fumbles toward greatness and, with an outpouring of no-strings-attached cash, change our lives and the world as we knew it.

Needless to say, I was wrong. I should have just looked it up, then gotten that physical after all. Fiscal sponsorship is not so much a financial fairy godmother as it is a logistical one. Basically, organizations who have already jumped through the IRS’ hoops in order to gain 501(3)(c) status, navigated the paperwork necessary for hiring employees, and other such back-office duties, take people or groups who promote similar or complementary causes under their umbrella. The fiscally sponsored project is saved the administrative headaches and gets to focus on programming. In return, the fiscal sponsor siphons off a percentage of all funding.

However, the process of getting a fiscal sponsor is just as chicken-or-egg as the rest of the startup game: the majority of fiscal sponsors require an application, and a certain amount of money in the bank, before they’ll even consider you. Keep in mind that this money – $25,000, for one particular sponsor – has to be awarded to you WITHOUT a 501(c)(3). One woman in the audience had already received some good-faith donations that would allow her to pursue this route; but the rest of us flummoxed would-be founders were left scratching our heads, dubious about the administrative headaches one must suffer in order to be relieved of them.