Nearly all primary functions of administering your fiscally-sponsored project can be managed using Mazlo. We highly recommend perusing and bookmarking Mazlo’s knowledge base.
Receiving donations for your project
Checks
Checks should be made out to “Mission.Earth”, with your project’s name in the memo line. Checks may also be made out to “Sponsor, Inc.”.
If a donor makes a check out directly to your project, you may still deposit it using Mazlo’s mobile deposit feature. However, please be aware that deposits made out incorrectly may not be successful.
If you receive checks and cannot deposit them through Mazlo, they can be mailed to 1257 Worcester Road, #312, Framingham, MA 01701. Our summary remittance details can be shared with vendors and donors.
Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT)
Projects may provide their dedicated EFT information for their Mazlo account to donors or granting organizations.
In addition, Mission.Earth’s summary remittance details can be shared with vendors and donors. Please note that funds received in our general account will need to be labeled so that they can be manually re-allocated to your project.
EFT might be referred to as “wire” or “ACH.” For your purposes, these methods are synonymous.
Spending money for your project
Funds are spent at the direction of the project. However, as Mission.Earth carries the liability for the activities of all of our projects, no funds are disbursed without three levels of approval:
- The project director must submit all payment requests to Mission.Earth, including documentation.
- One member of the Mission.Earth team will review and approve the disbursement (usually the Executive Director).
- Another Mission.Earth team member will execute the payment (usually the President).
Making EFT or Check Payments
Projects should follow the instructions provided by Mazlo for requesting payments. Mission.Earth intends to make payment within 30 days of complete requests.
Using the Virtual Debit Card
Projects may request funds on their virtual debit card for pre-approved expenses. Examples of appropriate pre-approved expenses are event expenses, one-time purchases, and other petty cash expenditures.
Projects may request funds on their debit card by providing to the Executive Director a detailed budget of how the funds are to be spent.
All expenditures made on debit cards will require receipts submitted within 30 days of the expenditure. If receipts are not provided in a timely manner, the debit card will be frozen until such time that the project is compliant with the receipt requirements.
Learn more about using virtual debit cards.
Hiring and paying employees
Many projects choose to employ one or more people to carry out their program activities.
Mission.Earth supports projects in hiring and maintaining employees, given a few conditions are met:
- Projects must maintain a cash balance of a minimum of three months of employment expenses.
- Projects will contribute $32/month for the first employee, and $8/month for additional employees towards the cost of maintaining and running a payroll.
- Employees will agree to the Mission.Earth Employee Handbook and follow all timekeeping procedures.
Mission.Earth will not hesitate to terminate employment if a project fails to meet these basic requirements.
At this time, Mission.Earth is not in a position to offer benefits to our projects’ employees.
Mission.Earth uses a bi-weekly payroll schedule, with 26 payroll periods per year.
Hiring
- Projects must complete and submit a job description for the position they intend to hire. Job description templates can be found in the document repository, here.
- Mission.Earth will provide an employee signature packet, which includes the Employee Handbook, Job Description, and Form I9 part I.
- The employee must schedule an I9 verification appointment with Mission.Earth to complete hiring paperwork.
- The employee must provide their personal email address, phone number and date of birth to be invited to ADP, our payroll provider.
Timesheets
Salaried employees will not be required to complete a timesheet.
Hourly employees will be assigned a timesheet and will be required to record their hourly work performed during the week it is performed. Timesheets will be closed and locked each Monday following the end of the pay period.
Sending receipts for tax-deductible donations
The simplest way to send receipts for tax-deductible donations is using Mazlo’s built-in donor acknowledge letters functionality
Projects may also take advantage of receipt templates in Fundrazr, or use the receipt templates provided in the Resources for Projects folder on the Google Drive.
Mission.Earth does not automatically send donation acknowledgements on your behalf.
Financial Reports
Mission.Earth provides Profit-and-Loss statements (also called “Statement of Activity” for a nonprofit) on a monthly basis. These statements are uploaded to your project folder in the Google Drive. Between these statements and the balance in mazlo, you will have a complete picture of your project’s finances.
Customized financial reports are available, within reason, upon request.
Describing your Organization
It can often be difficult to explain to funders the nature of a fiscally-sponsored relationship. Here is some language that we recommend.
[your project name] is a fiscally-sponsored project of Mission.Earth (a 501(c)(3) organization).
Our fiscal sponsor Mission.Earth is an organization incorporated under IRS code 501(c)(3). [your project name] is a program of Mission.Earth, and therefore, all of our financial matters are handled by Mission.Earth.
[your project name] is a charitable project/effort/organization housed at Mission.Earth, a 501(c)(3) organization.
Fiscal sponsorship is an arrangement that allows [your project name] to take advantage of the benefits of incorporation under IRS code 501(c)(3) through our sponsor, Mission.Earth; for example, we can solicit tax deductible donations, apply for philanthropic and governmental grants, and make tax-exempt purchases, all because we operate as a program under the charitable tax designation of Mission.Earth.
Conclusion
This guide is intended to start Projects on the right foot in their Fiscal Sponsorship journey. It is certainly non-exhaustive, and customized solutions will be necessary for just about every Project based on the unique needs of your work. For clarification on anything covered or omitted in this guide, please reach out to us.