Effective June 1, 2025, SPARC will officially transition from operating as a fiscally sponsored project of the New Venture Fund to an independent nonprofit organization. We have successfully incorporated SPARC as a charitable nonprofit organization in Washington, DC., and have filed for our 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status. We expect that an IRS determination will take ~6-8 months; however, while we wait for final approval, SPARC can fully operate as a nonprofit organization with our tax-exempt status pending.
We have contracted with XcelHR, a professional employment organization (PEO), to provide HR, payroll, benefits, and compliance services. We’ve also secured accounting services and legal counsel for taxes and general operations.
Funds from our membership dues and some grants will be moved immediately to the new SPARC entity. However, while we wait for IRS approval, some funders require that grant funds be held by an organization with a current tax-exempt 501(c)(3) status. We have contracted with the Global Fairness Initiative (GFI) to hold these funds while we wait for IRS approval. This is GFI’s only role with SPARC; once our tax-exempt status is approved, we will terminate the contract with GFI and all funds will be moved to SPARC.
As an independent nonprofit, we are required to have a fiscal Board of Directors. An inaugural BOD (Emily Gore, Yasmeen Shorish, April Hathcock, and Heather Joseph) has been established to fulfill this role. The Steering Committee, elected by SPARC members, will continue with its current remit to shape SPARC’s strategies and priorities.
We will continue operating under our current Articles of Governance, which the inaugural BOD adopted to serve as our provisional Bylaws. Over the next few months, in consultation with the Steering Committee, we will review and revise the Bylaws to further ensure that they reflect best practices for community-led transparency and good governance and serve SPARC’s needs as an independent nonprofit organization. We expect to submit revised bylaws to the Steering Committee for ratification at its October meeting.
There will still be some work required over the next few months to fully complete the process, and we will continue to regularly evaluate the effectiveness of our operations. We do not expect that this transition will have a material impact on our member programs or services.
We’re very pleased with (and proud of) how this process has been executed, and are particularly grateful to the SPARC Steering Committee, Spin Out Subcommittee, and NVF Team for their support over the past 18 months. We are excited to be moving to this new chapter in SPARC’s evolution!