Partner Artists: About The Program
The Partner Artist Program offers a hands-on fiscal sponsorship solution for projects and emerging organizations in the arts. This program fosters accountability and sustainability by providing fiscal sponsorship, overseeing finances and assisting with strategic planning, fundraising and budgeting. The Shunpike works with its Partner Artists to set up effective practices and lasting organizational systems -- without reinventing the wheel.
As an umbrella organization, the Shunpike has supported more than 65 arts groups and projects since 2003, providing critical financial and organizational resources to groups such as Balagan Theater, Rivet Magazine and St. Helens String Quartet.
Arts groups that are accepted into the program become an associated program of the Shunpike for a minimum of one year.
The goals of the Partner Artist program are:
• Teach good management principles to the next generation of arts leaders
• Maximize creative success by streamlining arts administration
• Create opportunities for small companies to work together and gain exposure
• Foster art that is more responsive to (and therefore more supported by) its community
• Inspire new donors and new audiences for the arts
After working with the Shunpike, Partner Artists will have:
• Created an annual and/or project budget
• Developed a fundraising strategy
• Identified a core community of supporters and stakeholders
• Raised a significant portion of their budget in contributed income
• Produced 1 or more performances, projects, or other public events
Being an "Associated Program"
Partner Artists enter into a contract whereby they become an "associated program" of the Shunpike. This allows the artist(s) to raise funds and otherwise act as if they were a 501(c)3 tax-exempt non-profit. However, they are also required to act in a manner consistent with such a non-profit and coordinate all their activities with the Shunpike.
As an Associated Program of the Shunpike, projects benefit in many ways, including:
- Fiscal sponsorship - Individual donations and grants made to projects are tax deductible under our 501c3 umbrella.
- Donations Processing and Data Collection - Since all donations are made through us, we send out the required acknowledgement letters and save all donor information for our future use of Partner Artists. Donation reports are sent to Partner Artists semi-monthly.
- Financial Systems - Check writing, deposit processing, account reconciliation, basic bookkeeping, and tax reporting are all handled as a part of the program. Monthly balance statements are provided to Partner Artists, and overall financial reports can be easily accessed for purposes of grantwriting and budgeting.
- Basic Consultation and Discounted Services- Shunpike staff is available for informal consultations on topics such as finance, fundraising, planning, and marketing. Partner Artists also receive discounts on Shunpike's more intensive service packages from the Sustainable Organizations program.
- Insurance coverage - All Shunpike programs are covered by a standard commercial general liability policy, as required by many venues and community partners.
In return, we require Partner Artists to uphold certain standards of accountability and sustainability. Responsibilities include the following:
- Budgets - provide us with accurate and up-to-date budgets
- Project Descriptions - inform us of all significant project changes
- Credit - standard Shunpike language should appear in all publicity materials
- Notice - the Shunpike must review, in advance, all press releases, marketing materials, and fundraising materials.
- Evaluation: - fill out an evaluation form once the project is completed
- Fees - the Shunpike charges the following fees:
- 10% of all contributed income including individual donations, grants, and monetary sponsorship.
- $100 annual project fee (for project budgets greater than $1000)
[Donate to our Partner Artists]