I am Mike Strode, Program Officer at Open Collective Foundation. I would be glad to have further conversation with anyone interested about our fiscal sponsorship offering.
We have hosted a range of CfA Brigades in past and at present. We are familiar with the type of work that you all do and generally have easily understandable systems to ensure you can access your funds without constraint. You can use my scheduling calendar to select a time for a conversation.
In the meantime, you can visit our Mission Impact Areas and How To Apply pages to learn more about the types of groups we host and how we evaluate new groups for sponsorship.
The first forum was not recorded, but we hope you can join us at our next Town Hall. Additional information about the transition process will also be sent out as we work through the important questions and needs that surfaced in last week’s Town Hall (and before and since then).
We rescheduled today’s Town Hall to March 2nd so that we can more fully address your questions the next time we come together. In the meantime, our team is working hard to ensure we bring you the clarity and details requested so that each Brigade is set up to successfully transition as our current MOU comes to a conclusion on June 30, 2023.
I believe the relationships among brigades, and between brigades and Code for America, have been an important distinction that has kept a grassroots and volunteer perspective alive in CfA and civic tech in general. CfA shifting away from this key element of GRASSROOTS civic tech makes this organization more like “the herd” of well-meaning consultants seeking better government services. The loss for engaging a wide variety of communities and thus be less tied to their Bay Area and California orientation is significant. John Stephens, Durham NC