One Year Independent: What We’ve Learned from Our Fiscal Sponsorship Transition
On 1st February 2025, The Carpentries completed its transition from a fiscally sponsored organisation to an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Over the past year, the Executive Team undertook a formal evaluation to understand how this shift has affected our mission delivery, governance, finances, and relationships with our community. This post summarises the main themes that emerged.
Being independent has given The Carpentries greater latitude to make decisions that reflect our values and long-term strategy. This has been particularly important in a changing funding landscape. Our experience navigating a major federal proposal independently, and ultimately declining an award whose conditions conflicted with our commitment to inclusivity, underscored the importance of organisational autonomy and reinforced the role we intend to play as a values-led organisation in the open science ecosystem. Our leadership and decision influenced the Python Software Foundation to also reject federal funding on the same grounds.
The transition also marked a significant change our governance. Our Board of Directors now holds full legal and fiduciary responsibility. This expanded role is supported by updated policies, insurance coverage, and a succession plan. We have also invested in stronger connections across our governance bodies, creating more opportunities for alignment between strategic oversight and day-to-day programmatic work.
Community response to independence has been strongly positive, with widespread expressions of confidence in the organisation’s direction and sustainability. For the Core Team, independence enabled the introduction of more flexible, human-centered leave policies. These changes led to clear improvements in Core Team satisfaction and better reflect the global nature of our team.
From a financial and operational perspective, early indicators are encouraging. Operating independently has resulted in modest cost savings relative to fiscal sponsorship, alongside substantially improved access to real-time financial information. More detailed reporting and forecasting now support faster, better-informed decision-making and reduce the administrative burden on our team.
Taken together, the evaluation shows that independence has strengthened The Carpentries’ capacity to operate with clarity, confidence, and responsible stewardship of non-profit funds. While this transition is not an endpoint, it provides a strong foundation for continued organisational impact.
We are grateful for the valuable contributions and support of our community as we continue our journey to establish The Carpentries as a leading independent, sustainable, values-aligned organisation.