Fiscal Sponsorship Disclosure Is Common Sense, Not an Attack
Updating Form 990 to reflect the growth of groups that incubate new charities won't undermine their work but will help the public understand where billions in tax-exempt dollars are going.
June 4, 2026 | Read Time: 1 minute
In her op-ed “The IRS Is Coming for Groups That Incubate New Charities,” Ema Sol charges that fiscal sponsorship disclosure on Form 990 would amount to a federal “attack” on the charitable sector. Her thinking is misguided. While the regulations have yet to be proposed and their contents are therefore speculative, multiple improvements along these lines are needed. None is intended to “undermine” the ability of fiscal sponsors to operate, much less threaten their existence.
Nor would a properly designed reporting framework do so in practice. Form 990 currently requires disclosure of domestic grant making, executive compensation, the highest-paid contractors, and other detailed operational information. Yet this does not prevent nonprofits from making grants, paying senior staff, or hiring outside help. The same is true for fiscal sponsorship.
The American people rightly incentivize the good work of nonprofits, including fiscal sponsors, with favorable tax treatment, and Form 990 is the best resource available for the public to understand this work. As Sol acknowledges, fiscal sponsors now collectively administer billions of tax-exempt dollars. This growth has occurred without any corresponding transparency. Updating Form 990 to keep pace with important developments in the nonprofit sector does indeed “seem like common sense.”
Robert Stilson
Senior Research Analyst
Capital Research Center
