As a leading fiscal intermediary for critical work in philanthropy, Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors maintains trust with our key partners by ensuring legal and financial stability. We do this to encourage access to more funding for the work we sponsor and demonstrate transparency to donors and stakeholders. We believe this supports their ability to fulfill their mission and maximize impact. RPA achieves this through compliance, which really is a commitment to adhering to law and regulation, good governance, and ensuring operations are sound and well-maintained.

Sometimes, the work of maintaining compliance with good governance or operations can be seen as bureaucratic at best or as an impediment. We believe this mindset misses a significant opportunity. When done right, compliance can build trust, ensure accountability, and make it possible to work effectively across complex networks of people and organizations. Having a sophisticated view of compliance allows innovation in developing strategic initiatives that create transformative change.  

In our discussions with our project leaders, we seek to share how our approaches are designed to create space to allow them to have the greatest ability to fulfill their missions. 

For organizations like RPA, which operate and scale complicated but important work, compliance is not peripheral. It is a core component of the infrastructure that makes flexible, timely, and collaborative work possible, especially in rapidly changing environments. 

At RPA, fiscal sponsorship involves supporting over 100 projects around the world. These projects vary widely in scope, geography, and approach, from local initiatives rooted in place to global collaboratives. Despite their differences, they share a need for infrastructure that can adapt to complexity while still providing legal, financial, and operational clarity. In this context, compliance is not a static checklist. It is a dynamic framework that helps projects act with integrity, navigate uncertainty, and maintain the trust of their communities, funders, and the broader public. It offers a common language so that actors across philanthropy can align around what is being done, how, and why. 

Compliance becomes particularly important in moments of urgency. Whether responding to a crisis such as a natural disaster or health crisis, many projects need to move more quickly than traditional philanthropy allows. Sound compliance structures provided by intermediaries provide nimble pathways, pre-approved processes, and the confidence that rapid response will not result in long-term risk. Intermediaries also allow for calculated programmatic risks. When compliance is grounded in rigorous but adaptable systems, projects are better positioned to innovate, experiment, and course-correct without jeopardizing their standing. In this way, compliance becomes a prerequisite to bold work, not a barrier to it. 

The role of the intermediary is not to create rules (we take our cues from laws and regulations at the national, state, and local levels) but to help implement them in ways that are context-specific and mission-aligned. This work is technical, but it is also relational. It requires collaboration across legal, finance, program, and administrative functions, and it requires an ongoing commitment to building and maintaining systems that balance rigor and responsiveness.  

This is increasingly critical in our current climate and its escalating, convergent challenges. Philanthropies, advocacy groups, and community organizers are navigating not only urgent needs but also increasing scrutiny. Compliance won’t stop political pressure or eliminate risks, but it does give organizations a firm foundation to stand on and the tools they need to keep moving forward.  

Fiscal sponsorship is a strategic operational function that demands trust-based relationships, alignment, and continuous adaptation. The technical requirements of managing charitable structures, regranting models, and international partnerships are real, and so are the compliance responsibilities that underpin them. The work of intermediaries often happens behind the scenes, but it is foundational.

Compliance shapes how decisions are made, how funds are disbursed, and how organizations maintain public trust. It is not a separate, bureaucratic administrative task. It is part of what enables programs to operate effectively, legally, and with accountability to their mission. Compliance isn’t just the guardrail that keeps us moving smoothly and with confidence; it also shapes the very substance of our work, ensuring that what we deliver is stronger, more trusted, and ultimately more impactful in the field.