Things people ask us.

No. There is no minimum size, no requirement that you have bylaws or a board, and no requirement that you have been around for a certain number of years. A few neighbors who have been meeting on someone’s porch can ask.

No, and that is rather the point. Fiscal sponsorship exists so your group can stay informal while we carry the incorporation, filings, and paperwork.

No. Membership is not required to hold an account, come to a convening, or ask us for help. If more groups apply than we can support at once, our Board weighs several things, including whether a group is a member, whether the community is underserved, how significant the need is, and how ready the group is to take it on.

Yes. Plenty of what we do has nothing to do with money: how to run a meeting, how to get people to show up, bylaws, officers, elections, what to do when the person who started everything moves away. Email us and tell us what you are stuck on.

Weeks rather than days. We are a small volunteer board. After we talk and you send an application, the Board reviews it at its next meeting, and we tell you when that falls before you apply. You hear back within 7 days of that meeting for account holding, or 14 days where donations or grants are involved.

If we decline, we tell you why in writing. Most declines are about readiness rather than merit, and you can reapply as soon as you have addressed it, with no waiting period.

You can end the agreement whenever you want, on 60 days’ written notice. You are not locked in.

Send it signed by two of the people your group named as authorized requesters, or through your group’s own leadership process. That is not us making it difficult. It is so one person cannot close an account the whole group relies on.

We then stop taking in new funds, pay any valid requests still outstanding, and send you final statements within 60 days.

Where the remaining money goes depends on where it came from. Grant money follows the grant agreement, which sometimes means returning it to the funder. Money a donor restricted goes to another 501(c)(3) that can carry out that purpose. Everything else goes to your group directly if you have your own 501(c)(3) by then, or to another 501(c)(3) that can continue the work.

You can tell us where you would like it to go and we give that real weight, but the final call sits with our Board, because the law requires it to. What we cannot do is pay it out to individuals. And if we ever end the agreement without cause, the funds follow your group to a 501(c)(3) you name.

Then you may already have what you need. Larger sponsors and community foundations do this well and at greater scale. We are small, focused on Davidson County neighborhoods specifically, and we charge nothing on money your group raises itself. If you are weighing a move, we are happy to talk it through honestly, including telling you when staying put is the better call.

No. Every sponsored group gets its own dedicated bank account, separate from our operating funds and from every other group. You get a statement at least quarterly, monthly on request.

Usually yes, and it is one of the most common reasons groups come to us. Talk to us about the best way to move it, since that depends on how the money is held now.

One thing to be clear about: moving money to us does not make past contributions tax-deductible. If neighbors gave to your group last year, those were gifts to your group, not to a 501(c)(3), and transferring the balance later does not change that. Please do not tell anyone otherwise. Going forward, gifts made to us in support of your group are deductible, and we send the receipt.

You email a request with the amount, who to pay, what it is for, and documentation such as an invoice or receipt. We review it and pay the vendor directly where we can, within 10 business days of confirming the request is complete. Anything of $500 or more needs a second person from your group to confirm it.

Your group does not get checks, cards, or bank logins. You request, we pay. That separation is what keeps the money safe and the records clean.

Ask us before you spend where you can. If it has already happened, we may reimburse you, but we are not obliged to. The first time, if the expense would clearly have been approved and you have the receipts, we reimburse and send a reminder about the process. Repeated unapproved spending may mean we decline, and then your group bears the cost.

Yes, if the gift is made to us in support of your group, and we send the receipt. Money your group raises on its own is not a deductible gift, and your group should not tell people otherwise.

If someone wants to give by check, ask them to write out Nashville Community Collective in full rather than initials, and to note which group the gift is for, either in the memo line or on a note with it. Without that we cannot tell which account it belongs to, and it slows everything down.

Absolutely, and we take no fee on it. Bring it to us for safekeeping and all of it stays yours. Just do not raise it in our name or call it tax-deductible without talking to us first.

Nobody here is paid. Our board members are volunteers, and so far our costs have come out of our own pockets. Going forward, income comes from individual donations, membership dues once that opens, and the administrative fee on grants and tax-deductible gifts we help groups receive.

We incorporated in February 2026 and the IRS recognized us as a 501(c)(3) the following month. The people involved have been organizing neighborhoods for longer than that, but the organization itself is young and we would rather say so than imply a track record we do not have.

We would rather teach you to do it yourself, because you will do it better and you will still be doing it after we are gone.

Neighborhoods often lose out not because nobody cared but because nobody knew when the meeting was, who to write to, or what actually gets read. We help with that part: how Metro works, which body decides what, when public comment happens, how to write a letter that lands, how to get ten neighbors to send one instead of one neighbor sending ten.

What position your neighborhood takes is yours to decide. We do not take it for you, and we do not speak on your behalf. As a 501(c)(3) we also cannot support or oppose candidates for office, and neither can a group we sponsor.

Our bylaws, board policies, IRS determination letter, fiscal sponsorship policy, and the account agreement template are all posted on our Accountability page.