Producer Hub has become an independent 501(c)3 organization. Producer Hub, an offshoot of production company Octopus Theatricals, now directly provides fiscal sponsorship to independent producers and artists, while continuing to share previously established resources.
Fiscal sponsorship allows an existing nonprofit organization to extend its nonprofit status and benefits to individuals and organizations who have not yet achieved 501(c)3 status. Funds for projects can be raised directly through Producer Hub, now that it is its own 501(c)3 organization. Emerging artists and producers can legally accept donations without going through the lengthy process of becoming an official nonprofit and without their own board. Recipients pay a small percentage of contributed funds (2-3 percent in the case of Producer Hub) in fees back to the fiscal sponsor.
“We provide business services for independent producers so that they don't have to hold the liability of major grant funds running through them personally,” Michael Francis, the organization’s producing director, explained. “We can help facilitate those grants.”
But, if an organization decides they want to become a nonprofit, Producer Hub can help them acheive their own 501(c) 3 status, as “there’s just so much administrative burden that goes along with that which actually keeps you from making the art,” co-founder Mara Isaacs told Broadway News.
While other organizations, like Fractured Atlas, similarly offer fiscal sponsorships, Producer Hub offers a variety of other tools.
“Producer Hub is about sharing resources,” Francis said. “It’s a place where [creative producers] come to connect around ideas.”
Their job board, a regularly updated list of various opportunities in the business side of theater (artistic, producing, administrative, fundraising, marketing, production and operations), is among their most frequently used assets.
