Social Good Labs is a San Francisco-based ¹ incubator of for-profit and nonprofit startups aligned with its mission to use technology to improve the world. ² The organization provides fiscal sponsorship and consultation services to scale early-stage projects. ³

In recent years, Social Good Labs directed most of its expenses to supporting organizations that raise awareness about Kurdish issues, provide resources and technical assistance to left-of-center groups, and promote environmental conservation. ⁴

Activities

Social Good Labs Incorporated offers fiscal sponsorship and strategic support to help launch for-profit companies and non-profit startups ⁵ that align with its vision of leveraging technology to improve the world. ⁶

As part of its fiscal sponsorship services, Social Good Labs allows mission-aligned projects to organize under its organizational umbrella, allowing these projects to receive tax-deductible organizations before completing the 501(c)(3) recognition process. The organization also assists projects attempting to gain tax-exempt status with legal, accounting, and tax advice; connections with partners, vendors, advisors, and collaborators; assistance setting up a board of governors; and consultations on growth strategy. ⁷

Additionally, Social Good Labs offers strategy consultation and mentorship to a small number of non-profit startups per year that share its mission. This service includes consultations to improve technology, digital marketing, and communication, and participation on the advisory board of new ventures. ⁸

Funding

In 2021, Social Good Labs Incorporated received the entirety of its $638,259 in revenue from gifts, grants, contributions, and membership fees. ⁹ This included in part a $55,000 grant from October 2021 to November 2022 from the Ford Foundation as “one-time project support to create a temporary learning community among capacity building specialized focused on the skills, knowledge, and resources to help multi-entity organizations.” ¹⁰

Social Good Labs received another $250,000 from the Ford Foundation from November 2022 to October 2023 for “project support for collaboration, research, and planning to develop-thought-leadership recommendations for multi-entity praxis and infrastructure for the pro-Democracy ecosystem.” ¹¹

Grantmaking

In 2021, Social Good Labs Incorporated offered consultations and fiscal sponsorship to three nonprofits. It spent $20,161 to aid the Kurdish Culture Education Project, a cultural education initiative to raise awareness of the Kurdish people; $36,053 for the Capacity Shop, an affiliate of New Left Accelerator connecting left-wing organizations with resources, training, and technical assistance; and $93,664 for Experiment Foundation, an environmental conservation group. ¹²

In 2020, Social Good Labs likewise spent $54,145 to aid the Kurdish Cultural Education Project and $55,769 for the Capacity Shop. It also spent $15,580 supporting Native Species, an environmental activist group. ¹³

In 2019, Social Good Labs also spent $87,655 supporting the Kurdish Culture Education Project and $122,260 for the Capacity Shop. ¹⁴

People

The president and CEO of Social Good Labs is Eric Facas. ¹⁵ Facas is also the founder and CEO of Media Cause, ¹⁶ a nonprofit marketing agency, ¹⁷ and Rally Starter, which provides digital organizing tools for advocacy. ¹⁸

Previously, Facas was on the board of advisors for Bizworld.org and worked as an ad sale account executive, SEM channel manger, and senior agency lead and sales strategy development manager at Google. ¹⁹

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2. “Fiscal Sponsorship.” Social Good Labs Incorporated. Accessed August 11, 2023. https://www.socialgoodlabs.com/fiscal-sponsorship-1.
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4. Social Good Labs Incorporated. Return of an Organization Exempt From Income Tax (Form 990). 2021.; Social Good Labs Incorporated. Return of an Organization Exempt From Income Tax (Form 990). 2020.; Social Good Labs Incorporated. Return of an Organization Exempt From Income Tax (Form 990). 2019.
5. “#Mission.” Social Good Labs Incorporated. Accessed August 11, 2023. https://www.socialgoodlabs.com/#mission.
6. “Fiscal Sponsorship.” Social Good Labs Incorporated. Accessed August 11, 2023. https://www.socialgoodlabs.com/fiscal-sponsorship-1.
7. “Fiscal Sponsorship.” Social Good Labs Incorporated. Accessed August 11, 2023. https://www.socialgoodlabs.com/fiscal-sponsorship-1.
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9. Social Good Labs Incorporated. Return of an Organization Exempt From Income Tax (Form 990). 2021.
10. “One-time project support to create a temporary learning community among capacity building specialized focused on the skills, knowledge, and resources to help multi-entity organizations.” Ford Foundation. Accessed August 11, 20223. https://www.fordfoundation.org/work/our-grants/awarded-grants/grants-database/social-good-labs-incorporated-141984/.
11. “Project support for collaboration, research, and planning to develop-thought-leadership recommendations for multi-entity praxis and infrastructure for the pro-Democracy ecosystem.” Ford Foundation. Accessed August 11, 2023. https://www.fordfoundation.org/work/our-grants/awarded-grants/grants-database/social-good-labs-incorporated-145190/.
12. Social Good Labs Incorporated. Return of an Organization Exempt From Income Tax (Form 990). 2021.
13. Social Good Labs Incorporated. Return of an Organization Exempt From Income Tax (Form 990). 2020.
14. Social Good Labs Incorporated. Return of an Organization Exempt From Income Tax (Form 990). 2019.
15. Social Good Labs Incorporated. Return of an Organization Exempt From Income Tax (Form 990). 2021.
16. “Eric Facas.” LinkedIn. Accessed August 11, 2023. https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericfacas/.
17. “Media Cause.” Media Cause. Accessed August 11, 2023. https://mediacause.com/.
18. “Eric Facas.” LinkedIn. Accessed August 11, 2023. https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericfacas/.
19. “Eric Facas.” LinkedIn. Accessed August 11, 2023. https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericfacas/.