Social Impact Commons

Several of Social Impact Commons’ member groups include the Movement Strategy Center (MSC), the Mellon Foundation, CultureWorks Greater Philadelphia, and Fidelity Charitable Catalyst Fund. ²

Initiatives

Social Impact Commons claims to provide services and initiatives to over 90 members and allies organizations such as connecting nonprofits with fiscal sponsors and funders. ³ It also claims to offer a “toolkit” for fiscal sponsors and their sponsored projects on how to navigate nonprofit grantmaking and fiscal sponsorship. ⁴ Social Impact Commons also advocates in favor of left-of-center public policies towards increasing access to fiscal sponsorship while also hosting events to help members address issues related to fiscal sponsorship and nonprofit management. ^{5 6}

Social Impact Commons additionally conducts research to track trends within fiscal sponsorship and nonprofit management. ⁷ In 2024, Social Impact Commons supported 62 active members across 2,800 projects, a 200 percent increase in members from the previous fiscal year in 2023. ⁸

Member Organizations

Nonprofits interested in joining the Social Impact Commons network can pay an annual membership fee of $750 which affords them access to the Social Impact Commons library, discounted direct services, and management approaches tailored for fiscal sponsors. ³

Social Impact Commons has more than 90 member and allied organizations including Alliance for Justice, the Center for Economic Democracy, CultureWorks Greater Philadelphia, the Mellon Foundation, the Movement Strategy Center (MSC), NEO Philanthropy, and the Climate Justice Hive. ²

In March 2025, Social Impact Commons announced a project called “Common Ground: The Future of Fiscal Sponsorship” in partnership with Proximate, a fiscally sponsored project of the Movement Strategy Center (MSC) that includes a digital media outlet reporting on money being invested and distributed by governments both domestically and internationally. According to the project, both Social Impact Commons and Proximate would publish articles that would allegedly be used to help organizations gain fiscal sponsorship from funds and funders. The project allegedly includes interviews with funders who have leveraged fiscal sponsorships to advance their causes. ⁹

Leadership

Thaddeus Squire is a co-founder and, as of 2025, was the chief commons steward at Social Impact Commons. Before co-founding Social Impact Commons, Squire founded Peregrine Arts in 2004, a multi-arts producer, followed by Hidden City Philadelphia. In 2010, he founded CultureWorks Greater Philadelphia, the first comprehensive fiscal sponsor focusing on arts and heritage in the country. Squire has received degrees from Princeton University, the University of Leipzig as a J. William Fulbright Fellow, and the Mendelssohn Conservatory of Music and Theatre. ¹⁰

As of 2025, Neville Vakharia was the president and treasurer of the Social Impact Commons board of directors. Vakharia is an Associate Professor and program director of Drexel University’s graduate Arts Administration and Museum Leadership program. Prior to Drexel, Vakharia was the director of the Cultural Data Project at the Pew Charitable Trusts (now SMU DataArts). He received his bachelor’s degree in Materials Engineering and his master’s degree in Arts Administration from Drexel University, where as of 2025 he was pursuing a Ph.D. in Information Science. Vakharia sits on the board of directors of CultureWorks Greater Philadelphia and the Philadelphia Cultural Fund and is the co-editor of Artivate: A Journal of Entrepreneurship in the Arts. ¹¹

Financials

In 2023, Social Impact Commons reported $1,955,410 in total revenue, $1,127,305 in total expenses, and $1,841,983 in total assets. ¹²