A recent piece in Alliance about fiscal hosting by Jocelyn Ban hit the nail on the head when describing it as an ‘inconspicuous trend’ in philanthropy. As the founder of The Social Change Nest CIC, the UK’s first values based fiscal host, we have watched the sector start to recognise what the US has known for years, that fiscal hosting is a critical piece of not just philanthropic but civil society infrastructure. 

The Social Change Nest started in 2019 in part as a response to the pandemic. We had spent years experimenting with how to support social movements to build their own infrastructure on their own terms at a pace that worked for them. This work focussed on how to support work that was impact driven, values based and trauma informed.  When the mutual aid movement erupted as part of civil society’s response to lockdown we were able to scale our fiscal hosting service to match their need.

Fast forward to 2024 and we host over 550 civil society groups and social movements and provide critical infrastructure for coalitions such as the UN Reimagining Fundraising Coalition and the Great Manchester Systems Change coalition, funded by Lankelly Chase Foundation. We also support groundbreaking field-building movements such as Healthy Food Healthy Planet, The Jewish Diaspora Alliance and the Good Ancestor Movement.

The Social Change Nest was not born out of philanthropy. We are first and foremost activists and change makers, focused on the change making and all the messiness that comes with it. We are campaigners, organisers, activists, social innovators, organisational developers, conflict resolution practitioners, trauma specialists, facilitators – all with one thing in common; we believe that governance and decision making are the Queens of social change.  And democratised and decentralised forms of social change are stepping into a more central space, once occupied solely by charity sector or philanthropists.

Decentralised technology such as Facebook and 38 Degrees started a trend in the UK in the 2000’s, and platforms such as Open Collective and JustLend have given people the tools to get going without the need to incorporate into a charitable structure. As a result, people’s expectations have changed. Our fiscal hosting service is more than just values based – it is born out of a firm belief that anyone, no matter background or belief, has a right to take part in civil society. This cannot happen however, in a system that has been built to keep people out.

We exist to tear down the barriers that exist to prevent people from creating change and in order to do that we look to absorb the risk so that social movements do not have to. We may have actively rejected the practices that replicate and reinforce the status quo, but it is the most unglamorous role I have ever held. As the leaders in our field we are subject to scrutiny and constantly pushed and pulled between various regulatory bodies like a ball pinged off in a pinball machine. We spend our days working out VAT and HMRC boundaries, we discuss the impact of various regulatory bodies such as the electoral commission or Employment Agency regulation. We refine our policies and contracts continually. We revise our accounting practices so they are trauma informed. We have a living risk management policy that is the next evolution of standard risk management practices, founded on our belief that there is more risk in not doing things than doing them.

To be able to do this, we have recently invested in building out our risk and governance capacity – both in terms of our practice and staff, but also in our board, welcoming a leading trauma advisor to the UN as our NED. Our legal bills are huge, our accounting bills are massive. But we understand that marches and banners are often just the visible part of social movements. They need spreadsheets and mass messaging tools, and they need lawyers and risk frameworks and governance advice. We do not compromise our social movements at any point; we work collaboratively and in a way that acknowledges the group dynamics and different types of leadership and we seek to build out regenerative business practices at every twist and turn.

We are starting to see other fiscal hosts emerge in the UK. This is brilliant to see and is more evidence that fiscal hosting is here to stay. However, it remains to be seen whether the philanthropic sector treats us as a financial service or an impact model in itself. If it is the latter I would hope to see it accompanied by capital investments in the infrastructure so that like everything else we do, it is a collaborative effort for impact. Without this, I fear the philanthropy sector will continue to replicate its power dynamics.

Esther Foreman is CEO of The Social Change Nest, a not for profit community interest company