New Venture Fund is a public charity that seeks to make the world a better place by empowering the scores of philanthropic projects that call NVF home. This is done through a model called fiscal sponsorship.
As a fiscal sponsor, NVF not only serves as the operational home to projects but helps them maximize impact by providing administrative expertise and absorbing the bureaucratic burdens that can slow down charity. New Venture Fund’s fiscal sponsorship clears the way for changemakers to focus on their mission and scale results.
As a non-profit organization, NVF submits an annual filing to the IRS outlining our activity for the previous year. Each year we post that document here, both to honor transparency but also as an opportunity to celebrate the incredible work NVF projects continue to do. The document itself provides insight into NVF’s budget, how we manage resources, and some of the ways, such as grantmaking, that projects are working to create a more equitable, just and sustainable society.
Of course, a tax filing does not capture the full impact that NVF’s more than 170 projects are having. That’s why each year we also lift up the stories of specific projects that reject our principles, values, and philanthropic mission. These are the stories that define NVF. As you will see, they address a wide range of societal challenges and each takes its own approach to solving big problems.
Here is a sampling of NVF’s fiscally-sponsored projects:
Hope and Heal Fund: In 2015, a shooting in San Bernardino, California killed 14 people and injured 22 more. In the tragedy’s shadow, philanthropic leaders gathered at the Enough Summit and launched the Hope and Heal Fund in 2016. To end firearm-related deaths, injuries and trauma, the Fund targets the intersectionality of all forms of firearm violence and community-wide trauma. They work to change the media narrative, uplift local solutions, provide access to accurate and timely data, and convene historically marginalized communities to change systems and address firearm violence and trauma. Across its work, the Fund has invested over $8 million, helping to keep homes and communities safe and free from trauma, injuries and death from firearms.
Public Interest Technology Universities Network Fund: Technology can impact everyone’s lives, but not everyone can shape technology’s impact — at least not yet. To help level the playing field, the Public Interest Technology Universities Network Fund, or PIT-UN, started in 2019. This partnership includes 63 member colleges and universities offering career pathway models and training programs that can nurture the next generation of civic-minded technologists. For example, PIT-UN supports hackathons, where member students convene and team up to use data and human-centered approaches to build technology that provide community driven solutions. It is currently working to scale its impact through the creation of regional hubs. Between 2019 and 2023, the Fund invested $14 million in innovative programs and career pipelines, with over $2 million awarded to 18 applicants from 48 institutions in 2022 alone.
National Collaborative for Health Equity: Founded in 2014, NCHE aims to promote health and racial equity. Formerly known as the Health Policy Institute, NCHE equips institutions and leaders from historically marginalized and excluded communities with tools to improve the social, economic, and environmental conditions that shape health. These tools include leadership policy analysis, data mining and analysis, and community organizing and mobilization to address a range of issues that are the ultimate determinants of health. It addresses the deep racial and health inequities that persist largely due to structural and institutional racism.
Moving Forward
As we release this year’s filing, we invite you to see it not just as a financial document, but as an opportunity to learn more about how New Venture Fund operates and a reflection of our commitment to the causes and communities we serve. You can download it here.
We also hope that you will learn more about NVF’s work through the recently released 2024 NVF Impact Report, found here.
