Nathan Hewitt is an NYC-based fiscal sponsorship professional, governance nerd, local activist, and ambient musician. He is a “radical administrator” in service of community resilience and autonomy, currently serving as program manager at Open Collective and Open Collective Foundation. His writing has been featured in the Nonprofit Quarterly and WIRED, and he sits on the board of Social Impact Commons. Nathan has presented and paneled on topics such as the future of fiscal sponsorship, the solidarity economy, “exit to community,” community engagement, nonprofit management, digital security, and DIY zine-making. He also enjoys watching competitive road cycling.
Professional Writing
- Startups Have a Sellout Problem. There’s a Better Way, October 2022 (co-author)
- Open Collective’s Community Guidelines, April 2022
- Deep dive: community stewardship of Open Collective through a Perpetual Purpose Trust, March 2022
- How to Build Platforms that Our Movements Can Own, December 2021 (co-author)
- Pathways for Open Collective’s “Exit to Community”, November 2021 (co-author)
- Early musings on “Exit to Community” for Open Collective, October 2021 (co-author)
- Five Tips for Equitable and Efficient Nonprofit Recruitment, June 2021
- Finding Donors for Your Art: DIY Prospect Research for Artists, June 2020
- Security and Privacy Tools for Artistic Collaboration, April 2020
- Keeping Donors Happy: A Donor Stewardship Guide for Artists, November 2019
- 8 Things Fiscal Sponsorship Isn’t, October 2019 (co-author)
Work + Activism History
Somewhat recent
- presented on “fiscal sponsorship and the solidarity economy” and “the future of fiscal sponsorship” at a national fiscal sponsorship conference, and was guest speaker at an NYU class on arts entrepreneurship
- joined Open Collective (I’m not going to list all of the work out while I’m still here)
- researched county tax breaks for businesses as part of a Debt and Finance working group
- cultivated a more equitable hiring process for nonprofit consulting firm
- created an operations and finance position from the ground up (from invoices to icebreakers and everything in between)
- completed short nonprofit finance course at Northwestern University
- presented on digital security to independent radio journalists
You are the sun’s rays that warm our earth and give life to flowers, our children. I want my children to be like you and help people.
I cannot express enough how helpful you have been in our transition […]. We greatly appreciate all you do.
Not-so-recent
- re-designed work distribution for customer service team to address unequal workloads
- attempted to unionize coworkers in February and early March 2020 (I no longer think they fix everything)
- led the silent auction as part of the gala committee for American Indian Community House’s 50th anniversary, which was canceled because of COVID
- created an 18-page media landscape report for Extinction Rebellion NYC feedback working group
- advised hundreds of artists and art collectives across the US
- provided feedback to grantees through the Unfunded List
- developed an unsanctioned alternative guide to intervene in the 2019 Whitney Biennial as a member of (D)IRT, as part of 9 weeks of action organized by Decolonize This Place (see excerpt from “Culture Strike: Art and Museums in an Age of Protest”)
A little while back
- composed first-ever successful grant proposal for RIP Medical Debt, an innovative charity that has now forgiven over $6.7B in medical debt
- developed bespoke bios on hundreds of wealthy donors and foundations
- saw what it can look like at the board level when things at a nonprofit go wrong
- solo-coordinated $20k fundraising campaign and $40k silent auction
- successfully reformed university student government elections
- updated the approach to FCC compliance for a 24/7 live-deejay noncommercial radio station
- founded a university arts administration peer organization that still exists today
- oversaw 17 part-time college workers, 100+ diverse volunteers, and a $250k budget
- co-led a student anti-racism coalition
- co-coordinated a cross-border, bi-national public health community art project