Other Ag News: NSAC Marks its Transition to an Independent 501(c)3

The year was 1988, and in rural Minnesota during the cold of winter, several dozen sustainable agriculture leaders across the Midwest gathered for the first time to build a policy campaign to address the aftermath of the farm crisis and build a more sustainable future for farmers. This first small gathering contained the seeds of what would eventually become the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition of today: over 170 members, a staff of 18, and decades of legislative achievements in Washington.

Those founding organizations of the Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, NSAC’s predecessor, made one important early structural decision: they built SAC to operate under fiscal sponsorship. Fiscal sponsorship is a nonprofit organizing structure where a project or initiative is housed by a parent nonprofit, which provides administrative support and a pathway to receive funding. Little did those founders know that a decision they made in 1988 would stand for 38 years!

With growth can come a time for change. As part of our continued expansion and evolution, NSAC is proud to announce that as of April 1, 2026, we are now operating as a fully independent 501(c)3 nonprofit. We’re proud to mark this occasion by sharing a bit of the history behind our structure.

In its earliest years, SAC was a small, nimble coalition founded by 13 initial organizational members who wanted to organize together to advance support for sustainable agriculture through federal policy reform. Funds were scarce and the coalition operated grant-to-grant, with members co-leading campaigns and funds initially supporting a single on-contract advocate – NSAC’s founding Policy Director Ferd Hoefner – along with a cohort of grassroots organizers based with member organizations. Under this model, members of SAC rotated who would receive a grant and administer funds across the coalition’s members and contractors, with organizations like the Center for Rural Affairs, Kansas Rural Center, Catholic Rural Life, and The Minnesota Project stepping up in rotation.

As SAC established a track record of success – these early years featured some of our very first wins, including the creation of the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Extension (SARE) program, the Wetlands Reserve Program, and Beginning Farmer loan programs, among others – members began to feel that this coalition might have some staying power. They had big policy goals to achieve and more organizations interested in joining the fight, both of which would need more funding and more staff. So in 1994, during a summer coalition meeting in Wisconsin, SAC members collectively made a decision that lasted decades: they selected the Center for Rural Affairs, a founding member, to serve as the coalition’s fiscal sponsor. This allowed SAC to hire additional staff and benefit from increased administrative stability, all of which in turn strengthened its member-led campaign work. That fiscal sponsorship relationship lasted for over 30 years.

In the 1990s, as SAC operated steadily under the fiscal sponsorship of the Center, another national network was founded: the National Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture (learn a bit more about the history of NCSA on our history page). These two organizations operated as partners and peers on federal policy campaigns from 1994 until 2007, a period in which SAC grew from a few dozen to over 45 members and expanded beyond its Midwest origins and the Campaign grew to over 100 affiliated organizations. In 2007, the two partners began a 2-year process to merge into one combined entity: the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, which formally commenced in 2009 and doubled the Coalition’s formal membership to over 80 organizations.

The Coalition’s fiscal sponsorship partnership with the Center carried forward through the merger and into a period of continued growth for NSAC as our staff and membership more than doubled again from 2009 to 2024. Over those years, the Center grew too, from a team of 28 to 60 today, adding an affiliated Community Development Financial Intuition (CDFI) and expanding the geographic reach of its staff and programming. Fiscal sponsorship historically is a role the Center has played for partners – they fiscally sponsored a range of organizations over the years, including the National Campaign’s early years, the National Young Farmers Coalition, and Mississippi River Network, among others. Today the bulk of the Center’s work is focused on policy change, capacity building and capital access for the communities they serve. 

Fiscal sponsorship has worked remarkably well for NSAC: it has allowed us to offer more comprehensive benefits as a small employer and kept our financials audited and sound, which in turn has helped us focus our daily attention on our core campaign advocacy efforts to best serve our members.

The question of if – or when – to transition out of fiscal sponsorship into independent 501(c)3 status is a big one for any nonprofit. For NSAC and the Center, it was regularly integrated into our 3-year renewal cycles as a matter of intentional, collaborative governance. We knew the time might eventually come, but also hoped to find time to make the transition when we had the resources and capacity to do it smoothly.

In 2024, we came to a mutual understanding: our two growing organizations, both of whom have taken on work of increasing scope, complexity, and specialization in recent years, were ready to begin the separation process. NSAC and CFRA worked closely to set a timeline, and NSAC’s team and Organizational Council charted a process that included incorporating as a DC-based nonprofit, applying for and receiving 501(c)3 status, chartering new member-approved bylaws, transitioning our Organizational Council into a formal Board of Directors, and setting up independent financial, human resources, administrative, and operations systems in-house. It was no small project: planning and executing the spin-off took nearly two years!

NSAC is now proudly its own independent 501(c)3 nonprofit, with all the administrative and organizational systems in place to ensure our continued stability, growth, and strategic flexibility into the future. The Center remains a Represented member of NSAC and a trusted partner in our work, and we are deeply grateful for our decades of collaboration through fiscal sponsorship.

Where do we go from Here?

To the outside world, not much will change! The NSAC you know and trust will continue sharing policy analysis, leading campaigns, and building power for a more sustainable, equitable farm and food system into the future. We took this big step — amidst turbulent times in Washington — to ensure NSAC can continue to serve our members and the larger movement into a future where we are needed more than ever.

As we step into this new chapter as an independent 501(c)(3), we carry forward decades of proven federal policy advocacy on behalf of farmers, ranchers, and local communities nationwide. Our work has always been powered by and for the movement we serve: those who believe in a more resilient, equitable, and sustainable food and farm system.

We are ready to keep building toward the next 30+ years of our work together! This is a moment where your support matters more than ever: can you make a donation to mark this major milestone and help us remain effective, strategic, and future facing? Your support, at any level, helps us ensure family farmers and local advocates have a voice in Washington, DC. We are counting on you to help sustain and grow this work in 2026 and beyond. Donate now: https://secure.everyaction.com/ATKAsUdFNEa6QkTSgXvoqA2

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