Stimpunks Foundation

Mutual Aid and Human-Centered Learning for Neurodivergent and Disabled People

Program, Administration, and Fundraising Expenses (Plain-Language Policy)

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Home/🫀🧠✊ About Us: A Feisty Group of Disabled People / Accountability & Transparency / Program, Administration, and Fundraising Expenses (Plain-Language Policy)

▶ Table of Contents

  1. Program Expenses (Mission Work)
  2. Administration Expenses (Keeping the Commons Running)
  3. Fundraising Expenses (Resource Mobilization)
  4. How We Think About Ratios
  5. Our Commitment
  6. Related Pages

Nonprofits are often judged by how they spend money. The BBB Standards for Charity Accountability and many funders ask organizations to report expenses in three categories:

  • Program
  • Administration
  • Fundraising

Stimpunks uses these categories for transparency, while also naming an important truth: operations are not waste. Operations are access infrastructure.

This page explains how we classify expenses and what these categories mean in practice.

Program Expenses (Mission Work)

Program expenses are the direct costs of doing our mission.

At Stimpunks, program work includes:

  • mutual aid and direct support to disabled and neurodivergent individuals
  • creator grants and community compensation
  • development of Cavendish Space patterns and learning environments
  • publishing public resources (pathways, checklists, briefs, zine walls)
  • accessibility research and community-informed design
  • education and training that enables dignity

Program is where the work happens.

Administration Expenses (Keeping the Commons Running)

Administration expenses are the costs of operating responsibly and sustainably.

At Stimpunks, administration includes:

  • accounting and financial stewardship
  • legal compliance and governance support
  • insurance, licenses, and required filings
  • secure technology and basic operational systems
  • staff coordination and organizational infrastructure

We reject the idea that administration is inherently “overhead waste.”
Disabled-led organizations require real infrastructure to be safe, durable, and accountable.

Administration is how we keep the commons standing.

Fundraising Expenses (Resource Mobilization)

Fundraising expenses are the costs of raising the money that makes our work possible.

At Stimpunks, fundraising includes:

  • donation platform fees
  • fundraising communications and campaigns
  • grant writing and reporting
  • donor stewardship and accountability materials

Fundraising is not separate from mission.
It is how resources flow to the edges.

How We Think About Ratios

Some charity evaluators expect a large share of spending to go to programs. We agree with the spirit of this: donations should support real work, not vanity or extraction.

But we also name a disability justice reality:

Access requires infrastructure.
Operations are not optional.
Care work is not free.
Sustainability is part of dignity.

We aim for responsible balance:

  • strong program investment
  • lean, transparent administration
  • ethical, non-extractive fundraising

Our Commitment

We commit to:

  • classifying expenses clearly and consistently
  • publishing financial disclosures and our 990-PF
  • explaining our spending in plain language
  • treating operational costs as part of care infrastructure, not a moral failure
  • stewarding resources with accountability to our community

Accountability is not policing.
Accountability is care.

  • Disclosures
  • Charting Impact
  • BBB Standards Alignment
  • Conflict of Interest
  • Transparency Log