Fiscal Sponsorship: 1960-2025

The Potter’s House began as a coffeehouse congregation in 1960 under The Church of the Saviour. Throughout much of its lifetime, the church has acted as a fiscal sponsor for our business. This translated to funding from multiple areas:

• Direct transactions made in the café and bookstore;

• Donations made by church members;

• Grants and other funding streams that accepted religious institutions.

While The Potter’s House carved its own identity separate from the church over the past decade, we were still under the fiscal jurisdiction of a religious institution.

Becoming an independent nonprofit organization: 2024

In 2024, The Potter’s House leadership and Eighth Day Faith Community agreed that in order to best serve our community, we needed to apply for 501c3 nonprofit status. While the fiscal sponsorship of the church allowed us to maintain our space, becoming an independent organization would exponentially increase our ability to apply for funding, create governing structures, and cement our own identity in Adams Morgan. In short, it was time for us to spread our wings and find our next adventure.

After many months of waiting, The Potter’s House received confirmation and acceptance of its application, officially designating us as a 501c3 independent nonprofit organization.

What does this mean?

The Potter’s House is now eligible to apply for numerous funding opportunities previously limited by our affiliation with a religious institution. We are also now fully responsible for all of our internal structures, governance, and reporting for legal and tax purposes. While we’ve always strived to uphold ourselves to high standards, we’re now in the driver’s seat of many more processes.

Our Current Funding Breakdown

The Potter’s House is lucky to already have a large portion of its funding generated by our neighbors through business transactions and donations. Their dedication allows us to have a wonderful working relationship with the people that we see and rely on the most.

We are currently focused on increasing our funding revenue from external grants; this would expand our capacity for our programs, and provide even more opportunities for our neighbors.

Below is an overview of our funding revenues: