The Lyrasis Organizational Home provides organizational infrastructure and program stewardship for mission-aligned, community-supported, open-source technologies.

The Organizational Home is a strategic program of Lyrasis, managed by the Community Supported Technologies and Hosting Services (CSTHS) team. CSTHS works with Lyrasis' core service teams to provide resources and services that help grow, support, and amplify community contributions.

While Fiscal Sponsorship is one element of the Organizational Home, it is more than that. We add and prioritize Program Stewardship in partnership with the governing communities. Rather than simply acting as a legal and financial pass-through, Lyrasis invests in the long-term success of each program and is a genuine partner in its growth and sustainability.

At this time, Lyrasis does not provide Fiscal Sponsorship without Program Stewardship.

The Organizational Home hosts open-source, community-supported technology programs aligned with the Lyrasis mission, primarily those supporting libraries, archives, museums, and related cultural heritage institutions. You can explore current programs on the Who's Here Now page.

The Organizational Home supports member programs with 60+ distinct services across five categories:

• Program Stewardship includes services such as: 
  • Staff supervision
  • Governance Engagement & Support
  • Strategic Program Oversight
  • General Operational Assistance
  • Budget Preparation 
  • Standard contracts
  • Trademark management
  • Grant Administration

• Fiscal Infrastructure includes services such as:  
  • General Fiscal Management
  • Quarterly Financial Statements
  • Definition and invoicing for multiple types of revenue-generating products (renewal memberships, one-time purchases, event registrations, sponsorships, etc.)
  • Bill Payments
  • Staff Purchasing Card Services
  • Management of Grant Funds
  • Collections

• Human Resources: program employees are employees of Lyrasis and have access to a full range of competitive benefits. Additional HR services include: 
  • staff recruitment and onboarding support

• Information Infrastructure includes services such as:
  • General IT Support for employed program staff
  • Personal computing hardware, os, peripherals and warranties for employed staff
  • Email account management
  • A full range of enterprise software 
  • A professional and flexible CRM system
  • Collaboration tools
  • Virtual event tools 
  • Website hosting & system administration
  • Domain Management
  • Support for provisioning SaaS services 

• Marketing & Communications Support Services include services such as:
  • Branding support
  • Graphic design
  • Newsletter and social media templates 
  • Annual report templates

The full list of services and their scope is described in the Services Addendum, available upon request.

The core services are available to all programs in the Organizational Home, and the rate structure is designed to provide access to this shared infrastructure. Some optional or enhanced services may be negotiated separately.

The OHCR uses a tiered rate structure that considers a program's lifecycle stage. There are three main components:

• Flat Rate: A minimum annual fee that applies to programs below the revenue threshold for percentage-based rates.
• Emerging Rate: A percentage of revenue, applied when a program is in its Emerging phase. This is levied on revenue rather than expenses, to support growth.
• Evolving Rates (Tiers 1–3): A percentage of direct expenses for more established programs, with three sub-tiers where the rate decreases as expenses grow.

Costs are aligned to cover the resources a program consumes, with stewardship costs shared proportionally. Programs that have more resources contribute more, supporting the health of the whole ecosystem.

No. Lyrasis offers the Organizational Home as a cost-neutral service as part of our core mission.

Tier placement is determined by your program's revenue and/or direct expenses in a given fiscal year. Programs move between tiers annually as their expenses change. There are no long-term tier commitments. The rate applied reflects where the program is right now in its lifecycle.

For a detailed conversation about your program's likely tier, please contact us.

Direct expenses include, but are not limited to:

• Salaries and fringe benefits for program staff
• Travel expenses
• Contracted development and consulting fees
• Virtual computing costs
• Any other costs directly attributable to the program.

Programs are responsible for paying 100% of all direct expenses in addition to the OHCR.

Cost are tracked annually and rates are reviewed at least every three years. The current OHCR Rate Structure is valid for Fiscal Years 2027–2029. Lyrasis will communicate any changes transparently and collaboratively with all programs well in advance of any new rate period.

Lyrasis may be able to consider this depending upon the program potential, community need, and mission alignment.  Contact us to discuss.

In 2025 the Lyrasis Board established the CST Growth Fund, a 3-year investment in program growth using funds from its reserves.  This program is expected to continue as funding allows.

Yes. The Organizational Home is only available to programs committed to open-source licenses.

While Lyrasis handles organizational infrastructure, the program community retains full ownership of its mission and operations. Community responsibilities include:

• Governance: establishing and maintaining governance structures
• Strategic & Technical Decision Making: driving direction for the software and the program
• Revenue Generation & Fundraising: developing and executing financial sustainability strategies
• Outreach & Community Engagement: building and engaging the user and contributor community
• Software Development: leading technical work and open-source contributions

For more on the facets of open-source community programs, see the It Takes a Village Framework.

The Organizational Home is part of the Community Supported Technologies and Hosting Services division of Lyrasis but there is no other implicit relationship between the Organizational Home and Hosting Services. A program in the Organizational Home may contract with Hosting Services for additional services if needed and appropriate for that program.

Contact our Hosting Services team for a conversation.

No. Lyrasis Hosting Services may offer Hosting Services for technologies that are in the Organizational Home if there is community need and interest but that is not a consideration for inclusion in the Organizational Home.