Choosing a Fiscal Host

Choosing the right Fiscal Host is an important step in making the most of Open Collective. Follow this guide to ensure you find the perfect match.

Open Collective is designed to enable collectives to be hosted by a Fiscal Host, who can help provide access to legal statuses, expense processing and bank accounts.

So choosing the best Fiscal Host for you is a big part of the process.

We recommend that you do some research into the Fiscal Hosts available on the platform before making your selection. There are lots of hosts that serve different missions, interest areas and geographic regions. Explore available Fiscal Hosts.

Use our search feature to filter Fiscal Hosts based on the requirements that matter most to you, including:

• Location

• The level of activity

• How long ago they were created

You can also enter tags into the search box to find which Fiscal Hosts are interested in certain themes, causes and types of collective (such as “open source” or “climate”).

We would also advise:

• reading their mission and information on their Open Collective page or website

• seeing which collectives are already hosted by them

• checking their eligibility requirements

• finding out which services they offer, and which are important to you

Different Fiscal Hosts have different terms of hosting. Many charge a host fee (which is a percentage of your incoming contributions). These fees help fund services which are useful to you like accounting, legal and other operational responsibilities.

Others limit their hosting to certain types of collective, or collectives in a particular region. You may find this useful if you’re looking for a host with more specialized or localized insight or a host with charitable status in your region (such as 501(c)(3) status in the USA).

Adding your Fiscal Host

When you first set up your collective, you will be invited to select your Fiscal Host by navigating to your Collective's Dashboard > Settings > Fiscal Host.

You will be asked to specify who will hold money on behalf of your collective.

There are four options:

• No one - No bank account or Host connected, you are not able to receive and spend money

• Independent Collective - Manage one collective using your own bank account and legal status

• Our Own Fiscal Host - Manage multiple collectives with your own Fiscal Host.

• Apply to a Fiscal Host - Join a Fiscal Host that provides access to a legal status and bank account to multiple collectives.

We will focus on the fourth and last option for now.

If you click “Apply to a Fiscal Host”, you will be given the option to search for and select the Fiscal Host for you.

To apply, find the “apply” button on a Fiscal Host’s page. It is often located on the right-hand side of the page menu. Sometimes, it is nested under the actions button.

You will then be asked some questions to determine whether you meet the host’s criteria. These differ from host to host.

If the host is happy with your answers, you’ll be approved and ready to start spending and raising money.

You are not able to apply to multiple fiscal hosts at the same time. You will need to withdraw your initial fiscal host application in order to apply for another host.

Host Policies

Hosts also have policies which they will make you aware of during your application, some of these policies are enforced through the Open Collective platform e.g. Minimum number of administrators and expense policies.

Alternatives to finding a Fiscal Host

If you do not wish to be hosted by a Fiscal Host, you can select one of three other options. However, each of these comes with certain responsibilities or limitations.

Before connecting an account or joining a fiscal host, you’ll be able to create your Collective’s profile, but you will not be able to collect donations.

No one You can choose not to select a host or connect a bank account. This means that you will not be able to receive or spend money on the platform.

Independent Collective This allows you to set up as a Collective using your collective's bank account to hold your funds. This means that you do not have to pay fees or follow the policies of any host. But you will be solely responsible for your accounting, taxes, payments and liability. Find out more about being an 'Independent Collective'

Our Own Fiscal Host You can choose to set up your own Fiscal Host to manage the money, legal status and tax accounts of other collectives.

Becoming a Fiscal Host can be very technical, so we strongly advise you not to do this unless you have the relevant experience, time and expertise.