Unhosting a Collective

You can unhost a Collective via the Open Collective platform, but it must first have a balance of zero

There may be some occasions in which you will need to "unhost" a Collective.

For example:

• The Collective wants to move to a new Fiscal Host

• The Collective wants to become an Independent Collective, which means they will have their own bank account and do their own admin

You will only be able to do this if the Collective has reduced its balance to zero. A guide on how a Collective can empty their balance can be found on the Zero Collective Balance page.

A Collective admin can "zero" the balance by taking the money out via expenses. Other options include giving money to other Collectives and gifting the remaining balance to its Fiscal Host.

If the Collective is changing hosts, it can also transfer the money to the new Fiscal Host as a one-time donation, which means it will be available when they complete their move.

To un host a Collective that is moving to a new Fiscal host, follow these steps:

1. Tell the Collective to make a donation to the new Fiscal Host, which amounts to the Collective's total current balance.

2. When you approve the expense, make sure you have selected "The payee is covering the fees". This ensures that the balance can be totally emptied, without needing to adjust for any payment processor fees.

3. Pay the expense

4. Unhost the Collective.

5. The Collective admin can then apply to the new Fiscal Host.

6. Once they are accepted, the new Fiscal Host can use "Add Funds" to assign the collectives balance back.

When a collective wants to become an Independent Collective:

There are situations where a collective may want to manage its own legal status and bank account and thus become an independent collective. In this case, please follow the steps below:

1. Create a Vendor for the balance transfer. You may name the Vendor as "Balance Transfer - Agora" where "Agora" is the collective name. You will need to include the collectives new bank account information.

2. Submit an expense to the collective with the payee as the Vendor "Balance Transfer - Agora". The expense amount should be the full balance of the collective.

3. Ask a Collective Admins to Approve the expense.

4. When you pay the expense, make sure you have selected "The payee is covering the fees". This ensures that the balance can be totally emptied, without needing to adjust for any payment processor fees.

5. Pay the expense to the collectives bank account.

6. Un-host the collective.

7. Once the collective becomes an independent collective they can add the funds to their balance.