Open Collective

2021 Was Quite a YearOpen Collective continues to grow at an amazing rate. In 2021, 59,000 unique contributors gave ~$25m to the 12,000+ Collectives on the platform. Each Collective represents a community doing inspiring work in the world, and each contribution represents support and financial power. This year,

"This New Cooperative Business Model Could Change Everything"OMG we're on TV! 🙀 On PBS on the Laura Flanders Show, with an episode that features Open Collective. "Why must new and innovative ideas come to market through old and undemocratic platforms? What if rather than selling out, successful businesses became community

Exit to CommunityIn the future, Open Collective wants to transfer ownership of the platform to our community. We're working toward that, and we want to take you all with us on the learning journey—transparently (of course!). CEO Pia Mancini invites you to... Early musings on “Exit to Community” for

New ways to payCryptocurrency is now enabled for Open Source Collective, and we hope to offer them more widely soon. If your Collective is with OSC, go to settings > tiers and tick "Enable Crypto contributions" to opt in. Recurring PayPal is live (previously only for one-time contributions)—a small

New legal & display name settingsYou can now differentiate your public display name from your private legal name. Open Collective is a transparent platform, so profiles are public on the internet. We also deal with official stuff requiring real names, like receipts, payments, and tax forms. Up to now, this

"Solidarity as our guiding principle"Open Collective Foundation has published a newly clarified strategy: to create a legal, financial, and technical commons for the solidarity economy. We can build bridges between 501(c)(3) fiscal sponsorship, open source, mutual aid groups, and the solidarity movement. Read it → Solidarity as our

New announcement systemLook for 🔥 to find out about new features on the platform. All about Projects → Did you know you can embed the contribution button directly on your website, so people can pay for an event ticket or donate to your project without leaving? Here's how → Virtual cards let you

Virtual CardsWant to make purchases and pay for subscriptions directly from your Collective balance? If you're with Open Collective Foundation or Open Source Collective, now you can! Virtual cards work anywhere you'd use a credit or debit card online. Get one → What is Fiscal Hosting?Our new illustrated guide explains

So many new features! Projects Want to track specific budgets within your Collective? Projects are the solution! Easily move money from your main budget to a Project, and receive contributions and expenses to it directly. To try it, scroll to that section of your page and click "Create Project". New

Funds for Open SourceOur new initiative, Funds for Open Source, has hit a nerve! "Open Collective opens cash conduit between tech biz and unappreciated developers."—The Register "Open Collective is trying to make working full-time for an open-source project an alternative to a career developing for a for-profit company."—SD

New FeaturesInvite to Submit ExpenseYou can now get the ball rolling on expenses for anyone who needs to be paid. Pre-fill whatever info you already have, then invite the payee to fill in the rest and confirm. This can make the whole process a lot easier! Learn more → Embed ContributionsA

Did you know Collectives can....Get contributions in BitcoinAccept donations of public stockEmploy (or contract) their contributorsRegister trademarksHave assets held on their behalf (like hardware)Provide acknowledgement letters for in-kind donations (to claim tax credits)Interested in any of these? Get in touch! (Services may vary by Fiscal Host) New

What do we even say about 2020? It's been... intense. But alongside all the many challenges, we've seen incredible action and resilience. Amidst the pandemic, hundreds of mutual aid groups activated around the world. Amidst uncertainty, funders created major coalitions to support open source software and public digital infrastructure. Admidst

Spam UpdateWe've been banning up to 100 accounts per day for keto diet related spam alone—so keep using those moderation tools and report spammers! Contribution policies are now displayed during checkout, so you can define who you will and won't accept money from. Learn more → Open Collective Stories SMAT

New Moderation Tools As part of our plan to zap spam, we're giving Collective admins more control over who they accept money from: a 'reject' button on contributions (click 'view details' on a transaction to see it), plus the option to block contributor categories like gambling sites or VPNs. You

⚡ Our plan to zap spam ⚡Recently we got called out on Twitter for a lack of spam and moderation tools for Collectives. It's never fun to get called out, but it was totally fair. We heard you, and have developed a full proposal to combat spam with a short and

Open Collective Update—August 2020: Featured Collectives, Combatting Spam, Github Sponsor Updates, Fiscal Host Upgrades, Monthly Leaderboard and More