{% hint style="warning" %} Read our update about the dissolution of Open Collective Foundation here. {% endhint %}
All money in your fund should be spent on mission-aligned activities or granted out to another 501(c)(3) organization by September 30.
If you identify another fiscal sponsor that you would like to move your collective to, reach out to us at [email protected].
We will need to confirm that your new fiscal sponsor is a 501(c)(3) organization, and we will need to perform standard due diligence to help assure that the successor fiscal sponsor is qualified and reasonably capable of using transferred assets consistent with their charitable purposes.
If you choose to go to a new fiscal sponsor, the following information is needed to transfer funds:
- Direct deposit info for your new fiscal host / 501(c)(3) / nonprofit legal entity
- W9 from new fiscal host/legal entity
- IRS Determination letter from new fiscal host/legal entity
- List of all current grants and their balances. If grants are being transferred to your new fiscal host, we require a signed letter from the grantor for their release to the new entity.
If you cannot spend all of your funds on qualified charitable expenses by September 30, OCF will grant the remaining fund balance to another qualified fiscal sponsor to support their legal or financial compliance infrastructure.
On March 15, all donation platforms will be shut down, including Stripe, PayPal and crowdfunding. Collectives will also no longer be able to accept transfers via ACH after March 15.
Tell your donors you can no longer accept donations after March 15. If you are anticipating donations, expecting a grant, or planning a fundraising campaign, reach out to us at [email protected] and we can discuss your options.
Any recurring donations through the Open Collective platform will be discontinued as of March 15. Recurring donors will be notified automatically that their recurring donation is canceled.
We understand how sudden all of this is. Our goal and first priority in making this announcement more than 6 months prior to the end of the spend-down date was to ensure that collectives had plenty of time to spend down existing funds. Unfortunately, our legal counsel has indicated that once we announce dissolution it is no longer appropriate for us to accept funds for a charitable cause that we know is going to sunset. Therefore, we need to be firm on this date. We encourage you to work with donors to make contributions within the quickest possible time frame. They may also retain the funds they have allocated to your project until you have identified another fiscal sponsor or obtained 501(c)(3) status.
This spreadsheet created by the New Economy Coalition contains a number of mission-aligned fiscal sponsors as well as resources about fiscal sponsorship.
The National Network of Fiscal Sponsors maintains a database of their members.
Many fiscal sponsors have requirements that some collectives may not meet. If you are having trouble finding a new home for your work, you can reach out to us for support in thinking through options by emailing [email protected].
We are not able to manage the transfer of all collectives to another fiscal sponsor due to the diversity of our collectives’ mission and complexity.
However, we are happy to discuss your options as you consider whether to move your project to another sponsor.
We can transfer to another qualified 501(c)(3) organization and have to perform the same due diligence process described above. Many of the other hosts on the Open Collective platform are not 501(c)(3) organizations. Get in touch with us to discuss by emailing [email protected].
Each collective has its own employment practices. All employees will need to be laid off by June 30 at the latest, but the date will vary based on your collectives’ employment agreements, geographic location, fund balance, and more. All collectives with employees need to contact us ASAP at [email protected].
No. If you have any questions, contact us at [email protected].
If collectives have selected liability insurance, their policies are paid in full for 2024. Coverage applies through your offboarding with OCF.
What does this mean for the Open Collective platform and other hosts on the platform (Open Source Collective, Open Collective Europe, etc.)?
Open Collective Inc. (OCI) is a for-profit entity responsible for building the Open Collective platform. Open Source Collective (OSC) and Open Collective Europe (OCE) are separate entities, each with different nonprofit status under law. OCF, OSC, and OCE were all founded by OCI. We realize it can be confusing, but Open Collective Foundation (OCF) is an independent nonprofit with its own board of directors.
The OCF board of directors decided to dissolve OCF only very recently, after many months spent exploring other solutions to various financial and operational challenges.
OCI, OSC, and OCE learned of the decision the same day as our community of collectives and our core staff. You can read each of these organizations’ official statements here:
Open Collective, Inc. Statement
Open Collective Europe Statement
Open Source Collective Statement
The best way to contact OCF during the staged wind-down is through our general inquiry inbox at [email protected] . This will ensure that your inquiry is routed to the right person and you get a response as quickly as possible.