Changing Fiscal Host#

You have the option to change to a new Fiscal Host, even after your Collective has started raising and spending money.

This could be because your Collective requires less (or different) assistance. You might want to move from a generalist host to a specialized one (or vice versa). You may even decide to become an Organization and manage money in your own bank account. After leaving your Fiscal Host, you can convert your Collective to an Organization from Dashboard > Settings > Advanced. See Converting between Collectives and Organizations for requirements and steps.

You can switch hosts directly within the Open Collective platform.

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When moving hosts, any contributors with recurring contributions through Stripe will be asked to re-authorise recurring contributions to your Collective when you connect a new Stripe account. Any other recurring contributions won’t be transferred and will be cancelled.
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Changing to a new Fiscal Host#

1. Start by researching and selecting the host you wish to move to. It is recommended that you have a new host lined up before moving to the next stage.
2. Contact your new host and work with them to understand their preferred process of moving to them as a host, this will involve zeroing the balance of your collective.
3. Once your balance is zero go to the Fiscal Host page in your Collective “settings” menu and remove your current Fiscal Host.
4. Apply to a new host (see Choosing a Fiscal Host for more details), or create your own Fiscal Host.
5. You will need to wait for your new Fiscal Host to approve your application.

Transferring your balance to another Fiscal Host#

There are several ways to transfer the money from your current host.

• Your new host may opt to send an expense claim for your funds, which they can allocate to your Collective via added funds once they’ve been activated as your Fiscal Host.
• Your current host may directly transfer your money to your new host.
  • For your Fiscal Host to transfer your funds to another destination (such as a new host), you will need to transfer them your remaining balance.
  • You can do this by navigating to your Collective's Dashboard > Settings > Advanced and clicking “Empty Collective Balance”.
• You may be asked to withdraw the money to your own account via an expense claim, and deposit it in your new Collective account.

This will depend on a variety of factors. We advise contacting your new Fiscal Host to make sure they are willing to accept your request to join, and then talk to your current Fiscal Host to agree on their preferred approach for transferring the funds.

Pausing Contributions During Host Transitions#

When you leave a fiscal host, you have the option to either pause or cancel your recurring contributions. Pausing contributions is the recommended approach if you plan to continue using Open Collective with another fiscal host or as an Organization.

When you choose to pause contributions, your contributors receive an email notification explaining that their contribution is on hold and that they'll be notified when they can resume their support. They don't need to take any action until you're ready to receive contributions again.

Resuming Contributions#

After leaving your fiscal host, you can resume contributions once you've either found a new fiscal host or converted to an Organization. When you're ready, you can start the "resume contributions" process from your dashboard. Your contributors will receive notifications to reactivate their contributions, along with periodic reminders if they don't reactivate immediately. If contributors don't reactivate their contributions within a few months, the paused contributions will expire.

Only collective administrators can initiate the process to resume contributions, and this can only be done from the parent collective (not from projects or events). You can include a custom message to your contributors explaining why you're pausing contributions, which helps maintain transparency during the transition.

Best Practices#

Keep your contributors informed throughout the transition process. Let them know when you expect to be ready to receive contributions again, and start the resume contributions process as soon as you're set up with your new host or as an Organization.

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If the Fiscal Host that you are moving to holds a different currency please contact our team.
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