Architecture
In Open Collective, every entity is a collective and can be accessed publicly via their unique slug https://opencollective.com/:slug.
A Collective can be of type:
COLLECTIVE e.g. Webpack
EVENT e.g. BrusselsTogether Meetup 4
ORGANIZATION e.g. iDoneThis, DigitalOcean, etc.
USER e.g. xdamman
A Member connects a User to a Collective. It can have multiple roles (one role per row):
HOST legal holder of the bank account that holds the money on behalf of the collective
ADMIN users who can approve expenses for the collective (aka core contributors)
MEMBER aka contributors
BACKER users who gave money to the collective
FOLLOWER used atm for users interested in an event collective
An Order is the intent to give or withdraw money from a Collective. It is created by a UserId on behalf of a collective (which can be their own UserCollective or any other Collective that they are a member of).
Attributes:
Attribute | Definition | Example |
type | type of order | EXPENSE|DONATION |
UserCollectiveId | User who created the order | /xdamman |
FromCollectiveId | Source of the money | /digitalocean |
ToCollectiveId | Destination of the money | /webpack |
currency | currency of the ToCollectiveId | USD |
amount | amount in cents | 10000 |
SubscriptionId | References recurring subscription | |
status | status of the order | PENDING -> APPROVED|REJECTED -> PAID |
A Transaction records money moving from one Collective to another Collective. In this example, a collective webpack is giving €100 to Women Who Code Berlin hosted by Women Who Code 501(c)(3).
Attribute | Definition | Example |
OrderId | References the order | 1 |
FromCollectiveId | Source of the money (virtual account) | /webpack |
ToCollectiveId | Destination of the money (virtual account) | /wwcodeberlin |
PaymentMethodId | Payment method (e.g. if there wasn't enough funds in the |
|
FromHostId | Source of the money | /opensource |
ToHostId | Destination of the money | /wwcode |
FromHostAmount | total amount in cents paid by the host of the | -11481 (-$114.81) |
FromCollectiveAmount | total amount that increases/decreases the balance of the | -11481 |
paymentProcessorFeesInHostCurrency | fees for the payment processor in cents | |
hostFeesInHostCurrency | fees for the host in cents in the currency of the host (which might be different than the currency of the collective, e.g. WWCode (USD) and WWCode Berlin (EUR) | 574 (5% of €100 in USD) |
platformFeesInHostCurrency | fees for the platform (Open Collective) | 574 (5% of €100 in USD) |
ToHostAmount | net amount in cents received by the host of the | 9630 (€100 - (2.9% + $0.30) - €5 platform fee) |
ToCollectiveAmount | total amount that increases/decreases the balance of the | 9580 (€96.30 - €5 host fee) |
FromHostCurrency | currency of the | USD |
FromCollectiveCurrency | currency of the | USD |
ToCollectiveCurrency | currency of the collective that receives the money | EUR |
ToHostCurrency | currency of the order (currency of the | USD |
fxrate | Foreign eXchange Rate from the currency of the order ( | 1.15 |
Note: The Collective currency might be different than the Host Currency (both for the source "From" and the recipient "To"). The fxrate only takes into account the conversion between ToCollectiveCurrency to ToHostId.
