Migrate from Self-Hosted to Independent Collective

Sometimes people set up as a Fiscal Host with only one Collective, when being an Independent Collective would be a better fit, whether by mistake or because the profiles were created before Independent Collectives were available as a feature. We call this setup 'self-hosted'.

Why migrate to be an IC?

A Fiscal Host with a single Collective can be perfectly functional, but the Host Dashboard is designed for managing multiple Collectives, while the Independent Collective admin panel is much more streamlined. It also presents a simpler picture to your contributors and community to only have one integrated Collective profile page.

When should I not migrate?

You need a full Fiscal Host setup if:

• You intend to fiscally host multiple Collectives

• You want to charge a Host Fee (even on a single Collective)

If you only want to have one Collective and you don't need to charge Host Fees, being an Independent Collective is the best option.

How do I migrate?

If you have a Collective and a Fiscal Host set up as two separate Collectives, here are the steps to change to being an Independent Collective.

1. Go to the settings of the Collective

2. If your Collective has money in its budget, go to Advanced > Empty Collective Balance and click the button to send your balance to the Host (no money moves, it stays in your bank account)

3. Go to Fiscal Host

4. Click 'Remove Host'

5. Select Independent Collective then click the button to activate

6. Go to Receiving Money

7. Connect your Stripe and bank account

8. Go to Info

9. Set the legal name as the owner of the bank account (this might be you personally or your company) - the public display name will still be the name of your Collective as a project, but receipts will be issued from the legal name as the entity receiving the funds

10. If you emptied the balance in step 2:

    1. Go to the Collective page

    2. Click Actions > Add Funds

    3. Add back the balance you removed in step 2, with the Collective itself as the source

Migrating a Host with no Collectives

If you have created a Fiscal Host profile with no Collectives and you've been using the Fiscal Host's budget for your Collective, and you want to change it to being an Independent Collective, please contact support with this request. A Fiscal Host is an Organization profile so we need to help you migrate it to being a Collective profile.