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'.
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.
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.
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.
Go to the settings of the Collective
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)
Go to Fiscal Host
Click 'Remove Host'
Select Independent Collective then click the button to activate
Go to Receiving Money
Connect your Stripe and bank account
Go to Info
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
If you emptied the balance in step 2:
Go to the Collective page
Click Actions > Add Funds
Add back the balance you removed in step 2, with the Collective itself as the source
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.
Want to be responsible for your own tax, hold your funds in your bank account and save money on fees? Migrate from being fiscally hosted to an independent collective.
Warning this change will require your current contributors to reconfirm their credit card details. They will receive a request to do so via email.
If you have a Collective which is Fiscally Hosted, here are the steps to change to being an Independent Collective.
Empty your Collective balance, if it's not already empty, in one of these ways:
Submit expenses to your Collective until you've spent all the money, or
Go to Settings > Advanced > Empty Collective Balance to send your balance to your Host, or
Donate the balance to another Collective by making a Contribution with your Collective as the source of funds.
Once the balance is zero, go to Settings > Fiscal Host > 'Remove Host'
Select Independent Collective then click the button to activate
In settings, go to Receiving Money and connect your Stripe and bank account
If the name of your Collective is different from the name of the bank account owner (person or company) go to Settings > Info and set the legal name (the public Collective display name can remain, but receipts should be issued from the legal name)
If you emptied the balance in step 2 and want to restore it:
Go to the Collective main page
Click Actions > Add Funds
Add back the balance you removed in step 2, with the Collective itself as the source
With the implementation of the new Dashboard interface, we are currently in the process of updating our documentation and some pages may be out of date. Thank you for your patience. Please contact our support team if you need any assistance.
1. If you have not yet done so, Create a Collective, selecting the "For any community" option.
2. Once your page is created, click "Start Accepting Contributions".
3. Then select "Independent Collective".
Or, an alternative way to achieve the same thing is to go to Settings > Fiscal Host. Here you can select "Ourselves" and then click "Yes, Activate Independent Collective".
