General FAQs
✅ What can I do with an Open Collective Europe account?
By joining Open Collective Europe, your initiative can:
Collect financial contributions (donations, memberships, sponsorships)
Apply for subsidies or grants
Pay invoices and reimburse expenses
Offer full budget transparency to your community
Operate without creating your own legal entity
Engage collaborators: freelancers (via Smart), volunteers, or employees
🚫 What am I not allowed to do?
To stay compliant with our legal and charitable framework, you may not:
Issue invoices or sign documents in the name of OCE
Use funds to influence legislation or politics (lobbying)
Support or engage in illegal activity
Use funds for personal profit
Hold project funds in another account or have another fiscal sponsor at the same time (if incorporated)
Spend funds on purposes outside your initiative’s mission — if you do, they must be reimbursed
💡 Why should I use Open Collective?
Open Collective Europe uses the Open Collective platform to simplify and bring transparency to financial management.
Benefits include:
Easy collection of recurring or one-off contributions
Simple spending: submit a receipt/invoice → approve → paid
Automatic and public budget tracking
Shared financial visibility = stronger collaboration and trust
🌍 We believe transparency makes communities more resilient and democratic.
🆚 How is Open Collective Europe different?
Here’s what makes us special:
Designed for collaborative communities — not just for campaigns or individuals
Open source + built-in transparency (no hidden ledgers)
We provide fiscal hosting as a service using a nonprofit legal framework
Based in Europe, but globally connected
💸 How much does it cost?
Open Collective Europe charges a standard administrative fee:
8% for most contributions (plus card processing fees)
1.5% + €0.25 for European cards
2.5% + €0.25 for non-European cards
10% if your Collective:
Receives a grant or sponsorship
Receives a tax-deductible donation
Receives a public subsidy
Receives a manual bank transfer
❓ Can we get a discount?
We’re often asked for fee reductions — and we truly understand why. Many initiatives bring in funds already raised, and we know how tight nonprofit budgets can be.
However, our standard fees are already kept as low as possible to cover the real costs of:
Legal & administrative management
Risk and compliance
Payments, reports, and support over time
Outside of specific exceptional cases (like COVID-19 or Ukrainian relief), we cannot offer fee waivers or discounts.
Fee Comparison Chart:
Fiscal Host
Hosted Collectives
Fee
Open Source Collective
Open source projects
10%
Community Partners
US-based projects
9-12% + minimum balance/annual fee
Charitable Allies
1-25%
🔄 What if I want to become my own fiscal host someday?
No problem! You're welcome to use Open Collective Europe as your fiscal host for as long as you need and remain eligible.
You can cancel fiscal hosting at any time.
If you plan to transition into managing your own structure, we can help you prepare.
The Open Collective platform also supports organizations that wish to become fiscal hosts themselves.
🕓 How long does it take to get started?
The application process only takes a few minutes.
We might reach out with a few follow-up questions.
Once your application is accepted, you can start receiving donations right away.
✅ The entire setup — from applying to receiving your first contribution — can take as little as 30 minutes, and up to 2 business days.
💶 Is there a minimum required budget?
Nope! There is no minimum balance required to be hosted by OCE.
Since our fees are taken as a percentage of incoming contributions, you can start small and grow as your initiative develops.
Last updated
Was this helpful?