Regarding the announcement to dissolve Open Collective Foundation
by Lauren Gardner
Dear OSC community,
You may be aware of recent developments regarding the dissolution of Open Collective Foundation (OCF) by the end of the year 2024. We are extremely sad to hear the news and are still processing it, but we wanted to send a quick note to our collectives. Please be assured Open Source Collective is not affected and will continue to operate as usual. Our organizations are distinct entities, each with its own budget, accounts, staff, board of directors, and mission.
The similarity in our names stems from a common origin, as the founders of Open Source Collective were also involved in creating the fiscal hosts Open Collective Foundation and Open Collective Europe. Additionally, we all utilize the Open Collective platform, a detail we recognize may contribute to confusion. Although the naming of these entities is similar, we are all separate business entities.
Open Source Collective remains committed to our mission and to serving the open source community.
We have compiled a list of OSC-hosted collectives with an entity or grant currently hosted by OCF. We will discuss these with OCF and reach out individually regarding the next steps. If you are an OSC-hosted collective with a project on OCF and want to contact us directly with questions or have yet to hear from us by the end of this week, please get in touch with us at hello@oscollective.org.
For collectives currently hosted by Open Collective Foundation, you may be curious to know more about Open Source Collective and our fiscal hosting offering. Open Source Collective is a 501(c)(6) nonprofit fiscal host that only hosts open source software-related projects. If your collective works in the open source community, you may be eligible to be hosted by us. However, it is essential to be aware that as a 501(c)(6) organization, there may be restrictions on funding opportunities from specific donors who are limited to funding 501(c)(3) entities. Additionally, there may be constraints on transferring funds from a 501(c)(3) fiscal host to a 501(c)(6) fiscal host.
If you are an organization looking for a new 501(c)(3) fiscal host and are a social movement or charitable organization, you may wish to reference a list of fiscal host organizations here: https://www.fiscalsponsors.org/member-directory.
Our hearts are heavy for our friends and colleagues at Open Collective Foundation with whom we shared dreams, efforts, admiration, and inspiration as we each worked to build a community of care and support.
Please let us know how we can help and if there are any questions we can help you answer.
Lauren Gardner, Executive Director of Open Source Collective