FAQ

Why should we become a Sponsor?

• Legally support communities that don't have a legal entity

• Transparency: you’ll always know what your contributions are being used for, in real time

• Get an invoice/receipt for your donations, for easy accounting

• One purchasing order or vendor management process for all your donations

• Reporting: receive a monthly report that aggregates all your donations

More details

How do I Sponsor a Collective?

Before setting up a Sponsorship, we recommend you create an Organization, so you can contribute under your company's name instead of your own.

Go to the Collective's page and review their Sponsorship tiers. Choose one that suits the level of support you want to give or the reciprocal benefits you care about. Go through the contribution flow and pay using a credit card.

You can also give a custom contribution by editing the options on the contribution screen, adjusting the amount and frequency.

How will my logo show up?

Sponsor logos show up on the Collective's page, and are automatically pulled through our Widgets into many projects' READMEs and websites.

Sponsors are organized in order of the amount of contribution, with the highest at the top. If your one-time contribution is larger than a recurring sponsor's monthly amount, your logo will show at the top, but only for that month.

Can I cancel or change my contribution?

Yes, you can cancel a recurring contribution at any time. To do so, go to 'subscriptions' under your user menu, select the subscription, and, using the three dot menu in the corner, select 'change amount' or 'cancel'.

How do I reach a Collective?

If you want to set up a sponsorship arrangement different to the pre-configured options, or have any other questions for the core contributors (admins) of a Collective, you can email them.

[e-mail] (insert the Collective's name from their URL for collectivename).

Most Collectives are happy to discus alternative arrangements and hear sponsor feedback and requests. We encourage sponsors to start conversations.

Which Collectives should we Sponsor?

We offer tools to help you find Collectives that are providing value for your company.

• BackYourStack: discover your open source dependencies

• Gift Cards: let your developers, ambassadors, employees, or recruits determine which Collective to support

• Discover: search for Collectives on the platform

Can we pay via bank transfer or other means?

Yes. If paying via credit card through our automated system doesn't work for your process, please reach out to [e-mail] and we can arrange to accept payment.

Can we make a bulk payment?

Yes. You can send us funds with a single transaction, and we'll allocate it to your Organization in the system. Then you can distribute it to the Collectives of your choice.

Can we get an invoice in advance?

Yes. Contributions through our platform will automatically generate receipts after payment, but Fiscal hosts (like the Open Source Collective) can function like any vendor or supplier and provide the documentation you require. If you need an invoice in advance, or for us to register in your vendor system, let us know at [e-mail].

Who are we transacting with legally?

Open Collectives are under the legal umbrella of their fiscal host. For most open source software projects, that's the Open Source Collective.

Most sponsorships arrangements don't require a separate contract to the standard terms, but we offer a sponsorship agreement template if needed. Sponsorship agreements are set in discussion with the sponsor, the fiscal host, and the Collective together.

Help me convince my company to become an organization on Open Collective?

You bet! See Sustainer Resources.