The ledger is our source of truth at Open Collective. It is the foundation that makes possible crowdfunding contributions, added funds, grants and expenses. All these financial interactions generate transactions that are recorded in the ledger. Most users interact with the ledger indirectly by making contributions and submitting expenses and for most users that is enough. However, as the platform has grown larger, organizations who rely on the platform, primarily fiscal hosts and medium-to-large collectives, need to use the information for accounting purposes. In response to these needs we are making the ledger itself more visible, accessible and legible to users.

In order to dive deeper in to the inner working of Open Collective’s ledger we have revamped the Transactions Page layout. The new layout is designed to look more like a bank statement which sets it apart from expenses and contributions.

This makes it possible for you to discover that a single expense and contribution can have numerous transactions related to it. You can think of it like “looking under the hood”. Hover over any transaction to view related transactions and simply click to open a drawer and dive into the finer details.

Recent changes to the Ledger 

We’ve received feedback from fiscal hosts and accountants that has prompted us to make the Ledger more consistent and future proof. We’ve modified the ledger so that payment processor fees and taxes are recorded as separate transactions. You will be able to see these changes on the Transactions page. This also impacts the csv export, we have included a Backwards Compatibility option if you still need to use the old csv format.

Finally stay tuned for an in-depth explanation of the Open Collective ledger - Coming Soon ✨

Thank you for being an essential part of Open Collective's journey. We hope you enjoy exploring the Open Collective Ledger.