This is a living document. As the Community grows, we need to regularly adapt our policies to make sure that we use the money that we have where it is most needed, while staying true to our values of transparency, inclusiveness and actively mitigating for power.

Because we are a global movement working with funders there might be times when receiving money or paying money out from one country to another might not be feasible through Accountable. We will work with Accountable to understand the parameters and if this does occur, we’ll work with another partner to receive and pay out the money. We will update our news section on Accountable to ensure we explain when, why and how money has moved based on these constraints and the Finance Monitoring Team will oversee throughout.

Finance Monitoring Team

We have a Finance Monitoring Team, whose role is to approve expenses and monitor our outgoings and income. We manage our expenses through Accountable. Feel free to reach out to them if you have questions about an expense that you'd like to make for the Community or any questions more generally on our finances. The Finance Monitoring Team will be elected for 24 months from November 2021. For more information about how to join the Finance Monitoring Team please email [email protected]

Expenses

Expenses will be covered for costs that support and progress the Participatory Grantmaking Community, for example, and non-exhaustively:

· Payment for admin support

· Facilitators

· Website development and support

· Speaker’s time

· Ad-hoc pieces of work such as research, resource development, training, or governance design

We have some set costs for:

· Facilitators – £250 for design and delivery of a session

· Speakers - £100 for preparing and contributing to a session

· Coordination support - £22 per hour

For those involved in the Community we always provide three options for payment:

· They can take the contribution for themselves

· They can pay it forward to another organisation or person

· They can return it to the Community to help with our ongoing work.

Instructions for submitting expenses from the US:

Unfortunately, Open Collective is not able to process PayPal payment to the U.S. so U.S. residents will need to choose the bank transfer option. Instructions below:

Go to the expense record and click the edit symbol on the left hand side of the page
Edit "Payment method" - change to "new bank account"
Select USD as currency
Select "Local bank account"
Fill out the remaining info with your bank Account name, ACH routing number and Bank Account number

FAQ

What is a finance monitor?
A finance monitor is a person that we collectively trust to approve expenses on behalf of the Community. They are elected from the Community so that there is transparency and accountability through our finances.

We are electing 5 Finance Monitors so that the workload is distributed, and so you have multiple people you can reach out to. Finance Monitors can stay in the role for a maximum of 2 consecutive terms (4 years). In the initial formation of the team, terms will be staggered to allow for continuity and stability.

When we require a new Finance Monitor, we will reach out to the Community for nominations and elections.

Transparency
If everything we do is transparent, the Community will be able to self-regulate itself and many eyes will help keep us accountable. That is why our transactions in and out will be publicly recorded on [our Accountable account]. We encourage all our donors to also be transparent with their giving but are aware that some might want to donate anonymously. If for some reason we are unable to use Accountable to receive or make a payment, our Finance Monitoring Team will oversee it and we will explain the circumstances on our news section of Accountable. This is only likely to happen with payments moving from one country to another.

We are inclusive
We do our best to ensure that everybody can participate and contribute to our Community and to the different activities that we organise. We rely on donations and grants in order to ensure this inclusivity and encourage those who benefit from the services we offer and have the means to contribute to do so.

FAQ

How do I get paid from a Collective?

Submit an expense and provide your payment information.

How are expenses approved?

Collective admins are notified when an expense is submitted, and they can approve or reject it.

Is my private data made public?

No. Only the expense amount and description are public. Attachments, payment info, emails and addresses are only visible to you and the admins.

When will I get paid?

Payments are processed by the Collective's Fiscal Host, the organization that hold funds on their behalf. Many Fiscal Hosts pay expenses weekly, but each one is different.

Why do you need my legal name?

The display name is public and the legal name is private, appearing on receipts, invoices, and other official documentation used for tax and accounting purposes.

More info →

Collective balance

Fiscal Host:

The Social Change Nest CIC