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This documentation primarily relates to Open Collective Foundation. If you are looking for general documentation about the Open Collective software platform, also used by many other fiscal hosts, see the Open Collective documentation.
We also recommend that you take a look at Open Collective’s Community Guidelines, Values, and Privacy Policy.

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Terminology

Since the Open Collective platform works with hosts and Collectives all over the world, Open Collective Foundation (as a US-based fiscal host), has developed some specific terms to describe interactions and roles, laid out in Open Collective’s documentation. As a result, you will notice that we tend to use the terms “fiscal host” rather than “fiscal sponsor” and “financial contribution” rather than “donation.”
Organizational financial contributors are also sometimes known in the fundraising world as “sponsors” or “corporate sponsors.” They may want brand exposure, access to or goodwill from a community, or other benefits. Make sure you are clear when using the term “sponsorship” however, since the service we provide is known as fiscal “sponsorship.”