Mike Strode: Open Sourcing A Not-For-Profit Organization Through Open Collective
Channel: Chi Hack Night
Date: 22/11/2021

Open Collective began as a platform to collect and deploy funds that would sustain open source software projects by offering users a way to back their ongoing development. The platform was able to deliver an innovative approach to fiscal sponsorship by host organizations that gave greater visibility and autonomy to small projects or grassroots initiatives to manage their hosted budgets directly through a dashboard on Open Collective. In 2020, Open Collective Foundation, a first party fiscal host, experienced a massive surge in requests for hosting projects as mutual aid exploded in communities throughout the United States. Their lightweight easy to understand application process provided a simple pathway for groups to expand their capacity and support their neighbors.

In this presentation, Mike Strode, a program manager with Open Collective Foundation, shares some background on the work that led to the development of the Open Collective platform and current growth of the Foundation. He will explore how a decentralized network of fiscal host organizations are advancing participatory budgeting by hosting their projects on the platform. Mike will offer examples of some of the 300+ initiatives currently hosted by Open Collective Foundation whose cross-sectoral work includes: mutual aid, tenant organizing, food access, timebanking, prisoner support, and open source technology.

Open Collective Foundation published a strategy document in the summer which has clarified their desire to create a legal, financial, and technical commons for the solidarity economy that bridges fiscal sponsorship, open source, mutual aid, and the solidarity movement. Mike will offer some background on where the Foundation stands in the implementation of this strategy.