Community fundraising platform
Explain your project and manage contributions
Open Communities helps your committee share a project, offer ways to give and track its support. Start with what your project aims to do. Then choose how people can contribute and see what they have pledged or paid.
Show people what their support is for
Create a project and describe what it aims to do. You can add a funding target too. Tell people what you need and why their support will help.
Your project’s visibility and public website settings control who can see it. You must also enable public funding before website visitors can use its ways to contribute.
Funding widgets let you show public projects within your community website once set up. Learn more about public project pages and widgets.
Choose amounts and ways to contribute
Set a fixed amount, let people choose how much to give, or suggest an amount. You can set a lower or upper limit where configured.
A contribution option can let people give once or set up ongoing support. Pledges, bank transfer and pay-later choices must be enabled before use.
| Choice | What the supporter does | What your committee reviews |
|---|---|---|
| One-time contribution | Gives once through one of the choices you offer. | The amount given and its payment details. |
| Recurring project support | Sets up ongoing support where this choice is enabled. | The project’s ongoing support and payments. |
| Pay-later pledge | Promises to give later. | Whether the pledge has been paid. A pledge is not money received. |
To collect money online, your project needs payment-provider setup and an available payment method. Understand payment processing and records.
A contribution is not automatically a legally recognised or tax-deductible donation. Your organisation must establish its own status and project terms.
Review support against your project
Admins with access can review collection summaries, pending contributions and payments. They can also check which pledges have been paid. Your committee can see the difference between promised support and money received.
What admins can do depends on the project, contribution option, permissions and payment method. Totals are public only when the project allows it.
Review project contribution and payment records to learn more about how you can manage payments.
Let members manage recurring support
Members can set up, confirm, cancel or decline their own recurring project contribution where configured. This lets them manage their ongoing support. It is separate from membership renewal.
Cancelling ongoing support does not, by itself, refund an earlier payment.
Check the fit for your organisation
See current plans and service charges as you weigh up your project’s needs. If you want business support and a way to thank sponsors in public, explore sponsorship administration and recognition.
The platform overview shows how project funding fits with your website, events and other committee tasks.
Bring your next project into your community area
Create your organisation’s community, or send an enquiry about what your project needs.