Our Story

In early 2020, the world was struck with the devastation of the Covid-19 pandemic. As always, communities have been responding in amazing and generous ways to ensure people are not going through it alone. Seemingly overnight, many community led groups formed across the country who provided vital community support to those who are most at risk from the virus and falling through the cracks of traditional services. However, as needs were evolving quickly and without systems in place groups quickly faced challenges informal community groups have faced for years. Many of these groups, especially those that spring up quickly in a time of crisis, have no bank account, legal status, formal governance, decision-making structures or back office systems. Whilst this allows them to act quickly it can pose a significant problem when it comes to financial accountability.

To meet this challenge, within 10 days of the first lockdown we launched a fiscal hosting service utilising the Open Collective platform providing an easy way to raise and manage finances transparently and support collaborative governance. It allows groups to set up an account quickly to start receiving donations and reimbursing community volunteers so that they can grow and sustain the great work they do. We then set up a Community Interest Company to house this service and transferring it into an asset locked community focused entity.