| .. | ||
| opencollective-columns.rules | ||
| opencollective-default.rules | ||
| opencollective-legacy.rules | ||
| README.md | ||
Converting Open Collective CSV
Here are notes on Open Collective’s CSV (as of 2025-12, based on hledger’s open collective).
On the Transactions screen, first remove any filters so that all transactions will be exported, including:
- Contribution (incoming or outgoing)
- Expense
- Host fee
- Payment processor cover
- Payment processor fee
Eg: https://opencollective.com/hledger/transactions?kind=ALL
When you click the Export CSV button, two CSV formats are offered:
- Legacy Platform Default (Pre-2024) (we’ll call it Legacy)
- Platform Default (we’ll call it Default)
Each has three options:
- Selected fields for export - about 25 reorderable fields; we’ll assume the default order. (It says “out of 85”, suggesting there might be more available, but if so they’re not accessible to a normal collective admin.)
- Use field IDs as column headers instead of field names - normally on for Legacy and off for Default.
- Export taxes and payment processor fees as columns - ditto.
Additionally, the data available varies by era:
- Host fee records start in 2021-06.
- With the “as columns” option on, payment processor fees are available for all eras. Otherwise, processor fee records start in 2024-01.
- Payment processor cover records start in 2024-01.
In eras where fees are not available, contribution amounts can be under-reported. Eg, a $10 contribution with a $1 host fee and $0.59 payment processor fee might be reported as just a $8.41 contribution.
Here are the formats we provide rules for, and their limitations:
| format | accurate contribution amounts? | host fees? | processor fees? | processor covers? | balances? | notes | rules file |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Legacy | yes | from 2021/06 (inferrable before then) | yes | from 2024 | yes; some are wrong | provides the most data across all eras | opencollective-legacy.rules |
| Default + fees as columns | from 2024 (inferrable from 2021/06) | from 2021/06 | yes | from 2024 | no | simplest if you have no data before 2021-06 | opencollective-columns.rules |
| Default | from 2024 | from 2021/06 | from 2024 | from 2024 | no | simplest if you have no data before 2024 | opencollective-default.rules |
Note to get accurate pre-2024 contributions and fees, or balance information, the Legacy format is needed. opencollective-legacy.rules is the best-tested of these rules files.
How to test your conversion
CSV balance column
If you are using the legacy format, you can use the balance column to generate hledger balance assertions. Though in some record types (eg contributions after 2021-06, and expenses) the balance values may be out of sequence; those should be ignored.
Then, hledger should agree with Open Collective’s balances; check
with hledger check assertions or
hledger check -s.
Budget stats
In the Budget section on the collective’s page (eg https://opencollective.com/hledger#category-BUDGET), you can see some calculated values (and a few more if you mouse over), listed below. Some of these can be reproduced by the hledger reports shown. (If you have used the legacy format and the provided rules; or if your data begins in 2024 or later. Tested with the hledger collective.)
Today’s balance
hledger bs
Total consolidated including Projects and Events
Total raised
hledger is not:disbursed ? not reproduced
yet
Total contributed before fees
hledger is revenues
Total disbursed
hledger is disbursed ? not reproduced yet
Estimated annual budget
Monthly recurring
Total received in the last 12 months
hledger is revenues -b $(date -I -d '-12 months')