How to Manage Your Mutual Aid Group's Money Without Burning Out

The person holding your mutual aid group's money is probably exhausted. They're tracking donations in a spreadsheet, fielding DMs about disbursements, reconciling four different payment platforms, and dreading tax season because the IRS thinks all that community money is their personal income.

Treasury management is the most thankless job in mutual aid — and the one most likely to kill a group. When one person holds all the money and all the stress, burnout isn't a risk. It's a certainty.

This guide covers three models for managing mutual aid money, the real problems with each, and practical steps to build a treasury system that doesn't depend on one person's sacrifice.

This is where most groups start. Someone volunteers their Venmo or CashApp. Money comes in. Money goes out. It's fast, it's free, and it works — until it doesn't.

The Bed-Stuy Strong example

Bed-Stuy Strong, a mutual aid network in Brooklyn's Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood, ran $1.2 million through a personal account during the COVID-19 pandemic.^[1] One point two million dollars, flowing through one person's personal banking infrastructure, serving one of Brooklyn's largest neighborhoods.

It worked — in the sense that money moved and people got helped. But the cost was enormous. The account holder bore personal financial risk, tax liability, and the psychological weight of being a single point of failure for an entire community's crisis response.

Why groups use this model

• Zero setup time. In a crisis, you need to collect money today. Opening a bank account takes weeks.
• Zero fees. Venmo person-to-person transfers are free. Every dollar donated reaches the group.
• Familiarity. Everyone already has Venmo. No one needs to learn a new platform.

Why it falls apart

• Tax liability. The account holder gets a 1099-K for all received funds over $600. The IRS treats it as their income until proven otherwise.
• Account freezes. Venmo and PayPal regularly freeze accounts that show “business activity” patterns.
• Single point of failure. If the account holder gets sick, burns out, moves away, or has a conflict with the group, the treasury goes with them.
• No transparency. Other group members can't see the balance or transaction history unless the treasurer manually shares screenshots.
• No accountability. There's no system preventing misuse — just trust. And when trust breaks down (which it does, in every human organization eventually), there's no paper trail to resolve disputes.

A fiscal sponsor is a registered nonprofit that holds funds on behalf of unincorporated groups. Your mutual aid collective doesn't need its own 501(c)(3) — the sponsor's tax-exempt status covers you. Donors can get tax deductions. The group gets a real bank account without incorporating.

What Open Collective Foundation charged

Before it dissolved in December 2024, Open Collective Foundation (OCF) was the most popular fiscal host for mutual aid groups. Their fee structure ranged from 5% to 13% depending on the payment method and services used.^[2] For a group processing $50,000/year, that's $2,500 to $6,500 in fees — money that could have gone to community members in need.

Other fiscal sponsors charge similar rates. Most take 5-10% of all funds received. Some add additional fees for disbursements, reimbursements, or administrative support.

The tradeoffs

• Pro: Legal protection. Your treasurer doesn't bear personal tax liability. The sponsor handles compliance.
• Pro: Donor trust. Some donors (especially foundations) will only give to 501(c)(3) organizations.
• Con: Fees eat into community funds. Every dollar paid in fees is a dollar not distributed to people who need it.
• Con: Loss of autonomy. The fiscal sponsor has ultimate legal control over the funds. They can (and do) impose restrictions on how money is spent.
• Con: Platform risk. When OCF dissolved, 600+ collectives had to scramble to find new homes for their money. Your fiscal sponsor can shut down, change terms, or drop you.

The newest model: purpose-built platforms that give groups their own treasury with transparent records, shared access, and democratic controls — without requiring incorporation or fiscal sponsorship.

This model is still emerging, but it addresses the core problems with the first two approaches: the treasurer bears no personal risk, fees are minimal or zero, and the group maintains full control over its funds.

Regardless of which model you use, most mutual aid groups end up managing money across multiple platforms simultaneously. Venmo for quick peer-to-peer collections. CashApp because some members prefer it. Zelle for bank-to-bank transfers. GoFundMe for public fundraising campaigns. PayPal for international transfers. A shared Google Sheet trying to tie it all together.

The result is a reconciliation nightmare. The treasurer spends hours each week cross-referencing transactions across four platforms, updating spreadsheets, and answering questions from group members who want to know where the money went.

One mutual aid organizer described it this way: “I spend more time accounting for the money than we spend deciding how to distribute it. The tracking work is a full-time job that nobody signed up for.”

This is how treasurers burn out. Not from the responsibility of holding money, but from the administrative overhead of managing fragmented tools that were never designed to work together.

Whatever stage your group is at, here's what you can do today:

1. Separate personal and group money

This is the single most important step. If your group's funds are in someone's personal Venmo, fix that first. Open a separate account — even a dedicated Venmo Business account or a basic checking account at a local credit union. The goal is a clean line between personal and community money.

2. Establish transparent reporting

Every member should be able to see the current balance and recent transactions at any time, without asking the treasurer. This can be as simple as a shared spreadsheet updated weekly, or as sophisticated as a platform with real-time dashboards. The point is that financial transparency should be the default, not something granted on request.

3. Create shared access

At minimum, two people should have access to every financial account. Three is better. If your treasurer disappears tomorrow, can someone else send disbursements? If the answer is no, fix it today.

4. Build governance before the money arrives

As Dean Spade writes: “When groups that have been all-volunteer get money, they often fall apart in conflict about that money.” Establish decision-making processes for spending before there's money to fight about. Who can approve a disbursement? What's the maximum amount one person can authorize? How are disputes resolved? Write it down.

The Sustainable Economies Law Center (SELC) offers a free legal toolkit for community organizations that covers governance structures, fiscal policies, and decision-making frameworks. It's one of the best free resources available for groups thinking through these questions.

5. Rotate the work

Treasury management shouldn't be one person's permanent job. Build rotation into your governance: quarterly treasurer transitions, monthly accounting reviews by different members, or a finance committee with rotating membership. The knowledge of how money works in your group should never live in one person's head.

6. Document everything

Keep records of every financial decision: who proposed it, who approved it, when the money moved. This isn't bureaucracy — it's protection. When questions arise (and they will), documentation is the difference between a quick resolution and a group-splitting conflict.

In a well-functioning mutual aid treasury:

• Any member can see the current balance and full transaction history
• No single person controls all the money
• Spending decisions follow a documented process
• The treasurer's personal finances are never entangled with group funds
• Transition to a new treasurer takes hours, not months
• Financial reports are generated automatically, not compiled manually

Most groups aren't there yet. But every step toward transparency, shared access, and documented governance makes your group stronger and your treasurer's life better.

Explore the Goodkeep directory to see how other mutual aid groups in your area are structured.