# Closing a Community
If you want to close down your Community, you can either archive or delete it. Either way, you first need to [zero the balance](/communities/collective-settings/zero-collective-balance.md).
Navigate to your Community's Dashboard > Settings > Advanced.
## Delete a Community
If your Community does not have any transactions or financial activity, you can delete it. Deleting a Community will remove its data, including memberships, payment methods, etc.
{% hint style="warning" %}
If your Community has transactions associated with it, you will have to archive it. The reason we cannot delete transactions is the financial ledger must retain its accuracy and integrity. Your income is someone else's expense, and your expenses are someone else's income.
{% endhint %}
## Archive a Community
If your Community has transactions, you can archive it instead of deleting. This will mark the Community as inactive and prevent any new donations. If you want to re-activate your community at a later stage, please follow the same steps shown below and find an updated button to unarchive the community). Note that archiving a Community will also cancel any recurring contributions and expenses.
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