# About Independent Communities

#### **An Independent Community holds money for itself in its own bank account (instead of joining a** [**Fiscal Host**](https://docs.donatepr.com/fiscal-hosts/fiscal-hosts) **to hold money on its behalf).**

{% hint style="warning" %}
**DonatePR does not hold money for Independent Communities—the funds stay in your own bank account and it's up to you to manage them.**

While DonatePR offers some bookkeeping tools and useful ways to process payments, It's not fully-fledged accounting software and does not automatically sync all activity with your bank account. It's up to you to handle your own accounting, banking, and money movements. DonatePR is a virtual ledger, not an actual bank account.
{% endhint %}

## FAQ

### Should I be an Independent Community?

Being an Independent Community is a good option if:

* You have a personal or company bank account you can use to hold your Community's money.
* You only intend to have a single Community associated with this bank account (if you'd like to manage multiple Communities using your own entity, [create a Fiscal Host](https://docs.donatepr.com/fiscal-hosts/create-a-fiscal-host) instead).
* You can take responsibility for accounting, taxes, liability, payments, and financial admin for your Community.
* You can set up a Stripe, Paypal, and/or Wise account connected to this bank account (not required but highly recommended so you can use Donate PR's financial automation features).

If the above doesn't describe your situation, [join a Fiscal Host](https://docs.donatepr.com/communities/add-fiscal-host) instead.

### What are the benefits?

* You hold the money in your own bank account and have complete control of it.
* You can set your own policies about the activities of your *Collective.*
* You do not need to pay any fees to use the platform.

### What are the challenges?

* You have to manage more admin tasks.
* You hold legal liability.
* You are responsible for accounting and taxes.