Manifesto
Fifteen things we believe.
The full GROUNDWORK argument, set out as a single document so it can be read, cited, and disagreed with.
- 01
The problem isn't capital
Most communities know what they want to own collectively. The block. The newspaper. The fibre line. The clinic. The problem isn't that the money doesn't exist. It's that there is no public surface on which a community can become a legible institution before money arrives.
- 02
The wrong thing to build is another crowdfunder
Kickstarter solved 'collect money for a thing'. It did not solve 'organize a durable institution that will outlive its founders'. GROUNDWORK is not a fundraiser. It is a register.
- 03
Legibility before fundraising
Before an initiative asks for a dollar, it must show: who decides, who can override whom, who can be recalled by whom, on what terms. We call this the legitimacy ladder.
- 04
Five visible stages
Unverified, Identity verified, Governance disclosed, Governance reviewed, Eligible. Each step requires public artefacts. No marketing copy. No 'community-first' as adjective.
- 05
Refuse governance theater
Free-text 'about us' is the loophole through which founder-controlled entities call themselves cooperatives. GROUNDWORK replaces it with structured fields: governance model, founder veto, quorum, amendment rule.
- 06
Disclosure is a discipline
Every amendment to an initiative's charter writes a permanent diff to its public changelog. Institutional drift becomes visible by construction.
- 07
Separate identity from authority
Pseudonyms can pledge. Lightweight verification can organise. Strong verification is required to hold governance authority. The verification ladder mirrors the legitimacy ladder.
- 08
Sybil resistance, not surveillance
We need each person to count once. We do not need to know everything about them. The minimum identity required for each role is the identity we ask for — no more.
- 09
Power maps, not org charts
Every initiative page shows a governance map: nodes for bodies and roles, edges for authority, accountability, and advice. You can read who can override whom in fifteen seconds.
- 10
Ownership is plural
Economic ownership, voting rights, and editorial rights can sit with different groups. GROUNDWORK's ownership view shows each slice separately so members understand what they hold.
- 11
Custody is not our business
GROUNDWORK never holds funds. Pledges are public signals. When money moves, it moves under the initiative's own legal structure. We are governance infrastructure, not a payment processor.
- 12
Appeals are a feature, not a complaint
Every initiative carries a report channel: governance concern, misrepresentation, capture. Reports are visible to the initiative's owner, and resolutions are recorded on the public changelog.
- 13
The platform is governed the same way
GROUNDWORK is a member cooperative. Co-owners pay an equal annual due, hold one vote, and elect the board that runs the register. The platform is under the same rules it asks of initiatives.
- 14
Political position is constitutive
GROUNDWORK refuses to host initiatives whose explicit purpose is racism, dehumanization, or authoritarian capture. This is a constitutive limit of the infrastructure, not a moderation preference.
- 15
What this is for
GROUNDWORK exists so that the next generation of durable, member-owned institutions has a public surface to form on. Long enough to be legible. Open enough to be challenged. Stable enough to outlive its founders.