GROUNDWORKShare the means of production

~7 min read

Tracks

Promotion & moderation policy

GROUNDWORK is a public register, not a fundraising platform. Anyone can post an initiative as long as it fits one of the tracks below — collectively owned structures and the campaigns and movements that build them. We sort what we host into tracks so the rules — and our editorial behavior — are visible up front.

These rules apply equally to everyone. They are versioned through platform changes with a 7-day public delay before they take effect.

Co-op

Collectively owned

The default track. Initiatives where ownership and decision-making sit with members, workers, users, or residents rather than a single owner or external shareholders.

Promotion by GROUNDWORK

  • · Listed in the public discovery feed.
  • · Eligible for editorial features (homepage, category spotlights).
  • · Indexed for search and shown to followers of relevant categories.

Moderation rules

  • · Full governance disclosure expected before fundraising opens: legal form, voting model, founder-veto status, quorum rule.
  • · Identity of at least one organizer must be verified before fundraising can begin.
  • · Governance changes are queued with the platform-wide 7-day delay so backers can react before they take effect.
  • · Reviewers can flag governance theater (e.g. symbolic votes presented as binding) and downgrade the stage.

Why it works this way

Co-ops are what the register is built to support. They carry the most editorial weight precisely because they accept the most accountability.

Activism

Campaign or movement

Initiatives organized around a cause, campaign, or direct action rather than a long-lived ownership structure — protest infrastructure, mutual-aid drives, legal defense funds, advocacy projects.

Promotion by GROUNDWORK

  • · Listed in discovery, marked with an Activism badge.
  • · Eligible for editorial features when the campaign is concrete, time-bound and clearly described.
  • · May appear in category feeds (e.g. Housing, Energy) alongside co-ops.

Moderation rules

  • · Lighter governance requirements: you do not need a co-op legal form or a binding-vote model. State honestly how decisions get made — even "a small organizing group decides" is fine if it is the truth.
  • · Identity verification is still required before fundraising can be opened. We will not promote anonymous money flows.
  • · Allowed to operate as a temporary structure with a defined wind-down ("this campaign ends when X happens"). That end-state should be public.
  • · Same rules on reports, manipulation flags and the 7-day change delay apply.

Why it works this way

A street-level coalition, a tenants' union or a legal-defense fund cannot reasonably be required to ship a co-op constitution before doing the work. Forcing one model on every project would push real organizing off the register — and would also prevent anyone from inventing something better than what exists today.

Worker-owned

Workers control the firm

A co-op variant where the workers themselves are the members and owners. One worker, one vote. Investors, if any, do not get governance rights — only workers do.

Promotion by GROUNDWORK

  • · Listed in the public discovery feed alongside other co-ops.
  • · Eligible for editorial features and category spotlights.
  • · Marked with a Worker-owned badge so visitors can filter for this model.

Moderation rules

  • · Must disclose how workers acquire and lose membership (probation period, exit terms, share buy-back).
  • · Must disclose whether non-worker capital exists, and confirm in the charter that such capital carries no voting rights.
  • · Wage ratio (highest to lowest) is expected to be published and kept current.
  • · Same identity, change-delay, and reporting rules as the Co-op track.

Why it works this way

Worker ownership is the clearest answer to the question of who actually controls a workplace. We surface it as its own track so it doesn't get blurred together with consumer or multi-stakeholder co-ops.

Andelsforening

Danish/Nordic member association

A traditional Nordic co-operative society (andelsforening / andelsselskab) — members join voluntarily, each holds one vote regardless of capital share, and surplus is returned in proportion to use, not investment.

Promotion by GROUNDWORK

  • · Listed in the public discovery feed.
  • · Eligible for editorial features, with a clear Andelsforening badge.
  • · Shown in Nordic regional feeds and to followers of the relevant category.

Moderation rules

  • · Must publish vedtægter (bylaws) in full, including admission rules, general-assembly procedure, and dissolution clause.
  • · One member, one vote is non-negotiable — weighted-vote structures disqualify the initiative from this track.
  • · Surplus distribution rule (kooperativ udbytte) must be disclosed.
  • · Same identity, change-delay, and reporting rules as the Co-op track.

Why it works this way

Andelsbevægelsen is one of the most successful examples of large-scale democratic ownership in Europe. Recognising it as its own track honours the legal and historical tradition instead of forcing it into a generic co-op label.

Open Co-op

Member-run via liquid democracy

A member-owned co-op governed by liquid democracy. Members can vote directly, delegate their vote to any other member, change delegation at any time, and delegate differently per topic. There is no fixed representative class — representation exists only as long as members actively grant it.

Promotion by GROUNDWORK

  • · Listed in the public discovery feed alongside other co-ops.
  • · Eligible for editorial features and category spotlights.
  • · Marked with an Open Co-op badge so visitors know the governance model up front.

Moderation rules

  • · Must publish: how delegation works, how it expires, and any delegation cap (no single member should accumulate unbounded voting power).
  • · Delegation must be revocable at any time, and the full delegation graph must be visible to members.
  • · On delegation renewal, members must be shown how their delegate voted on their behalf since last renewal.
  • · Constitutional rules (member rights, voting model itself) require a higher threshold to change than ordinary decisions.
  • · Identity verification: one person, one vote — sybil resistance is required, not optional.

Why it works this way

Traditional large co-ops often reduce membership to a loyalty card. Open Co-op is the track for initiatives that try to make membership mean continuous, revocable influence — professional management for daily operations, liquid democracy for governance, strategy and leadership appointments.

Relay Co-op

AI-assisted liquid democracy

An Open Co-op extended with optional, member-controlled AI delegation. Each member may use a personal governance agent to filter information, summarise proposals, and cast routine low-risk votes on their behalf. Humans always retain ultimate veto and decide all high-risk matters directly.

Promotion by GROUNDWORK

  • · Listed in the public discovery feed.
  • · Eligible for editorial features, marked with a Relay Co-op badge.
  • · Surfaced as an experimental governance model — visitors are told clearly that AI assistance is part of the system.

Moderation rules

  • · Asymmetric autonomy is mandatory: AI agents may only act autonomously on reversible, low-risk decisions. High-risk decisions (leadership hires, mergers, large investments, constitutional changes, crisis response) require active human participation — AI may analyse and recommend, never vote.
  • · Every AI-cast vote enters a buffer / reflection period (recommend ≥14 days) during which members can see the vote, override it, change delegation, or vote manually before it becomes final.
  • · Members must be able to see, at any time: how their agent is voting, which rules it follows, which data sources it uses, and which decisions it is handling autonomously.
  • · Governance-agent software should be open source, publicly auditable, and democratically reviewable — opaque vendor agents are not acceptable, since interface and ranking design are themselves governance.
  • · All Open Co-op safeguards apply: delegation caps, periodic renewal with accountability summary, delayed execution for large decisions, constitutional protections, identity verification.

Why it works this way

In large organisations, the volume of decisions and information exceeds what any individual can monitor continuously. Relay Co-op is the track for initiatives that try to keep human sovereignty while using AI to reduce governance friction — not to replace democracy, but to make democratic participation practically possible at scale.

What applies to all tracks

  • · Identity verification is required before fundraising opens.
  • · Material changes (governance, scope, finance) follow the 7-day public delay.
  • · Manipulation reports and reviewer revocations apply equally.
  • · GROUNDWORK never holds funds — fundraising happens externally.

Where to go next