0. The Basics
The Well4Ward Capital Asset Library is a foundation for a new economic system, designed to start small and scale up. The design parameters outlined here define the vision of how this will be built, although at the small scale start up only the simplest and most essential features will be included. This is a living document painting the road map of how the system will develop and scale as it matures.
Purpose & Scope:
The Well4Ward Capital Asset Library is a non-profit, federated cooperative system for:
pooling capital assets (tools, vehicles, buildings, inventory, etc.)
making them available under custody, management, and use, not ownership
circulating benefits back into shared resource pools
supporting worker cooperatives, housing groups, and local communities
using a web-of-trust identity system instead of centralized gatekeeping.
Core Design Principles
Non-profit & Non-Extractive
No investment shares.
No dividends or distributions to individuals or member co-ops.
All resources are reinvested into infrastructure, maintenance, and expansion.
Custody, Not Ownership
Assets are not “owned” by individuals or groups in the private-property sense.
The Well4Ward library (as a non-profit holding cooperative) holds legal title as a protective wrapper.
Individuals and groups hold custody, responsibility, and use rights.
Usufruct & Stewardry
You may use resources how you please to meet your needs, as long as you care for them, return benefit, act in good faith to meet negotiated conditions, and don’t deprive others.
Local Autonomy, Federated Coordination
Decisions are made at the smallest practical scale.
Only decisions that affect wider groups rise to joint or federation-level processes.
Fractal Governance
The same pattern repeats at different scales:
individual → base/free group → joint group → local hub → regional hub → library cooperative federation.
Web-of-Trust, Not Central Authority
Identity, qualifications, and roles are validated by trusted peers and groups.
Local user interactions and relations inform trust and permissions associated with their digital identity.
Access First, Especially for the Vulnerable
Systems are designed to work for low-income, disabled, and marginalized members by default.
Community Buying and Vulnerability Funds will exist to remove financial barriers.
Rejection of Debt-Based Extraction
The library minimizes or avoids external debt and interest cost flows.
Capital is built through member contributions, surplus from work, and grants.
1. Legal & Organizational Architecture
The Well4Ward Capital Asset Library is based on co-operatives, associations, and social enterprises organized in a fractal structure that allows each entity to self define day to day operations but remain connected to a network that allows resource sharing, economy of scale, and joint decision making where interests overlap.
Well4Ward Library System - A Non-Profit Holding Cooperative:
Entity type:
Federally incorporated non-profit cooperative under the Canada Cooperatives Act.
Operates as a Non-Profit Organization (NPO) for tax purposes.
Roles:
Holds legal title to library assets (Working, Housing, Personal Branches).
Maintains the digital platform (“Our Platform”) and identity/trust infrastructure.
Provides legal, structural, and technical scaffolding for local hubs.
Coordinates federation-wide policies, standards, and safety protocols.
Manages high-level resource allocation between regions (when needed).
Members of the Holding Co-op:
Individual Members
Every person who participates in the system is an equal member of the holding cooperative.
Local Hub Cooperatives (Entities)
Each local hub (see below) is also a member as an organization.
Governance:
“One member, one voice” at the individual level (with appropriate mechanisms for scaling).
Local hubs may also have entity-level voting for some federation decisions (e.g. high-level infrastructure, constitutional changes).
Board of directors delegated by the membership (with attention to geographic and functional representation through the fractal scaling system).
Regional/Local Hubs (Jurisdictional Cooperatives)
Entity type:
Independent cooperatives or non-profit entities incorporated under the laws of their jurisdiction (province, country, etc.).
Purpose:
Serve as the local operational interface for the library.
Manage day-to-day logistics and coordination of assets and branches within a region.
Operate the Community Buying / shared purchasing systems.
Host local base groups, free groups, and joint group processes as all groups within the jurisdiction are members.
Provide a physical or organizational presence (e.g. storage, coordination, support).
Ownership & Governance:
Owned by their local individual members and base groups.
Governed through the fractal system that ensures equal representation within dynamic voting structures and mechanics
The local hub itself is a member of the Canadian Well4Ward holding cooperative.
Relationship to the Holding Co-op:
Holding co-op: provides assets + infrastructure.
Local hub: provides operations + local governance.
Relationship is governed by formal Use/Service Custody Agreements, not shareholding.
Base, Joint and Free Groups
These are independent legal entities or combinations thereof, made of individual members, defined in more detail below.
2. Fractal Governance: How Decisions Stay Local but Can Scale
Well4Ward uses groups deliberately sized so that participants can meaningfully interact with each other and develop relation based trust with their local library community. Smaller groups mean less arms length decision makers influencing what resources can be accessed or how they can be used. In order to also function at scale, a fractal pattern is used to merge or divide groups based on shared interest in an activity, decision, or resource.
Individual Members:
An individual is a distinct person and can make decisions related to:
Which groups they join, associate or work with
Assets they request or accept custody of and under what terms
Which roles and responsibilities they wish to accept beyond asset custody and use
Their own contributions and use of resources
Leaving or transferring groups
Base Level Groups:
A Base Level group is made of only individual members, and generally corresponds with a distinct real world legal entity such as a worker's cooperative, an incorporated society, or non-profit social enterprise. These groups self define their membership, day to day operations, and legal structure (but must be in alignment with library values). Each base level group has a distinct identity that is matched with user identities to indicate membership.
A base-level group can make decisions related to:
Its internal responsibilities and structure
Assets under its custody
Contributions and resource allocations to individual members, horizontally to neighbouring base level groups, or to joint group operations
Proposals for asset acquisitions internally, as well as to or from wider joint groups
Operational policies or workflows
Group membership grants entry to:
The group’s decision space
Consensus, Consent and Recursive Voting processes and customization
Proposal creation
Discussions relevant to that group’s custodial responsibilities
Joint Groups:
Joint groups are combinations of base level groups which are formed of all members of each associated group. The system allows members of the individual groups access to discussion and voting spaces for decisions that impact the joint groups operations or resource allocations. These groups may be permanent associations (for example a regional association of trades based cooperatives looking to share an administrative resource). Or they may be temporary and exist only as long as a shared resource base or project exists before being archived.
Free Groups:
Some library members who are sole operators may not have a natural group with which they are affiliated. When this occurs, they default to a local group with a looser affiliation and more independent operations of individuals. These groups may decide to share few resources or collaborate more closely to benefit from resource sharing. Members may remain in this free group as legally independent sole operators as long as they choose without penalty, however if the group becomes too large to effectively manage together it triggers a division process.
Free groups work together to help each other acquire assets based on individual proposals in the free group decision space just like base groups, and when input is needed on decisions that affect that local area or organization they can select a delegate to represent them in the relevant joint group spaces. As they develop knowledge and relations with others in their free group, they may also choose to break off to create a more formally structured group.
For example, a free group with a number of home maintenance professionals may decide they could all benefit from allocating resources towards a shared appointment coordinator who can help all of them manage their client bookings more efficiently and refer clients to each other when a different expertise is needed to supplement one professionals work, or cover for each other if they are away from work/overbooked when a client needs service. They choose to break off from the free group and form a fixed base group within the library structure with a shared subscription to a booking software and an administrative assistant who they recruited externally and all contribute an agreed amount to the offered compensation.
Regional and Local Hub Groups:
These are distinct legal cooperative groups within each jurisdiction where the library operates, and allows compliance with local laws and operational requirements. These regional hubs manage day to day library operations, while the library as a whole holds ownership of the assets used within each region. In large jurisdictions the regional hub split into multiple local hubs to allow more finetuned local operations and interactions. All base groups within a jurisdiction are by default members of the local hub, which is in essence a permanent joint group based on shared geographically based interests. They also serve as an administrative body to manage free inventory and shared/bulk at cost purchasing processes on behalf of local membership.
3. How Users, Groups and Assets Interact
The Well4Ward Capital Asset Library is built on Our Platform, our partner organization's centralized network with decentralized governance. This facilitates a secure, streamlined experience for making decisions and managing assets and resources at various scales. Our Platform itself is built and managed by a group that maintains the digital infrastructure for the benefit of all members, and its operations form part of Well4Wards infrastructure costs.
Every person, group, and asset in Well4Ward has a digital identity. These identities are cross-referenced by the system to confirm:
- The identity of the person, group or asset
- Which groups they are associated with
- Which roles they have been delegated by others
- What responsibilities or qualifications they hold or require
- Regional associations for where a user, group, or asset is based
- Permissions or restrictions on individual or group custody for specified asset types/value based on historical behaviour, trust, delegated roles, and/or training
Web-of-Trust
Well4Ward uses its basis on personal relational networks to form a secure web-of-trust backed up by digital security protocols. Members with trusted identities can create new group identities, validate new members joining the organization or their existing groups, as well as validate the identities and recover system credentials for their closest neighbors on the web-of-trust. Members or groups with the appropriate roles can enter new assets into the system.
Custody Transfers
Well4Ward replaces ownership with custody, responsibility, and use, rooted in the idea of usufruct. When an asset is transferred from one individual or group to another, the system checks all relevant parameters and permissions to determine if the transfer is valid within the system. Users may request assets that are identified as free for circulation in their local or regional hub, and for most small scale or low value assets this validation process is automated.
Some assets with high value, supply/demand constraints, training requirements or special qualifications require validation from both the system and local library users through a digital consent process. Some larger assets are acquired with pooled library funds for the use of a specific person or group and have permanent custody agreements rather than being in free circulation. Transfer requests are not available for these assets until the original custodian no longer has dedicated long-term need for it and marks the asset as returned to the free circulation inventory.
An asset in the custody of an individual or group may be freely used within some basic parameters:
- the asset ownership is with the library itself and assets in the use and custody of members may not be sold
- the custodian is not permitted to destroy the asset and is responsible for its care and maintenance, including being accountable to repair or restore the asset for any damage caused by misuse or negligence
- the user may reasonably modify the asset to meet their needs provided the modification does not reduce its usability for its intended purpose (modifications of assets in long term custody may have a higher tolerance for reasonability)
- the user must act in good faith to use the asset according to any use agreement negotiated in the acquisition or transfer process (whether negotiated use for long term custody, or standard terms for assets in rotating custody)
- the user must return some benefit to the library and community, whether a formally negotiated share of revenue, direct or reduced cost services provided to library members, informal donations, and/or returning the asset to the library circulation in good condition when no longer needed
- The user must maintain the proper qualifications and training for that asset use to maintain valid custody (driver's license, workplace safety training, etc.)
This ensures assets are always in the hands of people who are prepared and permitted to manage and use them responsibly.
4. Delegation of Responsibilities
Assets support multiple layers of custodial responsibility, allowing their use to be securely tracked and managed.
Three custody types:
1. Group-Level Custody
A base-level group with an asset in their custody may collectively:
Manage long-term changes
Approve temporary or permanent transfers to other groups
Decide on major repairs or modifications
Allocate budgeted resources for the asset
These decisions are facilitated through the group's associated discussion and voting spaces. Where permanent custody is assigned to a group comprised of multiple base-level groups, the asset may be transferred to the custody of one of the base level groups on a temporary basis, and returned to the joint group when no longer in use (Three sports league cooperatives share a lawnmower for field maintenance on a weekly rotation)
2. Individual Operational Custody
Day-to-day use may be delegated to a specific person. This may be on a long term basis (a graphic design cooperative assigns one of the computers in their custody to an individual artist on a long term basis) or a short term rotation (a rideshare cooperative assigns custody of a vehicle between 3 drivers over multiple daily shifts).
3. Role-Based Delegations
Examples:
A “maintenance authorization” role for handling routine upkeep
A “resource spending” role for small associated costs
A “booking and scheduling” role for coordinating use
Delegation is not authority or ownership, it is a temporary, accountable permission that can be expanded, reduced, or recalled at any time.
5. When More Than One Group Is Affected
If a proposal touches resources, custodial responsibilities, or people in another group, the system automatically forms a combined joint group for that decision.
Example:
A proposal affects Group X and Group Y → the system creates Group X-Y.
The combined decision space includes:
All members of both groups (visibility)
Delegates (and pre-selected backups) chosen by each group (priority discussion + voting)
Clear, transparent processes for how the decision is processed
Delegates exist because:
Larger combined spaces can become crowded
Delegates keep communication efficient
They carry the mandate of their base group
They can be recalled instantly
Individuals can still observe all discussions and offer input
This maintains relational accountability even at larger scales.
6. Fractal Scaling Pattern
This same pattern repeats outward as needed.
Example:
Group X-Y-Z collaborates with Group U-V-W and Group R-S-T →
they form Group XYZ-UVW-RST for a specific decision or acquisition.
This larger group can:
Pool resources
Determine custody arrangements
Allocate contributions toward shared assets
Set stewardship responsibilities
Redistribute resource flow back down to smaller groups
Decisions only escalate to broader levels when necessary.
Custodial responsibility for distinct assets always rests as close as possible to the individuals actually using or managing the resource. Divisible resources may be allocated at larger group levels for distribution as needed by two paths:
- request (particularly smaller assets pooled in a shared inventory or highly transferable assets) or
- proposal (for larger resources, long term custody requests, or new acquisitions without agreed upon use parameters).
For example, group XYZ-UVW-RST may have a pool of resources for the purpose of keeping a shared fleet of vehicles or bulk inventory of office supplies for automatic distribution by request within preset parameters. When a member of Group X needs a vehicle for an out of town conference, they check the library and see that a suitable vehicle is available at that time and reserve it for pickup the night before they leave for conference. When group V is out of printer paper, they check the inventory the joint groups made together in bulk directly from the manufacturer at a lower cost than any of the groups could have gotten individually. There is just enough left for their needs so they request it be delivered the next day, and trigger an already agreed to process for automatic reorder to restock the inventory from the allocated financial contributions of the combined groups.
Or they may have a pool of financial resources allocated for the general purchase of commercial real estate, which would require a proposal if a smaller group identified a particular property that provided an opportunity to benefit their operations and/or provide a return of benefit to the combined group as a whole. Perhaps this is a larger shop to expand their automotive repair operations and agreeing to discounted rates for the joint group. Or a meeting hall that could be used by any of the individual smaller groups to host events and also rented to external groups to generate revenue for the group and the library as a whole.
7. Delegated Functional Groups
Some tasks require specialized knowledge or quick decision cycles, without involving every individual.
Functional delegations may cover areas like:
- Accounting
- Software infrastructure
- Safety reviews
- Digital platform maintenance
- Scheduling systems
- Inventory tracking
- Conflict mediation between groups
Functional Roles:
These groups receive a functional role delegation as a group, enabling them to:
Make decisions within a defined scope or limits
Access specialized decision spaces and sensitive data relative to performing the functional role
Use allocated organizational resource budgets
Maintain operational continuity
All delegations:
Are transparent
Can be monitored by any member
Can be recalled by the relevant groups
Stay within clear custodial boundaries
8. The Three Library Branches
The library is intended to function at scale with three distinct branches, each with tailored protocols for asset acquisition and use. Resource allocation between branches is decided at local scales and filtered through the fractal structure based on these decisions. As a result, proportional allocation may differ between regions based on the local needs and environment.
Working Branch (planned for beta rollout):
This branch is the heart and engine of the library system. These are assets purchased by and for workers cooperatives with the intent of using them to perform beneficial work within the community and allowing workers to support their lives. Especially during the start up phase, the work performed by most individuals and groups will be primarily within the external market for market value with a portion of that revenue being returned to the library to fund internal maintenance costs, new asset acquisitions, and growth. A portion of goods and services produced using these working assets may also be exchanged with internal library members at a discounted rate or by direct exchange, thereby directly returning the benefit of the use of these assets to the library system rather than through revenue based returns. Some specialized groups may primarily work for the library itself maintaining its infrastructure, managing assets not in custody, auditing system functionality, growing the membership, or performing administrative work. These groups are allocated a portion of the revenue generated by assets working external to the library to support their lives.
The majority of this document has focused on the functioning of the working branch as the early priority during small scale start up phase. The other branches have a similar group structure with minor differences.
Housing Branch (planned long term rollout):
This branch will be the backbone of the library as it matures. It reconnects the value of housing to the function it provides: a place to live and keep yourself and your family safe. A portion of working asset revenue will be allocated by local library branches for the acquisition of housing. Early in this branches start up, limited housing budgets will be allocated by an application process based on need, stability, and history of trust until the resource base is well established in the local area. Once this branch has built up the funds to acquire a handful of houses in a particular area, the library will form small groups from the members selected from the application process. These cooperative groups will have a budget for the acquisition of housing for each household in their group based on their needs, and will act to purchase the houses selected by members within that budget and enter the housing into the library system in the custody of the intended occupants.
Once the group has purchased the needed housing, each member will contribute an agreed on monthly amount to a shared fund. A small portion of this fund will be returned to the local library housing branch fund but the majority will remain available for the members of that group to maintain, modify, or upgrade their homes to meet their needs. Accessing these funds simply requires verification of the expense purpose by other group members to ensure accountability. At the end of each year, any unspent amount can be allocated by the group towards holding in their account, an additional contribution to the housing fund, or towards joint projects for neighborhood or community upgrades. This ensures the primary benefit and control of these funds remains with the occupants or their extended community. This local circulation of resources will increase housing affordability over time as more groups are able to access the housing fund, as there will be no resources lost to interest costs for banks profit or to non-occupant landlords.
Decisions about the use or modification of a home rests solely with the occupants of that home, outside of validating funding from the shared maintenance account. As long as the occupants do not sell or destroy the home, they can make any decision a traditional homeowner might legally make. If a move is needed, an application can be made for the acquisition of a new home to meet that need, once obtained the current home becomes available for a new applicant to take custody of. Group membership (along with custody of housing assets) can also be transferred from one housing group to another in the case of personal incompatibility or conflict.
Personal Branch (planned mid term rollout):
This branch is the soul of the library, its about enjoyment of life. It is for any assets that enrich the lives of members that can be shared over time but are not primarily intended for working to generate revenue or meeting essential needs. A group of friends want to share a boat? They can propose the library acquire one from the local personal branch funds for general local use, or they can source one together and put it in the library under the custody of their group. A member has unused sports equipment cluttering their garage? Put it in the library so someone else can make use of it. Virtually anything you could imagine you might want could be in the personal branch, if you collaborate with your local groups to get it. You do not need to be a member of a working or housing group to access this branch of the library. Members of working groups or housing groups are members of the personal branch by default and can choose to allocate a portion of their generated resources towards it. Those who wish to be members of the personal branch but are nor members of the other branches can join with a sliding scale membership fee as their contribution towards maintaining and acquiring assets for general non-profit use.
Group structures in this branch differ slightly from the other branches. The local area forms the base group for all local residents who are members and is where custody is assigned for any general donations, transfers from the working branch, or acquisitions agreed on by the membership. Subgroups may be formed around particular assets where they are acquired independently by a group who wants to manage individual custody and track maintenance and costs within their group through the library. Where access to these assets is restricted to a subgroup, if these assets have extraordinary maintenance costs the group holding custody is responsible for this cost except by general consent of the local library branch to share in the costs. This allows the formation of dedicated interest groups with unique functional structures and cost sharing strategies - boating clubs, sports leagues, maker spaces, a group of friends who wants to share a camper trailer. As long as participation in the group is not restricted based on the number of zeroes in a person's bank account, its a valid use of the library.
9. Community Buying / Shared Purchasing Model (planned)
The Community Buying model will be implemented at the local hub level and integrate directly with the library’s infrastructure as part of our mid term rollout strategy. This will allow all local community members to pool resources to obtain essential everyday resources at direct manufacturer or wholesale costs while sharing operational costs of distribution.
Goals of this strategy:
- Use demand aggregation to secure essential goods at the lowest possible wholesale or manufacturer cost.
- Provide at-cost access to all members.
- Ensure the most vulnerable can access essentials even if they can’t afford at-cost through a donation-backed safety net.
Core functionality:
Membership is open to all community members (regardless of income) in the geographic locations where this feature has been rolled out. Whether or not the user is part of a base group or has membership with one of the three main branches they default to a geographically determined purchasing group associated with their neighborhood, town, or city. Members submit item requests (e.g. baby diapers, lactose-free milk, pens, cleaning supplies) for any essential items for day to day use. A transparent wish list shows aggregated demand for each item by area.
When items in the wish list reach a threshold demand level which can meet a minimum purchase order threshold from a supplier (wholesale or manufacturer) a purchasing coordinator or functional group reviews the requested items, checks the demand thresholds based on item type (perishable, consumable, or durable goods). They evaluate supplier options, pricing, quality, shipping distance and minimum order quantities to find the best overall option in the local context. If this process is successful and the hub has appropriate storage, they add the item to the approved inventory list and make the first purchase, as well as creating system parameters for when reorders are triggered.
The local hub receives and stores the ordered inventory. During small scale start up this could be as simple as storage in a members garage, or a self storage unit. Members access items from this inventory as needed at a cost calculated as the direct wholesale purchase price per unit + the proportional shipping cost per unit + a minimal shared operational costs and administrative fee. Members may also request direct delivery, and pay a fee that is passed on to the driver directly for this service based on the total shared delivery costs for all delivered orders on that route. Typically the driver would be a member who agrees to provide delivery services for compensation.
A dedicated Revolving Fund covers upfront costs of bulk orders. As members purchase items at cost, funds flow back into the Revolving Fund, enabling continuous restocking. Any surplus collected through the operational costs and administrative fee remains in this fund to allow covering the up front costs of expanding the inventory.
For members who cannot afford even at-cost prices, the system uses a Vulnerability Fund funded by donations and grants. This fund would typically be administered at the local hub level and may involve partnerships with local charity organizations or government grants. This fund would cover or subsidize the cost of essentials for eligible members with fixed incomes (e.g. people on disability pensions, income support, or old age security). This allows the most vulnerable members to use the same inventory system and processes as other members in a pay-what-you-can approach. This decreases reliance on solely charity or donation based services which often do not provide choice in products to meet their needs and reduces the overall cost of providing basic necessities for the most vulnerable.
Because the system is overall mixed-income it increases purchasing scale and shared buying power, and stabilizes demand and cash flows while spreading out operational costs and sharing logistical burden. This also provides a strong basis for local and regional grant funding as it functions to reduce poverty stress, public health burdens, and improve accessibility and community integration for those who would otherwise be marginalized.
10. Tracking Use and Contributions
Rather than a transactional model the Well4Ward system aims to maintain a relational model of tracking interactions with the system and its members. This is an area of ongoing development for the system.
This relational contribution system is inspired by the “pebs” model described in Becky Chambers’ Monk and Robot novellas. It provides a simple way for members to acknowledge supportive, cooperative, or community-strengthening actions that financial accounting cannot capture—practical help, emotional support, mentorship, and everyday acts of care. These acknowledgements carry no material advantage; they simply make contribution and appreciation visible within the community.
Balances are transparent to promote awareness and mutual support rather than status or competition. A positive balance reflects recognized contributions, while a deeply negative balance signals that someone may be overextended or in need of connection. Even the library itself may express appreciation when users act in good faith—such as consistently returning assets in good condition or actively supporting shared resources—reinforcing trust and care within the system.
Because this contribution model is experimental and without direct real-world analogues, it will continue to evolve as Well4Ward grows. Naming, protocols, and implementation details will be refined through testing and community input.
In future phases, Well4Ward is also exploring the Basis protocol for tracking physical resources, materials, and energy flows. Basis may offer a transparent way to account for ecological and material costs, complementing the relational contribution system by handling non-human resource tracking as the organizational model matures.
11. Managing Conflict
At its core, this system is made of people. Because people are imperfect, any system made of people is also going to be imperfect. There will always exist the potential for conflict between groups over resource use. Peaceful interaction always requires active participation to maintain.
Group Conflict:
Just as custodial responsibility for assets and resources are allocated as close to the base groups as makes sense, conflict and exploitation are first managed as locally as possible, by the people who know those involved and have a better contextual understanding than a non-local intervener.
This means the first step in managing any conflict is always a discussion within the base level groups most impacted by the event or resource in dispute. Using the same decision making processes as with acquisition or management, they should try and resolve the disagreement themselves first.
If that fails, a joint group should be formed with other local groups not directly involved but who know the parties involved, and who can provide some outside feedback. There may also be functional groups locally appointed and comprised of known and trusted individuals with skills in mediation and de-escalation. If these groups cannot help the impacted parties reach an agreement all can consent to, options may include the functional group brought in to manage the conflict deciding the fair allocation of a resource in dispute. Individuals may also decide to end their association with a group.
12. Exploitation or Abuse of Resources
All systems must be able to defend themself from abuse or exploitation and actively work to address power imbalances and maintain peaceful, equitable functioning. The library system is built on a set of values that shape its function, and those values must be actively engaged for effective function. There will be individuals who are looking to exploit or gain unfair advantage over resources or others. The system must be prepared to manage this in alignment with its core values.
Abuse or Exploitation of Resources:
If a group identifies an individual member or another group is not acting in alignment with the values and agreements inherent to the library, action is required to protect the shared resources, reputation, and functioning of the library.
This may include but is not limited to:
Negligent or unsafe use of assets causing harm or likely to cause harm in the future (including harm external to the library)
Damage, loss or destruction of library assets through negligence or intentional action
Sale of library assets in their custody for personal gain
Giving possession of library assets for which you hold custody to third parties without a system validated custody transfer
Retaining custody of unused assets instead of marking them as available for transfer
Accumulation of large numbers of assets without return of benefits from the use of assets to the library
Not acting in good faith to follow through on commitments of an accepted and resourced proposal
Using assets or generally acting to gain dominance over or exploit others (including external parties)
Using library assets to engage in illegal, fraudulent, negligent, or anti-social behaviours
Grossly undermining the library or acting in opposition to the libraries core values
Disrupting decision making, seeding conflict, and intentionally frustrating the intended functioning of the library
Engaging in violence, bigotry, or discrimination
Encouraging, permitting, or failing to take action to address any of the above by a group after becoming aware of a member engaging in one or more of these behaviours or any other harmful behaviour identified
While a functional group may be delegated on occasion to investigate and resolve patterns of discrepancies or harm with an unknown source, or to carry out decisions to defend from harmful behaviour identified external to the library, there is no permanent body within the library established to find and punish bad actors. Its up to library members and base groups to call attention to any harm they see or bad actors they identify but do not have the resources or ability to deal with internally.
Available Consequences and Defenses:
When harmful behaviour or bad actors are identified within a group or a joint group is formed to address a larger scale issue, there are a number of options available to members. Consequences must be directly proportional to the harm caused and serve to directly restore or repair the harm (or equivalent approximation) and/or be reasonably expected to limit the ability of the bad actor to repeat or continue the harmful behaviour. A member or group who believes they have been unfairly targeted or too harshly restricted
For minor neglect, exploitation, hoarding, or abuse of assets (risky behaviour, near miss, invalid custody transfers, or minor harm/loss/damage):
- Internal mediation or assisted mediation from neighbouring groups or a delegated functional group
- Rejection of future or pending proposals and/or resource requests
- Restrictions may be assigned to a member or group that prevents them from accepting valid custody transfers of certain asset types or high value assets until restoration is made for the harm and/or trust is rebuilt through accountability and changed behaviour
- Revocation of qualification or trust ratings until additional training, education or certification is completed
- May be applied to an individual by a base group which they are or were a member of at the time of the behaviour or incident, or to a group by a joint group of 2 or more local base groups which should include those directly harmed or put at risk where relevant
For significant neglect, exploitation, hoarding, or abuse of assets (sale/destruction/loss/misuse of assets causing measurable harm), any or all of the above measures may be used, as well as:
- Revocation of an individual member's group association and/or a temporary restriction on joining any new group until specific actions have been taken to be accountable for and change the harmful behaviour
- Ejection of a group from a joint group and loss of access to assets and resources allocated to the joint group
- Replacement, restoration, recovery, or repair of lost, sold or damaged assets
- Commitment of time and/or personal resources for the benefit of those who were harmed and/or the library itself, by negotiation with or approval of those harmed
For gross negligence or malicious abuse of library assets/members, severe damage or destruction, intentional exploitation, fraud, sale of library assets for personal gain, severe/violent criminal behaviour, hateful targeting of vulnerable groups or identities, or intentional undermining of the library's values or ability to function, any or all of the above measures may be used, as well as:
- Permanent revocation of all assigned group memberships and/or individual library identity, de facto ejection from the library membership
- Revocation of a group identity in general, effectively dissolving the group while allowing individuals to retain general library membership
- Involvement of external legal processes to recover assets or recoup damages where the actions crossed outside organizational boundaries
- Where legal liability or due diligence requires, reporting to external institutions or authorities for investigation and legal action
13. Compliance, Risk & Safeguards (High-Level)
While the basic functions are individually simple, they combine into a highly complex system of multiple interacting pieces at various scales. The core of this model is the Well4Ward library entity, which itself will be structured as a federally incorporated non-profit Canadian cooperative that acts to hold ownership of assets in trust on behalf of members who use and share the benefit of those assets.
The library system as a whole organization:
The Well4Ward library cooperative owns all assets and infrastructure in the system and maintains non-profit status by reinvesting all surplus into the system and the benefits it provides members as a whole. It is jointly and equally owned by all individual members along the outlined fractal structure, ensuring all voices have proportional influence and local focus. The library does not have a paid executive or investment shareholders calling the shots or pocketing disproportionate benefits. All resource spending is directly in exchange for services or infrastructure and asset funding. Board members are delegated through the fractal structures voting processes to provide high level oversight, although they are not compensated beyond fair rates for services provided, and may be recalled for any abuse of this that results in disproportionate personal gain.
Local compliance:
Regional hubs are distinct legal cooperative entities within the fractal structure that function to manage say to day system operations in compliance with local jurisdictional requirements. They have transparent accounting and procedural practices and are responsible to all local members in that jurisdiction. The regional hubs are full members of the Well4Ward cooperative, allowing decision making input at various scales while keeping the larger library organization at arms reach and in compliance with local tax and trade laws. Assets and infrastructure interactions are based on Custody Use Agreements with the library.
How it works together:
In essence the local hubs, regional hubs, base groups and free groups are all members of the library cooperative and jointly own the library as a whole. The library owns the assets and internal infrastructure, creating a circulatory system for resource flows that allows local autonomy with integrated economy of scale as the system grows. The independent but integrated local and regional hubs create safeguards for operations crossing international borders.
Failsafe Ownership Structure:
In the event of a forced dissolution of the Well4Ward legal entity, a dissolution clause will result in assets defaulting to being held in trust by the regional or local hubs for all assets currently in their custody, and all assets not in custody of a region based hub are held in trust by the functional group responsible for its operation, or as a last resort to the legal entity of Our Platform. Holding an asset in trust requires the formation of a new overarching legal entity by cooperation of all the regional/local hubs, while addressing the issues that caused the initial dissolution. Once this new entity is formed, ownership of assets is required to be transferred to this new library body, ensuring that dissolution does not equate to collapse of the system and confusion about asset ownership, use, or custody. In addition to the dissolution clause there will be triggered a mandatory successor clause, a distributed interim trust clause and a federated reconstitution mandate.
Each hub becomes a guardian trustee of what it was already responsible for.
No assets move geographically unless the hub decides to do so.
Nothing becomes ownerless.
Nothing goes to the crown.
Nothing is dividable among members.
Each regional or local hub will have similar failsafe clauses built into their structures based on the local jurisdictions legal structure. Each hub will have inter-group agreements binding their trust obligations. This ensures that if any one entity is threatened, the system as a whole can maintain function.
This legally prevents:
political hostile takeover
creditor seizure
opportunistic liquidation
predatory acquisition
private conversion of collective assets
14. What Happens When Things Don't Work
This is a new way of structuring interactions and exchange, and there are bound to be hiccups along the way. When that happens we adapt and evolve to remove barriers and overcome obstacles. Most important, this system is equally owned by all members, and if something isn't working anyone is free to propose changes to the system design as a whole or local functions.
A few things are fixed:
- This system is designed to circulate resources rather than extract for private profit, it will always be non-profit and will not issue investment shares
- Library ownership of assets is at the core of its function to protect the system from bad actors and ensure alignment with the value framework
- Resource sharing and local governance are essential aspects, keeping the benefits of work and resource production with the local communities who are working with and using the resources while also increasing sustainability
- Rejection of debt and its associated costs being funneled into the pockets of the already wealthy