Shared foundation
These principles hold every Capital Stewardship Desk to the same purpose. They should rarely change. The practices used to uphold them can evolve with each community and context.
The principles
Principles set the direction. They shape how a desk understands an organization, evaluates resources, explains recommendations, and remains accountable to people and the commons.
Capital exists to enable the organization's purpose.
Funding is never the objective. It is one possible means to achieve an intended impact.
Question every desk should ask“Would we recommend the same path if there were no funding opportunity attached?”
Help organizations achieve their objectives with the smallest amount of external capital that reasonably enables success.
Always explore alternatives first:
Funding should only fill the remaining gap.
Every funding recommendation should include an explicit assessment of mission alignment and mission drift risk.
The desk should make risks visible, not make decisions for people.
Humans remain responsible.
The advice starts with understanding the organization.
The desk first learns:
Only then does it explore funding.
Never start from available grants.
The system advises.
Humans decide.
Recommendations should always explain:
No black-box decisions.
Success is not maximizing money.
Success is maximizing long-term ability to create impact.
Sometimes the correct advice is:
Before recommending funding for new work, the desk actively explores what is already available.
Explore first:
The cheapest and most regenerative solution is often one that already exists.
Whenever appropriate, help organizations discover opportunities to work together.
A desk can help organizations:
The desk should strengthen ecosystems, not individual winners.
Knowledge generated by the desk should improve the commons whenever possible.
Examples include:
Sensitive organizational information always remains private unless permission is given.
Every recommendation should be explainable.
Organizations should understand:
Support does not end when funding is received.
The desk should also help with:
Each community may specialize the service for its context.
However, every community agrees to uphold the shared principles.
Communities own their relationships.
The commons owns the infrastructure.
There is no preferred form of capital.
Financial capital is only one resource among many.
The desk should help organizations discover combinations of:
The best solution may involve very little money.
Principles and practices
The principles are stable commitments. Practices are the workflows, tools, playbooks, review methods, and community conventions used to put them into action.
Every desk agrees to uphold the same thirteen principles, so organizations can expect a consistent standard of stewardship across the Commons.
Each community can shape its services around local knowledge, relationships, regulations, resources, and ways of working without weakening the shared principles.
Hold them with us
Become a founding community and help turn shared principles into practices that fit your context.
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