I came across this thread in Open Collective’s Slack where they’re discussing options and resources they could provide to projects on Open Collective.
Here are some examples of models of governance for this kind of shared financial resourcing I have seen, to get our thinking gears turning, and examples of other Collectives using those modes (this is not exhaustive! There are certainly other modes besides these):
- Devolved: anyone in the EHF Community can decide to become an admin of our Collective, and anyone can submit payout requests to be approved by any admin. We simply trust all the individuals to make good decisions without any overall coordination. Example: Scuttlebutt Consortium
- Consensus: use a tool like Loomio to have a decision about every use of funds which a large number of people participate in. Example: Social.coop
- Council: A committee or working group holds responsibility for use of the funds, and there’s a process by which people enter or leave it. These people can be elected, appointed, or be people who have given over $x. Example: Bushwick Ayuda Mutua
- Contractual: There’s an explicit agreement in place between the Funder(s) and the Collective about exactly how the funds will be used and who decides what. This is often the case with specific grants or sponsorships. Example: Digital Infrastructure
- Delegated: one or a few people are responsible for making calls about things like what’s allowed for fundraising and for expense payouts. The wider community can give them feedback but there’s no expectation of wide consultation on most decisions, except maybe on really big changes. (This is by far the most common on Open Collective because while participation sounds nice, actually it’s a lot of work and most people are very happy and grateful to trust a few peers to handle it all, but others might feel left out or a lack of accountability). Example: Babel
- Individual: The whole thing is managed by one person and all the funders/donors know they’re turning their money over to be controlled by that person, and no one really has the power to remove that person because it’s really their project and their thing and about that person. Example: Sindre Sorhus
Also in the discussion was mention of Community Rule who has offered to do governance consultations with groups.
@paddatrapper Might be another good reason to revisit Open Collective’s Slack and join in some of these discussions.