The Legal Structure
How the Fellowship exists in law: the nonprofit that holds the brand in trust, what a chapter is and is not, money, liability and volunteer protection.
PlannedPlanned
Note
This document is in drafting. The scope below is indicative.
This document will set out the structure that gives the community’s commitments a place to stand.
Intended scope#
- The nonprofit structure that holds the Fellowship’s brand and intellectual property in trust for the community, giving legal force to the Transition’s promise that the brand can never be privatised.
- What a chapter is and is not in legal terms: chapters are not legal entities and may not incorporate, sign contracts, open bank accounts, or fundraise institutionally in the Fellowship’s name, until the charter framework provides for local incorporation from Phase 3.
- How money is handled at chapter level before incorporation, and how sponsorship agreements work so that no volunteer is ever personally exposed by a signature.
- Liability and volunteer protection: what the structure shields volunteers from, and what it asks of them in return.
- How the legal structure serves the transition rather than constraining it: finances published from the first month the legal entity exists, per Document 1.