How We Govern
Anyone proposing a community like this should expect a fair bit of skepticism, usually some version of “how do I know this isn’t a cult or a vanity project?” or “how do I know this won’t fall apart, or turn into a catastrophe?” They’re excellent questions! Here’s how we’re building Bedrock structurally against these outcomes.
Where similar efforts have struggled
The last century is full of intentional communities and secular congregations, with far more unsuccessful examples than successful ones. Often, for a few similar reasons. Each of them has a lesson that informs how Bedrock is built from the start.
Founder capture
or an informal clique in control
Real power ends up with a charismatic founder or an inner circle, and members have no way to check it.
Bedrock’s answer
The members hold the legal power, including the power to remove any director. A real legal society ↓
No conflict resolution
so might makes right, or it festers
Without a fair way through disagreement, informal power wins, or it festers until people drift away.
Bedrock’s answer
A written-down way through disagreement, with mediation, so it doesn’t come down to who has the most sway. Written-down governance ↓
Burnout
with the work on too few shoulders
A handful of devoted people carry everything, until they can’t.
Bedrock’s answer
Everyone who’s able gives a little time, so the work is spread across many shoulders. What we ask →
Growing too fast
or overreaching financially
Multiple chapters, buildings, staff and debt taken on before the community can carry them.
Bedrock’s answer
Foundations before growth, with the big commitments put to the members. Written-down governance ↓
No succession plan
so it ends when its leaders tire
Nothing in place for when the founders step back, so it goes with them.
Bedrock’s answer
Fixed terms, rules on paper, and a society that belongs to its members rather than its founders. A real legal society ↓
An audience
attendance that never became commitment
Ask little of people and they come and go. The communities that last ask real commitment.
Bedrock’s answer
A few liveable expectations, starting with one gathering a month. Liveable expectations ↓
How Bedrock seeks to be different
Those lessons are built into three things: a real legal society, a clear governance structure, and liveable expectations.
A BC society, in the full legal sense
Bedrock is being organized as a society under the British Columbia Societies Act, the same legal framework that governs community associations and nonprofits across the province. Once it’s incorporated, the final say rests with the members as a matter of law: directors are vetted and chosen by the members for fixed terms, and members can remove any director. The constitution and bylaws are public, and change only by a two-thirds vote of the membership. Directors owe legal duties to the society, and its assets can never be paid out to any individual.
Nobody owns it, nobody profits from it, and it’s legally governed by its members.
Clear, written-down governance
Bedrock’s governance will be written down and open for any member to read, rather than left to memory or to board or founder discretion. One principle we feel comfortable saying is settled: almost nothing that defines what Bedrock is can change without a substantial vote of the members. Below is some of what’s in the current drafts, all of it open to the founding board to reshape.
Directors. Members choose their board, and can remove any director.
- Nobody is paid to be a director
- Authority is well defined, reviewable and removable
- Conflicts of interest, financial or relational, are declared up front: the director steps out of both the discussion and the vote, and the minutes record it
- The board is balanced between men and women (with any number of non-binary folks)
Decisions. The board proposes; members enact.
- Members hold authority over the bylaws, the constitution and policy
- Substantive votes are anonymous ballots held after deliberation, not during it, so people vote with time to think in a judgement-free space
- A small share of members (5%) can put an item on the agenda without board approval
Money. Donation-funded, with yearly statements to the members.
- No dues by default. How this works in the future will be up to the membership.
- Annual statements go to the members, who can order an independent review or audit
- Significant funds and long-term commitments always go back to the membership
Records and privacy. Governance is written down, but never files on the society’s people.
- Governance, finances, conflicts of interest and major decisions are recorded
- No record is kept of how any individual voted; only aggregate results
- Member information is never shared, sold, or used for anything outside community life
Safety. Safeguarding policy built into the society before it’s needed.
- Protection through presence: open, visible spaces where children are known by many adults
- Around children, adults stay within sight of another member, and exceptions are the parent’s to grant
- A start, not an end: as the society’s activities call for more, the safeguarding policies will be strengthened to match
Conflict. A defined process for raising concerns, followed by mediation.
- Directly between people where possible. Beyond that, a proportionate response, and removal only where nothing less protects the community
- Raising a concern in good faith is never a breach, and retaliation always is
- The aim is repair and continued membership where possible
Public positions. Only by member ballot, at a supermajority.
- The board can restate a position, never create one
- A position commits the organization’s voice, never a member’s conscience
- None in the first year, while foundations are built
Emergencies. Powers designed ahead of time, and kept narrow.
- Potential abuse is taken as seriously as the crisis itself
- Protective action is narrow
The drafts draw on a close study of similar projects, the ones that fell apart and the ones that lasted. Some of that research is in the notes to the well-cited rant.
Liveable expectations
A few real, liveable expectations, starting with one gathering a month, are what turn an audience into a participatory community. See what we ask →