@chjango, thank you so much.
Dreams of a more perfect union. Let’s go.
We urgently need:
- transparent ICF governance; and enforce foundation accountability via hub governance
- hub constitution
Re: hub constitution, a solid starting framework for the constitution exists in code.
Would be great to have a group begin transcribing the mechanistic reality of cosmos hub (in code) to English language, with elaboration of param logic when necessary.
Re: ICF Governance
The reason why Switzerland is a desirable domicile for foundations goes beyond tax reasons. Swiss foundations kinda have immutable and persistent attributes once created. It has no “owner/s” or “shareholders.”
Once it exists, it’s mainly accountable to one thing – its charter. Even a founder has very limited rights once a foundation is established.
I believe the ICF will use the relative immutability of its charter to resist our ask for changes.
Non-trivial changes to charters are notoriously difficult to make. Amendments are allowed under rare and extreme circumstances – which is why Switzerland remains the preferred destination for marrying serious money with a serious mandate.
While we do not know what’s in the ICF charter – foundation charters typically specify:
- who’s on the governing board
- how they get renewed (or terms limits, if they apply)
- how to add or remove persons from the board
This being the case, term limits may already exist. So what are they?
The charter may also define process and procedure as to how conflicts of interest are to be handled.
We have no idea. Let’s find out.
What’s broken about ICF governance is no one, other than the foundation board knows how it must govern itself. Withholding the charter is an effective way of reducing the accountability surface for the foundation.
Brian Crain at Cosmoverse said their council expansion will be announced imminently. Feel we urgently need to insert transparency and community inclusion as to how additions to the council are considered and effected.
For the immediate term, I suggest making simple and actionable asks – two information requests, and one simple agreement with the ICF.
Information requests:
- share ICF charter & bylaws
- share all applicant and application information for the Foundation Council
(We can formalize information requests via hub proposal)
Simple agreement:
- ICF will only add new members to the Foundation Council upon their nominees being approved/confirmed via hub governance
This way, we are not asking them to change the charter. We meet them with change requests they’re capable of delivering.
While I dislike the size of “asking” in the above, I feel we need to do something quickly.
The requests are reasonable. Only an unreasonable organization would refuse – and wanna deprive them of citing the fixed nature of a Swiss foundation charter as an excuse to keep the logic of their choices in the dark.