--- id: c9-governance-purpose-charter title: Governance Purpose Charter module: GROW-S9 module_slug: grow-s9-dao-governance cluster: Coordination type: policy version: v0.1.0 status: Gate-reviewed tier: membership contract_role: "" canonical_url: "https://grow.goodcombinator.ai/library/registry/c9-governance-purpose-charter" download_url: "https://grow.goodcombinator.ai/library/registry/c9-governance-purpose-charter.md" license: CC-BY-4.0 (proposed — owner confirmation required) source: GROW by Good Combinator retrieved_at: 2026-05-29 --- # Governance Purpose Charter The Governance Purpose Charter is the foundational policy document for a DAO or collective governance structure. It draws a hard boundary between operational governance — decisions the collective actually makes, executes, and tracks — and symbolic governance, where voting occurs but execution authority sits elsewhere or nowhere. Before a single proposal is drafted or a vote held, this charter must declare what the DAO decides, what it does not decide, and what is categorically out of scope for any vote. Every downstream artifact in c9-dao-governance derives its authority from this charter; if a decision class is not named here, it has no governance legitimacy. --- ## 1. Governance Mission State the single sentence that explains why this governance structure exists. The mission anchors all decision-rights scoping. It should name the pool of resources or shared actions being governed, not aspirations. ```yaml governance_id: mission: > . founding_date: charter_version: 0.1.0 charter_owner: ``` ## 2. What This DAO Actually Decides List the decision classes subject to formal governance. For each class, state the resource, asset, or authority being governed, the mechanism (vote, multisig, working-group delegation), and the binding effect (on-chain execution, off-chain commitment, or advisory recommendation). Precision here prevents scope drift later. | Decision Class | Governed Resource / Authority | Binding Mechanism | Notes | |---|---|---|---| | treasury-allocation | Funds held in the DAO treasury | Token vote → multisig execution | Requires quorum; milestone-gated disbursements | | contract-change | GROW substrate / platform contracts | Supermajority token vote → steward execution | **Meta-governance class — see §4** | | working-group-charter | Working group authority and budget | Simple majority vote | Renewable quarterly | | membership-change | Add or remove member class or tier | Supermajority token vote | Cannot retroactively remove earned tokens | | parameter-update | On-chain governance parameters (quorum %, thresholds) | Supermajority + time-lock | Requires advance notice period | | retroactive-reward | Contributor compensation after delivery | Token vote | Evidence pack required; no self-vote | | platform-partnership | External integrations, API grants, revenue shares | Board + token ratification | Board may block; membership may override | ## 3. What Is Not Subject to Vote Operational governance fails when the vote mechanism is applied to things it cannot competently decide, should never change by vote, or has already been committed to stakeholders. This section names those exclusions explicitly. **Never subject to vote:** - Day-to-day operational decisions delegated to named roles (site manager, treasurer, technical lead). Delegated authority is the role's to exercise within its defined scope; revocation of delegation requires a separate working-group-charter vote. - Individual hiring, compensation, or performance matters. These are HR decisions that belong to the accountable steward, not to collective deliberation. - Emergency safety actions. If an immediate threat to property, persons, or data exists, the accountable steward acts first and reports within 24 hours; the DAO ratifies or overturns after the fact. - Anything already governed by binding legal contract, statute, or regulatory requirement. Law supersedes governance. Where the two conflict, legal counsel resolves; the DAO may instruct counsel but cannot override statute by vote. - Decisions that have passed an irreversible-impact boundary. Once an external commitment is made (deed filed, funds wired, regulator notified), the DAO governs future actions, not the past one. **Advisory-only (non-binding) topics the DAO may opine on but not bind:** - Brand and creative direction recommendations (binding authority rests with the founding steward). - Technical architecture suggestions (binding authority rests with the technical lead, subject to contract-change class for platform contracts). - Grant application strategy (the authorized signatory decides; the DAO's view is solicited but not required). ## 4. Meta-Governance: The Contract-Change Rule A `contract-change` proposal is the only authorized mechanism for amending any substrate file, interface contract (C1–C12), or platform-level operational policy at a MAJOR version. This rule cannot be suspended by any other vote type. It exists to prevent operational decisions from silently rewriting the rules of the system itself. The meta-governance rule is stated here for human clarity and is enforced technically by the C11 contract: `c9-execution-accountability` records every `decision_class: contract-change` outcome and the `s3-provenance-metadata-schema` lineage chain will contain no MAJOR-version amendment that lacks a corresponding passed `contract-change` provenance record. Any proposed MAJOR amendment that lacks a completed `contract-change` proposal is automatically `blocked` at the implementation gate; stewards may not execute it and tooling will not emit the required C11 record. ## 5. Worked Example — PP DAO Charter Instantiation The following is an illustrative instantiation of this template for the Point Preserve DAO (PP DAO), the governance structure for the Point Preserve AI campus at 725 J D Miller Road, Santa Rosa Beach, FL 32459. ```yaml governance_id: pp-dao mission: > Govern the Point Preserve treasury and platform agreements so that PP DAO token holders can fund AI campus improvements, authorize revenue-share partnerships, and amend platform contracts without unilateral action by any single participant. founding_date: 2026-01-01 # (illustrative) charter_version: 0.1.0 charter_owner: Founding Steward Council ``` **PP DAO operational scope:** - Treasury: STR revenue share pool, AI campus membership fees, grant receipts (illustrative total: $180,000/yr) `(illustrative)` - Platform contracts in scope for contract-change: OwnerRez channel agreements, AI infrastructure service agreements, GROW Library substrate licenses - Out of scope: Individual STR booking operations (delegated to site manager), individual guest communications, utility billing **PP DAO exclusions affirmed:** - The elected Special District Commissioner seat held by a Founding Steward is a public office governed by Florida statute (`FS Chapter 189`[VERIFY]) and is not subject to DAO governance. The Commissioner participates as an individual; no DAO vote binds the Commissioner's official actions. - DEP Grant LPA0381 disbursement conditions are governed by state grant terms; DAO votes cannot modify disbursement rules [VERIFY grant ID currency]. ## 6. Charter Maintenance Rules This charter is a living policy document but is not casually amended. Any change to §2 (decision classes), §3 (exclusions), or §4 (meta-governance rule) requires a `contract-change` class proposal under the full governance process defined in `c9-decision-rights-matrix` and `c9-governance-mechanisms-spec`. Changes to §1 (mission) or §6 (this section) also require a `contract-change` proposal, since they alter the foundational scope. Typographic corrections, broken-link fixes, and annotation-only additions may be made by the charter owner with a log entry but without a full vote, provided no substantive rule is altered. ## 7. Reference Cross-Links | Downstream artifact | What it derives from this charter | |---|---| | `c9-decision-rights-matrix` | The decision-class table in §2 becomes the row set for the rights matrix | | `c9-resource-allocation-framework` | Treasury scope defined in §2 and §5 governs allocation rules | | `c9-governance-mechanisms-spec` | Quorum and threshold rules apply only to decision classes named in §2 | | `c9-execution-accountability` | C11 producer; derives meta-governance rule from §4 | | `c9-governance-package` | Pulls §2 table as the governance charter scaffold | ## Usage Notes Instantiate §1 and §2 before any other governance artifact. The decision-class table must be complete and stable before building `c9-decision-rights-matrix` — rows cannot be added to the matrix without a corresponding entry here. Mark all dollar figures, dates, and grant identifiers `(illustrative)` until externally verified. Review this charter annually and at every governance parameter change; version it in lockstep with `c9-governance-mechanisms-spec`.