Define purpose and scope
State why the community exists, what falls inside its remit, and what remains outside it.
COMMUNITY CHARTERS
Define the community before coordinating its Objectives.
A Charter records the purpose, participation boundary, decision rights, privacy rules, and amendment or exit process of a community. Objectives record the specific results it chooses to pursue.
Agreement before activity
A Charter makes the community’s operating agreement explicit.
A community may be connected by a place, practice, professional field, shared responsibility, or sustained project. The written Charter states who may participate, what authority exists, how information is handled, and how rules can change or end.
Set participation terms
Make eligibility, joining, leaving, visibility, and participant obligations understandable before anyone commits.
Allocate decision rights
Record who may decide, review, spend, publish, suspend access, amend the agreement, or close the community.
Amend from evidence
Use an explicit amendment and correction process when experience reveals a stronger operating rule.
INSTITUTIONAL BOUNDARIES
A clear Charter reduces ambiguity between a community and its host or partners.
A Charter records what the community may do, what remains under institutional authority, what information is restricted, and which activities require a separate Objective or contract. It does not create authority by implication.
Participants and partner organizations can inspect purpose, scope, authority, and exit conditions before committing.
Public community activity remains separate from restricted institutional information and operating systems.
An institution may sponsor or review a bounded Objective without granting the community broader authority or data access.
Formation path
From agreement to a bounded Objective.
- 1
Define purpose and scope
State why the community exists, whom it serves, and what it will not claim to do.
- 2
Set participation terms
Define eligibility, invitations, visibility, voluntary exit, and participant obligations.
- 3
Allocate authority and privacy
Record decision rights, restricted information, conflicts, correction, amendment, and closure.
- 4
Create bounded Objectives
Coordinate specific results through separate Objectives with their own owners, terms, evidence, and end conditions.
Write the agreement before opening the workspace.
SGUILD currently provides a private workspace for drafting a Charter agreement. Objective, Opening, roster, and result workflows remain separate and should be used only when their present controls fit the community’s needs.