Support, Funding, and Patron Pathways
1. Function of this document
This document explains how Spiralweb understands support, how different funding forms are classified, what resources may support, how local authority is protected, and how money, field activity and learning are made visible without being collapsed into one score.
It is written for individual supporters, members, patrons, foundations, public institutions, research partners, field stewards, board members and other collaborators who need practical clarity before entering a relationship with the association.
2. What "support" means
Support is a relational umbrella term, not a legal or accounting category. Every payment received by the association must be recorded in its actual form. Depending on the circumstances, this may be:
- a contribution to a permitted public collection;
- a membership fee;
- a private gift or patron contribution;
- a grant or institutional agreement;
- payment for a real service, publication, workshop or other earned activity;
- a loan or another specifically documented financial arrangement.
The legal form determines the relevant agreement, bookkeeping, tax treatment, reporting and restrictions. Calling all incoming money "support" does not erase these differences.
3. What support never purchases
Unless a separate lawful agreement explicitly states otherwise, financial support does not provide:
No ownership or return
No land title, equity, dividend, profit participation, repayment expectation or financial upside.
No field control
No veto over local decisions, no right to impose a technology, crop, metric, timeline or public narrative.
No hidden governance rights
No board appointment, voting privilege, access advantage or informal influence purchased through money.
No ownership of evidence
No automatic right to personal data, restricted field information, images, traditional knowledge or unpublished records.
Support may create dialogue, agreed reporting and a continuing relationship. It does not convert the supporter into the authority that carries the place.
4. First Field Flow 2026-2027
The association has opened its first shared field-support framework for locally led regenerative food systems, ecological restoration and stewardship, together with associated PG Ledger documentation that makes the use of funds and related learning visible.
The permitted public collection purpose is bounded by the issued permission. Within that boundary, the first field flow is intended to include:
| Place | Current relation | Possible first uses, subject to readiness |
|---|---|---|
| Kitgum, Uganda | Active community relationship; drought-response and readiness phase. The first Applied Format has been completed as documented use, not as validation. | Food and steward stabilisation, water and field readiness, small locally agreed materials, baseline and documentation. |
| Morocco field constellation | Field relationships in Doukkala and Had Soualem; the Doukkala relationship is held with steward Abdelhamid Badaoui. Casablanca is a coordination relation, not an operational field. Additional local partners may be included only when confirmed. | Water and soil baselines, bounded agroforestry or permaculture learning, plants and tools, steward time, local coordination and documentation. |
| Xochimilco, Mexico City | Shared project development around chinampa stewardship and a possible PG Ledger scope; no chinampa field cycle is active. Readiness is not the same as practical capacity. | Locally agreed project scoping, chinampa and water documentation, steward participation, translation and governance learning. |
| Karachi, Pakistan | An established steward relationship and earlier shared work remain on record. No bounded Spiralweb site, scoping cycle or field record is active at present. | If a willing local setting and bounded question are ready: local scoping, heat, water and soil reading, participation design and a bounded pre-pilot. |
Readiness rule: money does not activate a field by itself. No site is required to spend, expand or perform because funds have arrived. Work begins only when the local relationship, consent, practical capacity and next decision gate can hold it.
5. What field-bound resources may support
Within an approved purpose and field agreement, support may cover:
- food, safety and short-term stabilisation where these are necessary for stewardship to continue;
- locally agreed baselines and observation of soil, water, biodiversity, crops, habitat, heat and other relevant conditions;
- plants, seeds, tools, materials and small field infrastructure;
- food-forest, agroforestry, chinampa, school and community processes that have passed a local readiness gate;
- local labour, steward time, transport, meals and safe working conditions;
- translation, local review, PG Ledger adaptation and field documentation;
- coordination, governance, financial administration, safe international transfers and legally required accounting or audit directly connected to the field flow.
General organisational activity may be supported only where the relevant funding form allows it and where the connection to the association's purpose is explicit. A field collection is not an unrestricted operating account.
6. The three separate streams
Spiralweb keeps three conditions visible. They inform one another, but they are never added together to create a single green score.
Land / Life
Soil, water, biodiversity, food, plants, habitat, ecological function and place-specific living conditions.
Steward Viability
Safety, food, rest, health-protective conditions, time, livelihood pressure, learning capacity and the ability to continue without hidden depletion.
Governance / Commons
Consent, decisions, financial clarity, documentation, translation, roles, accountability, conflict handling and correction.
No compensating score
A positive ecological result cannot conceal exhausted stewards, unsafe work, opaque money or captured governance.
When Stream B turns red, expansion and Spiralweb's own non-essential new commitments are paused while the human situation is addressed. Essential care, safety measures and locally authorised action continue as conditions require. The rule protects viability; it does not transfer authority away from the field.
7. Support pathways
Public collection contributions
A public invitation to contribute opens only after the required Danish permission is issued and the collection period, purpose, account, responsible organisation and other required information are published. Collection income and expenditure are accounted for separately and reported under the applicable rules.
Membership
Membership fees are governed by the association's bylaws and membership decisions. A fee is not treated as a public collection contribution, and membership does not automatically create operational or field authority.
Private gifts and patron relationships
An individual or organisation may sometimes offer support without a public solicitation. Larger gifts require proportionate due diligence, written clarity about purpose and restrictions, and a board-level assessment of capture risk and operational burden.
Grants and institutional agreements
Foundations, universities, public bodies and aligned institutions may support a defined programme, field process, research activity or organisational capacity. The agreement must state scope, budget, reporting, intellectual-property conditions, data boundaries, termination rights and the authority that remains local.
Earned income
The association may receive payment for genuine services or outputs compatible with its purpose, such as teaching, facilitation, research, publications or advisory work. Earned income is recorded as earned income, not disguised as a donation.
8. Field preferences and restricted funds
A contributor may state a preference such as "Kitgum", "Morocco", "Xochimilco" or "Karachi". Unless the association has accepted a separate written restriction, this is treated as a preference within the approved shared purpose rather than as a legal earmark.
This distinction matters because:
- a field may not yet be ready to receive or use funds safely;
- a time-critical need may arise elsewhere within the approved purpose;
- international transfer, compliance or local governance conditions may delay release;
- unused funds must not pressure a steward into premature activity.
Where a restriction has been formally accepted, the association must respect it or seek the funder's written agreement before changing it.
9. Scale, release and pauses
The proposed First Field Flow has no conceptual minimum below which the work becomes meaningless. A smaller total means a smaller and more selective scope, with priority given to time-critical needs and activities that have passed a readiness gate.
Additional funds do not automatically create additional fields. They may deepen or extend the same approved purposes, strengthen steward viability, improve documentation, or remain held for a later agreed cycle.
Release may be staged. The association may pause or reduce its own commitments when:
- the local field is not ready;
- Stream B shows unsafe or depleting conditions;
- the use of funds cannot be documented;
- legal, banking, transfer or safeguarding requirements are unresolved;
- the proposed action has changed materially from the agreed purpose.
10. Acknowledgement, privacy and tax status
Where contact information is available and the giver has consented to its use, the association aims to acknowledge receipt and state how the payment has been classified. An acknowledgement is not the same as a tax certificate or a promise of a specific field outcome.
The association collects only the personal information reasonably required for payment reconciliation, legal compliance, communication and agreed recognition. Donor names are not made public without consent. Field stewards control the sharing of personal and locally sensitive information through the relevant consent structure.
11. Formal accounting and PG Ledger
The formal accounts and the PG Ledger serve different functions.
| Formal accounting | PG Ledger |
|---|---|
| Classifies income and expenditure according to legal and accounting rules. | Connects intention, resources, decisions, actions, observations, interpretation and correction. |
| Supports statutory reporting, collection accounts, audit and board responsibility. | Supports locally governed field memory and warranted trust. |
| Uses financial documents, bank records, invoices, receipts and agreements. | May include field notes, photographs, measurements, steward observations, uncertainties and decision records, subject to consent. |
| Cannot by itself show whether a living system improved. | Cannot replace bookkeeping, legal compliance, audit or professional ecological assessment. |
The two records may reference one another, but neither is used to simulate certainty that the other does not contain.
12. Transparency and legitimate boundaries
Transparency does not mean total exposure. The association distinguishes between:
- public information that enables accountability;
- extended information shared with authorised partners or supporters;
- restricted information protected for privacy, safety, cultural, legal or relational reasons.
The aim is sufficient visibility to understand purpose, flow, decisions, uncertainty and correction without turning local people or places into public data objects.
13. Support the association may refuse
The association may decline or return support that:
- seeks ownership, financial return, hidden leverage or control;
- requires misleading claims, premature visibility or a predetermined success story;
- places unreasonable reporting or branding burdens on local stewards;
- cannot be received, transferred or documented lawfully;
- creates unacceptable conflicts of interest or reputational capture;
- pushes a field beyond its consent, capacity, safety or readiness;
- conflicts with the association's bylaws, board responsibilities or public purpose.
The ability to refuse money is part of stewardship integrity.
14. Public collection information
Permission: case 26-700-11395 · 24 August 2026–23 August 2027 · nationwide public collection in Denmark through spiralweb.earth and social media. The collection has no minimum or maximum target.
Current payment information, privacy information and collection terms are published at spiralweb.earth/support. Questions about the collection may be directed to contact@spiralweb.earth. Institutional relationships follow a separate path and may begin at Build a bridge to living fields.
Official legal context
- Danish Civil Affairs Agency / Fundraising Board: permission, supervision and accounting for public collections - civilstyrelsen.dk.
- Fundraising accounts: all collections must report; current guidance describes the applicable accounting and audit requirements - civilstyrelsen.dk.
- Danish Tax Agency: gift deductions apply to gifts to organisations approved under the relevant tax rules - skat.dk.