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Finance & Compliance

1. Purpose

The Finance & Compliance framework ensures that FactHarbor is funded in a transparent, neutral, and sustainable way, and that financial decisions can be audited and explained.

2. Funding Principles

  • Full transparency about all significant funding sources and major expenses.
  • No political or lobbying money.
  • No funding that is conditional on specific claim outcomes.
  • Preference for funding models that protect independence and neutrality.

3. Allowed Funding

Examples of allowed funding sources:

  • public donations and small recurring contributions
  • neutral grants and research funding with no control over outcomes
  • institutional support where the institution has no editorial or governance influence.

4. Prohibited Funding

Examples of prohibited or highly discouraged funding:

  • money from political parties or lobbying organisations
  • funding that is explicitly tied to desired conclusions or claim outcomes
  • funding that requires hidden influence on content, moderation, or recommendation logic.

5. Budgeting and Documentation

  • Budgets are planned per phase and reviewed regularly.
  • Every significant expense must be linked to a budget line and justification.
  • The Finance & Compliance Lead is responsible for keeping the ledger up-to-date.

6. Transparency Ledger

FactHarbor maintains a transparency ledger that records:

  • incoming donations and grants
  • major expenses
  • open obligations and earmarked funds
  • links to public reports where appropriate.

7. Internal Controls

  • For sensitive transactions, at least two people must be involved (e.g. Finance & Compliance Lead plus a second reviewer).
  • Access to financial systems and banking credentials is limited and logged.
  • Regular internal reviews check for anomalies or conflicts of interest.

8. Reporting

  • Internal: periodic financial updates for the Governing Team.
  • External: at least annual public reports summarising funding sources, major expenses, and key risks.

9. Compliance Dimensions

Finance & Compliance covers:

  • legal compliance (non-profit law, contracts, licences)
  • financial compliance (book-keeping standards, taxation where applicable)
  • data protection (handling of donor and user data)
  • operational compliance (e.g. auditability and traceability of decisions).

10. Funding Model Table

Category Revenue model Primary compromise / risk Suitable phases
Foundation Donations, grants Relies on public goodwill; uncertain funding. Any
Services Paid support / consulting Diverts time from core development. Released products
Knowledge Training & certification Creates incentive to gate expertise. Released products with federation
Ecosystem Recurring community membership Requires continuous value delivery. Any
Development One-time goal campaigns Campaign failure delays progress. Best for early phases
e.g. crowdfunding (wemakeit)
Open Source Recurring sponsorships (GitHub Sponsors, Liberapay, Open Collective) Requires visible project and community. Any phase

11. Startup Phase & Founder Financing

In the earliest phase, FactHarbor may operate as a founder-driven, small organisation with very limited formal structure. This section collects design principles for that phase, before a formal non-profit entity is created.

  • Founder self-funding

The Founder (or a small initial circle) can cover early expenses – for example hosting, domain names, or basic tooling – without creating an expectation of profit.

  • No fixed salaries at the very start

In the most early phase, work is typically unpaid or compensated informally. Salaries for the Founder or other contributors only become appropriate when:

    • sustainable funding is available, and
    • this fits the chosen non-profit legal form and its rules.
  • Recording early expenses

Early out-of-pocket expenses by the Founder can optionally be recorded as:

  • a non-interest-bearing loan or
  • a clearly documented "Founder contribution balance".

Any later reimbursement:

    • is limited to actual documented costs,
    • is treated as operational reimbursement, not as profit distribution, and
    • must be transparently documented in the financial records.
  • Transition to a mission-locked non-profit

When FactHarbor moves to a formal non-profit entity (e.g. a Swiss Verein or a comparable form), the Finance & Compliance framework should:

  • ensure that the new entity is mission-locked (no profit distribution; all income used for the public purpose),
  • define whether and how recorded founder contributions can be reimbursed, and
  • document any Asset Transfer Protocol (e.g. domains, repositories, trademarks) in a transparent, auditable way.

These points are design guidelines and must be checked against the final legal form and jurisdiction before they are implemented. They complement, but do not replace, the general principles in this page.