Step 1: Choose your money governance model
Before you can start, you need to define the basic parameters of your group setup. Here are some questions to answer in order to be able to do this.
Which organizations or individuals are contributing funds into your funding round? Do you already have a fixed budget, or are you looking to raise funds from the group members itself or from an external funder?
At what frequency will these funds come in? Will it be a regular frequency (i.e. a fixed amount per week or month), or do funds arrive ad hoc? The more visibility you have on the rhythm that funds will come in, the better; so you can design your round rhythm around the available funds.
Organizations can use different parameters to distribute decision making power. In a participatory proposals process, like using Cobudget, the key parameter for who gets voting power over which funds is crucial. Key questions to be answered are:
How will funds be distributed within the group?
Will each person receive the same amount? If not, what are the different amounts of distributed funds based on?
Especially on questions around decision-making power, you may find disagreement in your team; so make sure to plan enough time for this conversation. Once you have clarified these aspects, you are ready to begin onboarding and start your funding process.
For more guidance on this step and choosing the right money governance model, check out this presentation.
Once you have chosen your parameters, you could use this template to formalize your setup.
See examples of how to setup these parameters in this case study about the developer cooperative Outlandish, who invests their surplus in impact projects.
...or check out how the agency Blackwood Seven used Cobudget to spend their office budget.
