Archive · Tranche 2

The contribution ladder — every way to help that isn't money

From 'stay on the list' to 'join the board' — the deliberate design of a participation path, built so that people who could not contribute capital were not sorted into a lesser category.

Original title
Contribution Ladder
Original date
June 2026
Project phase
Stage 1 — community engagement design
Purpose at the time
Give every level of willingness somewhere real to go, rather than treating community support as a single yes/no about money.
Status at the time
Design document. Partly implemented on the public site; the upper rungs were never exercised because the co-operative had not formed.
Source provenance
Derived from internal/contribution-ladder.md (private working corpus; unpublished, unchanged).
Publication treatment
Substantially intact
Derived / prepared by
Claude (Fable 5) with Adrian Wedd, 18 August 2026
Prepared
2026-08-18
Human review
Adrian Wedd — publication review completed 19 August 2026
Published
2026-08-19
What was changed for publication
  • Published substantially intact.
  • No respondent data of any kind appears in this document; it is design, not intake.
  • The explicit refusal to rank contributors by money is the point of the document and is unaltered.

Document begins

Bottom Pub Co-op — Contribution Ladder

Internal working document. Not for public release. Stage 1: Gauging Interest.

The EOI form asks people how much time they can offer. This document describes what each capacity tier means in practice — what work it can hold, what it cannot hold, and how to direct people appropriately.

The ladder is not a hierarchy of value. Someone in the “just-learn” tier is not less important than a working-group seat. They are in different relationships with the project at this stage.

The tiers

1. Working-group seat

What the EOI says: “I could join the working group (monthly or weekly commitment)”

What it means in practice

  • You hold a named stream and are accountable for its outputs
  • You attend working group meetings (fortnightly check-ins plus stream work between meetings)
  • You make decisions within your stream’s authority limits
  • You produce evidence and options for the delegated working group to act on
  • You can commit to a 6–12 month Stage 1 engagement

What it requires

  • Availability for fortnightly meetings plus async work between them
  • Willingness to be named publicly as a working group participant
  • Conflict-of-interest disclosure before selection
  • Acceptance of the “what we cannot say” rules

Works for: people with directly relevant expertise in a named stream area AND the capacity to sustain it

Does not work for: people who want to help but cannot commit to stream ownership; people whose expertise is advisory rather than operational

2. Subgroup participant

What the EOI says: “I could join a specific subgroup (monthly or weekly, bounded scope)”

What it means in practice

  • You own a bounded task cluster within a stream — not the whole stream
  • Examples: “I’ll run the grants research,” “I’ll handle membership admin,” “I’ll design the consultation process”
  • You report to the relevant stream lead, not to the full working group directly
  • Your engagement may have a natural end point (e.g., once the grants landscape is mapped, that task is done)
  • You are not at the decision-making table but you are in the work

What it requires

  • Clarity about which task you are owning
  • A named stream lead to report to
  • Enough time to finish the task properly, even if the total hours are lower than a core seat

Works for: people with a specific skill to contribute, people who cannot sustain core-seat work but can own a defined task

Does not work for: people whose main value is strategic input or high-level expertise; use the advisory tier instead

3. Few hours per week

What the EOI says: “A few hours per week”

What it means in practice

  • You can take on task-lead or ops-support work within a stream or subgroup
  • Examples: “I’ll keep the decision log up to date,” “I’ll draft the next newsletter,” “I’ll handle meeting logistics”
  • This tier is the engine room of operational continuity
  • Work is bounded, repeatable, and can be handed off if you need to step back

What it requires

  • Clear task ownership (not vague willingness)
  • A named person to check in with
  • Ability to do focused work in short sessions

Works for: people who are reliable and practically minded but cannot hold stream-level accountability

4. Few hours per month

What the EOI says: “A few hours per month”

What it means in practice

  • You are available for specific reviews, specialist input, or occasional practical help
  • Examples: reviewing a draft document, attending a single consultation session, providing a quote on building works, checking a legal assumption
  • You are not in the flow of ongoing work; you are called on when your specific expertise is needed

What it requires

  • Agreement on how to be contacted and how quickly you can turn around a request
  • Clarity that this tier does not carry stream responsibility

Works for: specialists, advisors, people with constrained time but high-value specific knowledge

Does not work for: tasks that need consistent weekly attention

5. Member-only (supporter / turnout / feedback)

What the EOI says: “I’d like to be a member / supporter / just stay informed”

What it means in practice

  • You receive updates and are invited to community consultation events
  • You vote when ballots are held
  • You provide feedback when consulted
  • You show up to open meetings and community sessions
  • You are the constituency the working group is accountable to

What it requires

  • Nothing except willingness to stay engaged and provide honest feedback when asked

Works for: anyone who cares about the outcome but cannot or does not want to be in the working machinery

Note: This is not a lesser category. The co-op model depends on a healthy, informed, and participating membership. Working group seats are accountable to this tier.

6. Just learning

What the EOI says: “I just want to learn more before deciding”

What it means in practice

  • You are on the mailing list and receive updates
  • You are not yet committed to any role
  • You may move up the ladder when you have enough information to decide

What it requires

  • Nothing. The job of the project at Stage 1 is to give you enough information to make a real decision.

Works for: people at the beginning of their engagement, people who are curious but cautious, people who need to see more before committing

How to use this tier well: Do not pressure people in this tier into roles before they are ready. Nurture the list. Track who moves from this tier to a higher tier over time.

Moving between tiers

Movement up the ladder should be based on:

  • The work needing ownership (not just someone being willing)
  • The person having the right skill for the specific function
  • The person having genuine capacity, not just enthusiasm

Movement down the ladder should not be a failure. If someone takes on a core-seat role and finds it is too much, finding them a better-fitting tier is a success, not a problem.

What the ladder is not

  • It is not a status ranking
  • It is not a filter for who “matters”
  • It is not fixed — someone who is “just-learn” today may be a stream lead in six months
  • It does not replace the need to check that every “Now” function in the role matrix has a named owner
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