Before we incorporate,
we wanted to do the homework.
HAND Protocol is preparing to file as a tax-exempt nonprofit foundation in Austin, Texas. Before we do, we're publishing three discovery documents that lay out the model we're building, the territory we're entering, and what we've learned from everyone who tried something similar.
Most nonprofits skip this step.
Most organizations file their 501(c)(3), build a website, write a mission statement, and start asking for money. We've been doing the work for over a year already (supporting healers, building infrastructure for impact entrepreneurs, walking alongside grassroots organizations) and we wanted to formalize what we already know, in public, before we formalize the legal entity.
These three documents are written for three audiences simultaneously: the donors funding our filing raise, the practitioners and organizations who'll participate in the resource pool, and our own team. When we incorporate, we want to be building on top of evidence instead of vibes.
What you'll find here
A vision doc describing the resource-pool model HAND is building. A scan of every adjacent model we could find: what worked, what failed. A landscape map of who's funding work like ours nationally, and where the gap actually is.
Start anywhere.
The vision doc is the easiest entry point. The models doc is the most technically useful. The landscape doc is what funders ask about first.
The Resource Pool Vision
How HAND's exchange actually works
Three flows (donate, exchange, receive) and the relational stewardship layer HAND provides on top. Worked examples with a roofer, a reiki practitioner, and a food-sovereignty collective. Honest open questions.
Read the visionWhat's Been Tried Before
Skill-exchange & mutual-aid models
Time-banks, mutual-aid networks, LETS systems, Catchafire, Taproot, Offers & Needs. What works, what stagnates, what's legally permissible inside a 501(c)(3). The mechanics we're copying, the failure modes we're avoiding.
Read the researchThe National Landscape
Funders, intermediaries, gaps
Who funds healers, impact entrepreneurs, and grassroots organizations across the country. The capacity-building intermediaries closest to HAND. The shape of the gap we fill, and why nobody else has filled it yet.
Read the landscapeFrom crypto-first to every-resource.
For most of HAND's first year we built Web3 fundraising infrastructure: quadratic fundingQuadratic Funding: a matching-pool mechanism that amplifies many small donations to better reflect broad public-good demand. participation, on-chain transparency, the sweetspot contracts. That work is real and we're proud of it. But the people we were trying to support (healers, harm-reduction volunteers, neighborhood mutual-aid organizers) were not crypto-native. The tooling was an obstacle, not a benefit.
The pivot is not away from crypto; it's toward a wider toolkit. The resource pool runs on relationships, in-kind donations, and old-fashioned services. Where crypto rails help (transparent accounting, contributor rewards, automated splits), we'll use them. Where they don't, we won't.
This is also why we're incorporating as a 501(c)(3) rather than staying purely a protocol. The work has always been done by humans. The legal structure should reflect that.
What the raise funds
Three numbers, three commitments.
The funding section on the foundation campaign breaks this down in detail. Short version:
- $22,777: filing floor. Federal and Texas filing, basic legal counsel and bylaws, domain and infrastructure setup, initial brand identity, insurance, and a founding cushion. The price of starting honestly, not just legally existing.
- $77,444: operating minimum. Filing rolled in, ongoing legal and compliance, the three pilot Reciprocate websites, core infrastructure and insurance, and a 6-month part-time program lead. The floor below which we won't pretend to launch.
- $222,222: first goal. A 12-month part-time program lead, full pilot program development, ongoing legal and compliance, websites + branding + ongoing support for the first Reciprocates, infrastructure, the AI Reciprocate model POC, and a contingency fund. The amount that lets us launch the way the work deserves.
The pilot Reciprocate websites themselves are inexpensive; the real cost is the relational work HAND commits to afterward. That's what the operating budget pays for.
Support the filing raiseReading routes by who you are.
Three sequences. Each starts with the doc most useful to you and links the rest in order. Tap any card to jump to its starting doc.
See the landscape first.
Get the funder map and where HAND fits, then read the vision doc to understand what your dollar produces. The models doc is optional unless you want the mechanics.
Begin with the vision.
The three worked examples will tell you whether this is for you. Then the models doc if you want to see how other networks handled what you're worried about.
Read the vision, then reach out.
The vision doc covers what HAND's Reciprocates can ask for. The first pilot cohort is small and curated, so reach out before reading too much.
What we're building inside the gap.
The three discovery docs map the gap HAND fills. The AI workstream, Sovereign Reciprocates, is the proposal for what we build inside that gap to make long-term accompaniment actually parallelizable: custom open-source agent systems, built per Reciprocate or Reciprocate group, owned by them, designed to be the durable artifact of HAND's hand-holding.