Layer 3 · Economy

Treasury Ruleset

Layer: 3 — Economic & Resource System
Status: Present
RCOS reference: §5.3, §5.5

Treasury Scope

RCOS definition5.3.1, 5.5.4

5.3.1 The community MUST explicitly define which resources are held in the shared treasury and how treasury boundaries interface with private resources.
5.5.4 The Treasury Ruleset MUST define, at minimum:

Read 5.3 Treasury Management in the RCOS spec ↗

Why draw a hard line around treasury funds?

Without an explicit boundary, any money flowing near the community — a founder’s personal card, a side account, an informal reimbursement pool — can drift into being treated as community money, with all the obligations that entails. Naming exactly which accounts are treasury and which are not protects both the community and the individuals paying out of pocket.

The shared treasury consists of all funds held in the Safe multi-sig wallet and any additional accounts explicitly declared as community treasury accounts via Strategic decision (e.g. a fiat bank account for grant receipt). Only funds explicitly received in the name of Fruit Haven and deposited into a declared treasury account are community funds. Operational costs currently covered personally by the founding member are not treasury funds and carry no community obligation or repayment claim.

Any new treasury account (fiat or otherwise) must be declared and approved via a Strategic decision before funds are received into it.

Income Sources

RCOS definition5.3.2

5.3.2 Income sources and any external income interfaces MUST be explicitly defined.

Read 5.3 Treasury Management in the RCOS spec ↗

Why route all income through one declared list?

Every income source carries strings — reporting requirements, expectations, dependency risks. If income channels can open informally, those strings get attached before the community has had a chance to weigh them. One declared list, changed only through Strategic decisions, keeps the community’s obligations under its own control.

All income streams must align with the External Income Interfaces defined in the Internal Economy Protocol. Current income: none — all operational costs are covered personally by the founding member.

Potential future income interfaces: grants and foundations, Web3 ecosystem funding, partnerships, paid services (tooling, onboarding support, educational programs). Any new income interface must be approved via a Strategic decision before funds are received or commitments made.

Spending Authority

RCOS definition5.3.3, 5.7.1

5.3.3 Spending authority MUST be explicitly bounded through:
5.7.1 The following MUST be explicit:

Read 5.3 Treasury Management in the RCOS spec ↗

Why spell out thresholds in a table?

When spending authority is vague, two failure modes appear: either every small decision escalates and nothing gets done, or a single steward quietly accumulates discretion no one ever voted to grant them. A table of amounts, decision types, and authorized bodies removes the ambiguity and makes unauthorized spending immediately visible.

Amount	Decision Type	Authorized Body	Mechanism
Up to $100 USD	Operational	Communal Finance / Accountant	Delegated limit
Above $100 USD	Strategic	Active Members	Community Meeting
Multi-year contracts, debt, or structural financial obligations	Constitutional	Active Members	Community Meeting + 2-week absentee review

Spending thresholds will be defined via a future Strategic proposal once community funds exist. See Future Proposals.

Transparency and Reporting

RCOS definition5.3.4, 5.3.5, 5.6.1

5.3.4 Transparency MUST be the default for treasury balances, inflows, outflows, obligations, and commitments.
5.3.5 Any exceptions to transparency MUST be explicitly defined, justified, time-bounded, and MUST NOT prevent members from auditing compliance.
5.6.1 Shared resources, flows, and obligations MUST be visible to the community by default, with only limited and explicit exceptions.

Read 5.3 Treasury Management in the RCOS spec ↗

Why make transparency the default, not a feature?

Opacity in a treasury compounds: one missing disclosure invites another, and before long members can no longer verify whether the community’s money is being handled as they agreed. Making real-time visibility the baseline — and requiring any exception to be named, justified, and time-bounded — keeps audit within reach of every member, not just stewards.

Accounting Ledger: As per the community bylaws, community finances must be managed with a continuous accounting ledger that is public, transparent, and accessible/reviewable by the trustees at any time.

Roles: The Financial Bookkeeper handles data entry and tracking. The Communal Finance / Accountant holds the cash and manages the treasury.

All spending decisions above $100 USD must reference the linked governance record (Community Meeting minutes or approved proposals).

Reserve, Risk, and Debt Constraints

RCOS definition5.3.6

5.3.6 The community MUST define reserve, risk, and liability policies, including:

Read 5.3 Treasury Management in the RCOS spec ↗

Why block debt and long-term obligations by default?

Debt and recurring commitments bind the community beyond the people currently in it — future members inherit the obligations. Forbidding them unless a Strategic vote explicitly authorizes keeps long-term constraints from being entered into casually, and preserves the option to stay lightweight.

Debt: No debt may be incurred without a Strategic vote
Long-term obligations: No recurring costs or contracts may be entered without a Strategic vote
Contingency reserve: A reserve target will be defined via proposal once community funds exist
Off-treasury instruments: No financial instruments (loans, investments, guarantees) may be used without a Strategic vote

Conflict-of-Interest Rules

RCOS definition5.4.3

5.4.3 Economic mechanisms MUST NOT allow members to bypass governance authority boundaries defined in Layer 2, including through purchasing influence, creating dependency, or converting economic power into informal decision authority.

Read 5.4 Accumulation Constraints in the RCOS spec ↗

Why ban self-approval outright?

Even well-intentioned people unconsciously tilt decisions toward their own interests; a rule that requires disclosure and abstention removes the judgment call and the social pressure to “trust someone.” Self-approval of spending is the single most common way small governance systems quietly lose integrity, so the rule is stated bluntly.

A requester may not approve their own spending request
Any member with a direct financial interest in a spending decision must declare it and abstain from the vote
Communal Finance / Accountant may not authorize any single treasury spending unilaterally above $100 USD

Ratification Record

Adopted: 2019-05-17 (Original Bylaws), 2026-05-19 (RCOS adaptation)
Decision type: Strategic
Version: v1.0.0
Decision record: proposals/passed/2019-05-17_fh1-bylaws.md

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