The Civic Commons

A living space for shared intelligence

The frameworks, theory, and resources that enable meaningful participation in the impact-based economy. Open to read, free to build on, and revised as our collective understanding grows.

04
Knowledge domains
Open
License by default
Living
Continuously revised
Featured Framework

Impact as the primary unit of value

The foundational essay of Impactivism. Why traditional models systematically fail to measure what matters, and how an economy organized around measurable impact — rather than extraction — changes every incentive downstream.

Foundations18 min readCornerstone text
Governance exists to serve people, communities, and planetary well-being — not the accumulation of wealth or power.
— From the framework
02 — Practice
Educational Resources

Learning paths for real participation

Structured routes from first principles to practice. Begin anywhere — each path stands on its own.

Foundations

Understanding Impactivism

The philosophy, the failures it answers, and the shape of an impact-based economy. No prerequisites.

6 lessons
Intermediate

Measuring Real Impact

Methods for quantifying social, environmental, and economic outcomes — and verifying the claims.

8 lessons
Advanced

Designing Governance

Participatory, accountable decision-making — from first models to operational standards.

10 lessons
03 — Instruments
Impact Measurement

Methodologies & tools for quantifying change

Open methods and instruments for putting honest numbers to real-world outcomes.

Impact Measurement Protocol

A shared specification for capturing, scoring, and verifying outcomes across social, environmental, and economic dimensions.

SpecificationOpenv0.3

Transparency & Disclosure Standard

What an impact claim must disclose to be accountable — sources, method, and the limits of certainty.

StandardIn review

Counterfactual Toolkit

Methods for estimating what would have happened anyway — so impact is the difference made, not the activity logged.

ToolkitOpen

Regeneration Index

A composite measure for whether value cycles replenish their sources or deplete them over time.

IndexDraft
04 — Structure
Governance Theory

Research & models for accountable decisions

Models for participatory, transparent decision-making — each at a different stage of collective review.

M—01

Distributed Authority

Power structures designed to resist concentration and keep agency local and legible.

Adopted
M—02

Civic Accountability Mechanisms

How governance stays answerable to the communities it serves, between decisions as well as during them.

In review
M—03

Transparent Resource Allocation

Open processes for collective choice over shared resources, with the reasoning visible to all.

In review
M—04

The Fair Impact Work Group

Keeping human dignity and fair contribution central as automation and AI reshape labor.

Draft
M—05

Consent & Voluntary Participation

Why participation must be voluntary, transparent, and revocable to remain legitimate.

Adopted
M—06

Technology as Civic Instrument

Holding AI and automation as instruments accountable to people — never as authorities over them.

Draft
Contribute to the Commons

The commons grows by what we add to it

Essays, frameworks, measurement methods, governance models — if your work advances how the impact-based economy is understood or built, there is a place for it here.