Shared Treasury and Budget Governance

Draft 0.1 — 2 August 2026
This document is a governance and accounting architecture. It is not a banking, custody, escrow, investment, tax, or money-transmission opinion.

Objective

ANUKA may need shared funds for infrastructure, security, research, public goods, grants, matching pools, documentation, legal work, and emergency response.

Shared treasury governance must make clear:

whose money it is;
which legal entity controls it;
what purpose restrictions apply;
who may propose, approve, execute, reconcile, and audit transactions;
how conflicts are handled;
how participants can inspect outcomes;
how customer and contributor funds remain separate.

The core rule is:

Every shared dollar needs a legal owner, declared purpose, approved budget, accountable executor, durable ledger, and review path.

What the shared treasury is

The shared treasury is one or more legally owned pools of funds designated for ANUKA network purposes.

It may include:

unrestricted operating funds;
restricted grants;
infrastructure budget;
security reserve;
matching funds;
research grants;
contributor support funds;
legal and compliance reserve;
emergency reserve;
earmarked donations or sponsorships.

The treasury is not automatically:

customer money;
contributor earnings;
a user wallet;
a bank account for participants;
escrow;
an investment fund;
a token treasury;
jointly owned community property.

Legal ownership map

Every treasury account must identify:

legal owner;
account provider;
account type;
currency;
authorized signers;
beneficial ownership and control requirements;
tax treatment;
restrictions;
insurance or safeguarding status;
jurisdiction;
reconciliation source;
public reporting category.

A community vote does not change legal ownership without valid legal action.

Separation of funds

ANUKA must separate at minimum:

shared treasury funds;
resident-product operating funds;
customer payments;
sponsored-feature funds;
contributor payable amounts;
reserves and dispute holds;
taxes collected or payable;
grants restricted by donor terms;
legal-entity capital and investment proceeds.

The platform ledger must not display all categories as one generic balance.

Budget categories

Core infrastructure

Hosting, databases, domains, monitoring, authentication, registries, developer tooling, documentation, and shared APIs.

Security and resilience

Audits, penetration testing, incident response, backups, key management, bug bounties, emergency vendors, and recovery.

Protocol and standards

Research, specification work, implementation testing, interoperability, accessibility, and conformance tooling.

Community and contribution

Contributor grants, review compensation, mentoring, translation, events, documentation, and public-interest work.

Resident-product support

Incubation, matching grants, migration support, shared-service credits, and verified improvement programs.

Legal, tax, and compliance

Counsel, filings, insurance, privacy review, tax work, contracts, trademark management, and regulatory analysis.

Emergency reserve

Restricted funds for critical incidents, payment losses, urgent legal response, service continuity, or security recovery.

Annual or cycle budget

A shared budget should declare:

budget_id: BUD-2027-FOUNDATION
period: 2027-01-01/2027-12-31
legal_owner: ANUKA Foundation Entity
currency: USD
opening_available: 500000
forecast_income: 350000
reserve_floor: 150000
programs:
  infrastructure: 120000
  security: 80000
  protocol_research: 60000
  contributor_grants: 90000
  legal_and_compliance: 50000
  contingency: 30000

The budget must state:

assumptions;
expected funding sources;
restricted and unrestricted funds;
reserve policy;
category limits;
approval thresholds;
reporting schedule;
variance policy;
renewal or sunset.

Budget proposal

A G3 budget proposal must include:

purpose;
beneficiary;
legal owner and payer;
amount and currency;
restricted source, if any;
milestones;
payment schedule;
accountable owner;
conflicts;
alternatives;
expected outcome;
measurement plan;
return or clawback terms if applicable;
intellectual-property terms;
tax and compliance review;
public reporting level.

Authorization levels

Example authorization matrix:

Amount or risk	Minimum approval
routine expense within approved budget	one authorized operator plus ledger record
non-routine expense under $5,000	budget owner plus independent approver
$5,000–$25,000	two treasury approvers and program owner
over $25,000 or multi-year commitment	Treasury Council plus governing body
related-party transaction	independent review and conflicted-party recusal
constitutional, ownership, or regulated financial action	applicable legal entity and specialist review

Thresholds are illustrative and must be ratified for each legal entity.

Segregation of duties

Sensitive treasury operations should separate:

proposal;
budget approval;
vendor onboarding;
payment creation;
payment approval;
execution;
reconciliation;
reporting;
audit.

One person should not control the entire chain for material transactions.

For small teams, compensating controls may include:

provider-enforced approval;
immutable logs;
delayed settlement;
transaction alerts;
periodic independent reconciliation;
capped authority;
public reporting.

Treasury Council

A Treasury Council charter should define:

legal relationship to account owner;
authority and limits;
membership and expertise;
conflict and recusal rules;
quorum;
approval thresholds;
reporting cadence;
emergency authority;
reserve policy;
audit access;
term and removal.

The Council may recommend budgets without possessing legal signing authority. That distinction must be visible.

Budget owner

Every funded program has a budget owner responsible for:

scope;
spending plan;
vendor and contributor coordination;
milestone evidence;
variance explanation;
unused funds;
final report;
conflict disclosure.

Budget ownership does not automatically permit funds transfer.

Grants

A grant should specify:

charitable, research, public-good, or commercial purpose;
recipient;
deliverables or reporting expectations;
payment schedule;
restrictions;
tax treatment;
IP and publication rights;
termination;
unused funds;
sanctions and eligibility checks;
relationship disclaimer.

A grant does not automatically create employment, procurement, ownership, or endorsement.

Matching pools

Matching funds can support sponsored features, public goods, security work, or resident-product improvements.

Rules must identify:

eligible contributions;
matching formula;
caps;
excluded self-dealing;
identity or anti-sybil requirements;
refund treatment;
matching source;
campaign close;
failed-goal handling;
public ledger.

Matching mechanisms must not be marketed as financial return.

Restricted funds

Restricted funds must retain their restriction in the ledger and reporting.

A restricted grant or donation cannot be reallocated by ordinary community vote when the donor agreement or law prohibits it.

Records should show:

restriction source;
permitted uses;
expiry;
reporting obligations;
remaining amount;
release conditions.

Reserve policy

The network should define reserve types.

Operating reserve

Supports routine continuity during revenue volatility.

Security reserve

Pays for urgent containment, recovery, audits, key replacement, and incident vendors.

Payment-risk reserve

Covers contractually assigned refunds, disputes, negative balances, or provider losses.

Legal and compliance reserve

Supports urgent counsel, filings, investigations, or enforcement response.

Reserve floors should not be spent without the approval path defined for that reserve.

Emergency spending

Emergency spending is permitted only under a valid emergency charter.

The action record must include:

incident;
necessity;
amount;
recipient;
approvers;
legal owner;
budget source;
evidence;
review deadline;
remaining reserve.

Emergency spending should be reviewed promptly after containment.

Procurement and vendors

Material vendor selection should consider:

security;
privacy;
portability;
service levels;
pricing;
conflicts;
sanctions and legal eligibility;
insurance;
concentration risk;
termination and migration;
ownership of work product;
public disclosure.

Competitive bids may be required above a declared threshold, unless urgency or specialization justifies an exception.

Exceptions must be recorded.

A related-party transaction includes payments to:

council members;
founders;
directors or officers;
employees or contractors with approval power;
close family members;
controlled companies;
major investors or sponsors;
entities with material reciprocal relationships.

Required controls may include:

advance disclosure;
recusal;
independent pricing review;
alternative bids;
governing-body approval;
public summary;
legal review.

Ledger requirements

The treasury ledger should use double-entry accounting and preserve:

transaction ID;
date;
account;
legal owner;
counterparty;
amount and currency;
category;
budget;
restriction;
approval record;
provider reference;
invoice or evidence;
tax classification;
reconciliation status;
correction or reversal.

A blockchain record may supplement but does not replace legal books, provider records, receipts, or accounting controls.

Reporting

Recommended reporting:

Monthly internal close

bank and provider reconciliation;
outstanding payables;
reserves;
restricted-fund balances;
budget variances;
unresolved exceptions.

Quarterly public treasury report

opening and closing balances by public category;
income sources by category;
spending by program;
grants and related-party transactions;
reserve position;
material commitments;
variance explanations;
audit or review status.

Annual report

financial statements appropriate to the entity;
budget versus actual;
major outcomes;
governance and conflicts;
taxes and filings;
independent review or audit where appropriate.

Public reporting must protect personal data, security details, privileged advice, and confidential contract terms.

Treasury transparency interface

A public treasury page should show:

legal owner;
current approved budget;
public balances by category;
major transactions;
restricted funds;
role holders;
approval rules;
conflicts;
grant outcomes;
reporting dates;
source and verification method.

It must not imply real-time precision when data is batched or unreconciled.

Budget variance

A variance beyond the declared threshold requires:

explanation;
updated forecast;
effect on reserve;
corrective action;
approval if scope or total commitment changes materially.

Budget owners must not quietly repurpose funds between materially different programs.

Unused funds

Unused funds should be handled according to source and agreement:

return to unrestricted treasury;
remain restricted;
return to donor or sponsor;
roll forward with approval;
refund contributors;
reallocate through a new proposal.

The rule must be declared before funding.

Treasury appeals and complaints

Participants may challenge:

unauthorized spending;
hidden conflicts;
misleading reporting;
failure to follow restrictions;
improper related-party transaction;
missing payment;
misuse of reserve;
false public claims.

Complaints should route to an independent reviewer or legal entity when the Treasury Council is conflicted.

Prohibited patterns

The shared treasury must not:

pool customer or contributor money without reviewed legal structure;
call delayed release escrow without a compliant arrangement;
promise investment return through grants or sponsorship;
use one generic balance label;
permit permanent wildcard signing authority;
hide related-party transactions;
spend restricted funds for unrelated purposes;
let community polls override legal signer duties;
use private keys controlled by one person for material assets without compensating controls;
publish unaudited estimates as final reconciled balances.

MVP baseline

Before accepting shared funds, ANUKA should have:

legal owner;
bank or payment provider;
chart of accounts;
double-entry ledger;
budget and reserve policy;
approval matrix;
signer and access registry;
conflict policy;
monthly reconciliation;
public reporting template;
grants template;
emergency spending rule;
tax and sanctions workflow;
incident and key-recovery plan.

Sources

Verification record

Sources opened and checked: 2 August 2026
Treasury status: Architecture draft
Legal entity and accounting review required: Yes
Funds accepted under this protocol: No