Erefugia

A Mutual Aid Cooperative & Social Network

A commons is a space or resource shared and cared for by a community, not privately owned or controlled by the state. Its core principles are shared access, collective responsibility, and just, democratic, and sustainable governance. A commons can be a tangible thing, like a member-owned art studio; or intangible, digital, like an online library. Or, it can be a combination of both, like Erefugia (Eh-reh-fyoo-jee-uh.)

Erefugia helps bring commons to life by creating safe, inclusive, participatory, and supportive environments, and by empowering people and communities to build, operate, and sustain democratically governed spaces, both online and in the physical world. 

At its core, Erefugia brings together three elements: a member-owned cooperative that provides shared ownership and accountability, delivering human, community, artistic, technical and organization services to our members, a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) that enables geographically dispersed, asynchronous democratic governance and collaboration, and a federated social networking platform that connects people and communities for communication and creative exchange. Together, these parts form a system where members can launch projects, share resources, and support one another through cooperation and care. 

Across the world, people and communities face deepening crises. Accelerating climate change, collapsing ecosystems, food and water insecurity, housing precarity, and fragile systems of care. Public health and social stability grow more strained each year, while those already most vulnerable bear the heaviest burdens. In this environment, institutions meant to serve the public often falter, and profit-driven corporations exploit crisis as opportunity, extracting value from people and communities rather than addressing the conditions that harm them.

Wealth and power have become increasingly concentrated in the hands of a few technology and finance conglomerates. Authoritarianism and state capitalism advance in tandem with rapid automation, data extraction, surveillance infrastructure, and the expansion of private prisons. Social media platforms, once spaces of connection and creativity, have become corporate-controlled networks that manipulate attention, monetize identity, distort public discourse, and often allow injustice to grow under a veneer of silent politeness.

Erefugia emerges in response to these converging threats, a cooperative effort to reclaim autonomy, rebuild trust, and create shared digital and physical spaces grounded in solidarity, transparency, and care, spaces that, like ecological refugia, can endure disruption and foster renewal. Our aim is to build resilient, plural, and democratically governed communities capable of sustaining connection and solidarity even amid systemic crisis.

Our mission is to create a community-owned network where decisions are made transparently and collectively, balancing individual expression with shared responsibility. We work to ensure that spaces for dialogue and collaboration remain under the stewardship of our community rather than states or corporations.

To realize this mission, Erefugia combines human and community service with a spirit of inclusive, pluralistic democracy. Our work is grounded in human rights, compassion, cooperation, rematriation, and ecological thinking. We treat the Cooperative as a garden, the legal framework is the bedrock, the technical infrastructure is the soil, and our shared initiatives are the seeds. Through collective care and iteration, we adapt, grow, and harvest together, cultivating a living network where solidarity and stewardship are expressed not only in governance, but in the everyday life of our communities.