The Cooperative

To operate in the physical and legal world, organizations require a complementary legal entity, a foundation, to act as the real-world agent, employing staff, signing contracts, leasing space, purchasing equipment, selling products, and providing services. The foundation is the bedrock upon which the organization can grow, and the people within it, and served by it can thrive.  Erefugia's foundation is a cooperative, an organization owned by and operated for the benefit of members and member-workers.

Erefugia provides a suite of services designed to support resilient communities, foster creative expression, and empower organizations to thrive within federated networks. Our approach is holistic we combine human care, technical infrastructure, artistic development, and organizational guidance to help our members and partner communities survive, grow sustainably, and thrive.

Erefugia helps communities build local and digital infrastructures that promote human and ecological well-being. Member cooperatives can collaborate around areas like housing, food systems, community gardens, libraries, learning hubs, water stewardship, and health or emergency services. These programs are designed to be modular and adaptable, so each Refugium can develop the mix of supports that best fits its members and environment. 

While Human Services Delivery, including care coordination, mutual aid, and community support, form the moral and social foundation of Erefugia’s mission, these activities typically require substantial investment and generate limited or no direct revenue. In contrast, our Artistic, Technical, and Organizational Services are designed to be mutually profitable, leveraging creative production, cooperative technology development, and governance consulting to generate revenue. This balance allows Erefugia to cross-subsidize essential human services through its productive and entrepreneurial branches, ensuring that care work remains dignified and adequately supported. In this way, our economic model embodies cooperative solidarity, where creative and technical endeavors sustain the social and human infrastructure that makes community possible.

We recognize that access to basic needs is foundational to individual and community well-being. Our Human Services are structured to ensure survival, dignity, and autonomy:

Art and creative expression are central to resilient culture. Our Artistic Services help creators transform vision into impact:

Our technical services support the backbone of federated, cooperative, and resilient networks. We prioritize stability, security, simplicity, and sovereignty over the extractive, high-risk practices of contemporary IT:

Erefugia provides direct support and consulting for communities seeking to form or strengthen cooperative and decentralized governance structures. We help groups establish legal cooperatives, associations, or foundations with democratic bylaws, equitable ownership, and clear fiduciary structures. In addition to assisting with incorporation and organizational design, we support the creation and operation of DAOs that use transparent decision-making processes, participatory budgeting, and community-driven protocols. The Cooperative also assists communities that wish to build or join AT Protocol social networks, offering guidance for establishing federation agreements and shared moderation frameworks that ensure autonomy, safety, and interoperability.