Found ETC — Founding Phase
Aiming to close late 2026 · Only 525 numbered places — never re-issued · After: monthly membership only
The founding campaign

Found ETC. Own your place in something built to last.

This is the ground floor. Back the platform with a one-off founding membership — get roughly half your investment back in Unity Pounds to spend from day one, a numbered place held for life, and a say in how it's run. Or support monthly. Or simply give. What this community generates, this community keeps.

Become a founding member ↓ Just want to help? Give →
The Founding Campaign

Help us build ETC — our funding goal

ETC is funded by the community it serves. Founding memberships and gifts pay for the final build and open the closed beta — here's how far we've come, and what each milestone unlocks.

Raised so far: £0
toward the £545,000 founding goal — closed beta opens at £50k

The bar tracks one-off founding payments and one-off gifts only. Monthly support is counted separately below. Early gatherings run as the community's funding allows.

0 of 25
Ambassadors — numbers #1–#25
0 of 500
Champions — numbers #26–#525
0
Founding Creators — #526 upward, open
0
Monthly supporters
Section 1 — Become a founder

Four ways to found ETC. All of them for life.

One payment. Your membership never renews and never lapses. Every founding tier returns roughly half its cost to you in Unity Pounds (1 UP = £1) to spend inside the community from day one. Ambassadors and Champions hold a permanent founding number.

Founding Contributor
£99 one-off
Founding badge · not numbered
✓ 50 UP back to spend from day one
✓ Full member access for life — no monthly fee, ever
✓ Permanent Founding Contributor badge
✓ Governance vote + a jury place at Full Member level
✓ 1 seat — yours
Most chosen
Founding Creator
£299 one-off
Numbered #526 upward — open
✓ 150 UP back to spend from day one
✓ Full Creator access for life — marketplace, courses, ticketed events
✓ Every future feature included, no upgrade tiers
✓ Numbered founding membership + permanent badge
✓ 1 seat — yours
Founding Champion
£500 one-off
Numbered #26–#525 · capped at 500
✓ 250 UP back to spend from day one
✓ Everything in Creator, plus 0% marketplace, course & tip fees for life
✓ Numbered coin + welcome box, name in the Book of Founders
✓ A place at the first founding gathering
✓ 2 seats — you + 1 household member (member-level, no UP)
Founding Ambassador
£1,000 one-off
Numbered #1–#25 · capped at 25 · the first numbers
✓ 250 UP back to spend from day one
✓ Everything a Champion gets, plus the first 25 numbers
✓ Richest welcome box + the right to name a founding space
✓ Top priority + the strongest referral rewards
✓ 4 seats — you + 3 household members (member-level, no UP)

Founding memberships are never an investment — no shares, no equity, no financial return. They are a membership in a Private Members Association, bought once and held for life. A 14-day cooling-off period applies to every payment. Founding members are not Founding Elders.

Free BuilderEarn your way in
Would rather earn your founding place than pay for it? Put down a small refundable deposit, get full Creator access for 60 days, and bring 10 members to keep it free for life — and be promoted to Founding Creator. A separate path, opening later in the beta.
See the Free Builder path →
Section 2 — Support monthly

Not ready for a lifetime place? Support month to month.

Monthly membership keeps the lights on and grows with the community. It is kept entirely separate from the one-off founding raise above — and it opens alongside the public launch.

Monthly membership Opening soon
£4.50 / month by card
or £4 / month by bank — the same membership, a little cheaper the direct way

Full member access, billed monthly, cancel anytime. Paying by bank saves the card fee, so we pass the saving on — it is a discount for paying direct, never a surcharge for using a card.

Thank you — we'll email you the moment monthly membership opens.
Coffee a month Opening soon
£3 / month
a small recurring gift — no membership attached

Not after access — just want to chip in the price of a coffee each month to help build something worth keeping? This is a pure recurring gift to ETC, cancel anytime.

Thank you — we'll email you the moment monthly membership opens.
Section 3 — Just give

No membership. Just help build it.

If you simply believe in what ETC is building, you can make a one-off gift to ETC — no membership, no expectation. Every giver is invited onto the Supporters Wall (only if you choose), and gifts are non-refundable.

£

Thank you — taking you to complete your gift…

Gifts support ETC's community work. A gift is not a membership and carries no access or governance rights. One-off gifts are non-refundable. The Supporters Wall is opt-in and your name is only shown with your consent.

What the raise unlocks

Built as the community funds it.

The community unlocks each milestone as the founding raise reaches it. Timings aren't fixed to dates — gatherings happen by season once we've launched, with time to organise.

£50k

Closed beta opens — founding members get the first working platform to shape and test

Funding now
£100k

A full independent security audit — the whole system stress-tested by outsiders

On the horizon
£200k

Our own infrastructure — servers we own and control, no reliance on big tech

On the horizon
£215k

Translated into 10 more languages — the platform opens to the world

On the horizon
£265k

The next major release, shipped

On the horizon · ≈ where a full 500 flagship lands
£315k

The inaugural founders' gathering — the first time we meet face-to-face

On the horizon
£380k

Permanent funded free memberships — nobody who belongs here is priced out

On the horizon
£430k

Regular seasonal founder meet-ups begin, across the country

On the horizon
£455k

A member-owned Unity Pounds community fund, seeded

On the horizon
£515k

Groundwork laid for a member-owned, decentralised network

On the horizon
£545k

Peer-to-peer messaging — conversations routed directly, member to member

On the horizon
+£500k
Beyond the goal

A permanent place to gather — a home of our own

A further £500k beyond the £545k founding goal.

Questions

What men and women ask before founding.

Is a founding membership an investment?
No. A founding membership is never an investment — there are no shares, no equity, and no financial return. It is a one-off membership in a Private Members Association, bought once and held for life. The Unity Pounds you receive are spending credit inside the community, not a dividend.
What are the Unity Pounds I get back?
Unity Pounds (UP) are ETC's internal spending credit — 1 UP = £1, with 0% platform fees on member-to-member trades. Every founding tier returns roughly half its cost in UP (Contributor 50, Creator 150, Champion and Ambassador 250) so you can spend inside the community from day one.
Can I get a refund?
Yes — there is a 14-day cooling-off period on every founding payment. If you refund, we return what you paid minus any Unity Pounds you have already spent (spent UP is never clawed back from the people you sent it to). After 14 days the founding membership is confirmed and your number, if any, is reserved.
What is a founding number, and who gets one?
Ambassadors hold numbers #1–#25 and Champions #26–#525 — 525 numbered places in total, permanent and never re-issued. Creators are numbered from #526 upward, open-ended. Contributors carry a founding badge but are not numbered. A lower number simply means you were earlier.
What are household seats?
Champions get 2 seats and Ambassadors 4. The first seat is you — the founding member, with the number, the Unity Pounds, and founding status. The extra seats are for people in your household: they get member-level access, no Unity Pounds, and no separate founding number. It's built for couples and families who want to join together.
How can I pay?
Three ways: bank transfer (the whole amount goes to the build — our preferred route), card, or Bitcoin / Lightning. You choose at checkout. ETC is a Private Members Association and your data is never sold.
Is founding membership really closing?
We're aiming to close the founding phase in late 2026. The 500 Champion places, the 25 Ambassador places, and founding numbers #1–#525 are genuinely finite — once taken, those numbers are never re-issued at any price. After the phase closes, new members join on monthly membership.