Could we accelerate radical redistribution of wealth by providing a democratised, values-aligned fund-distribution service for the next generation of wealth holders? What doors might fiscal hosting open when it comes to creating this service? (Please note we have included a definition of fiscal hosting in the attachments section in case it’s helpful).

Our hack will respond to these questions through a rapid exploration and prototyping of a new service for younger wealth holders (in the UK), that could align to their values and short circuit some of the philanthropic infrastructure that would ordinarily stand between them and the redistribution they seek.

At this stage we imagine a service that would weave several approaches together to create a new way to distribute wealth—combining fiscal hosting, Open Collective, a pooled fund which multiple wealth holders could contribute to, a democratic decision making group representative of the UK population, and a 6-week sprint process for decision making. But, crucially, this funding would enable us to develop, test and refine a prototype proposition—and start to test demand.

So far, we have understood that in order for fund redistribution to align to emerging wealth holder values, it should be:

faster and less bureaucratic;
democratic and representative (with decision making and governance that disrupts traditional philanthropic power dynamics and puts power in the hands of those who can truly represent the relevant populations);
transparent (accountability shaped by making flows of capital visible); and
defending the interests of the many, not the few.

Fiscal hosting (and associated approaches) can help create all four of these shifts—and probably others. For example, by allowing capital to flow through alternative channels, fiscal hosting can circumvent the philanthropic, charitable paradigm, aiding speed and less restrictions. Fiscal hosting can allow decision making to be fully devolved into an unincorporated group representative of the UK and civic/collective interests. Using a host in combination with Open Collective can allow full transparency of transactions. And, fiscal hosting can help capital reach people and groups traditionally excluded from philanthropy, further supporting civic/collective interests.

It feels important to acknowledge that there are existing services for wealth holders (e.g. https://www.foundationscotland.org.uk/set-up-your-own-fund), but they tend to be closed-door, not transparent, operating within the restrictions of the philanthropic paradigm, excluding many people and organisations, and often still designed to help wealth holders retain rather than distribute control.

To implement this hack we will:

Connect with a small group of UK wealth holders (drawing on networks at Thirty Percy Foundation and through the Wealth Hackers Initiative) to understand their needs more deeply and shape initial ideas about how a model could be designed.
Explore and prioritise options for the democratic governance of a decision making group, and the process through which decisions would be made.
Use the fruits of these conversations and research (1 + 2) to develop proposition/s to test with wealth holders.
Share a public version of the proposition as a provocation to the sector to create wider impact, gather further feedback and spark more connections and interest.
Understand next steps and iterative priorities.

Next-gen wealth: a new path for redistribution