Founding Trustee
Founding Trustee
Founding Trustee
In order to provide services to the widest possible range of place-based well-being organizations and their projects, it quickly became apparent that the only way forward is as a not-for-profit structure. Thanks in part to an ecologist mate, the Reef has been conceptualized in a colourful miasma of ecological and biological metaphors. Well-being groups are cautious of or even allergic to corporate commercial interests. We share legitimate concerns about profit motives, privacy, and data serenity for ourselves and our collaborators.
The Digital Reef is designed to provide habitat for place-based well-being organizations in perpetuity. The Trust Deed states: “The Initial Trustees intend that the Digital Reef be established and maintained as a permanent public-benefit digital infrastructure for the advancement of place-based well-being, recreation and community outcomes. The Initial Trustees acknowledge that the Digital Reef is intended to endure beyond their involvement or lifetime, that they are “planting trees in the shade of which they will never sit”, and that accordingly they have assigned all Intellectual Property relating to the Digital Reef to the Trust to ensure its long-term protection and continuation.”
Our commitment to Intellectual Property and Māori Data Sovereignty Principles are clearly stated AND open for discussion.
16.1 In developing, maintaining and licensing the Digital Reef, the Trustees shall at all times have regard to the Māori Data Sovereignty Principles.
16.2 Subject to clause 16.1, all Intellectual Property relating to the Digital Reef, including for the avoidance of doubt any ideas or improvements concerning or derived from the Digital Reef which are created, designed or discovered specifically for the Trust that may originate at any time in any place, including from discussions between the Trustees, its employees and/or contractors, will be owned by and remain at all times the exclusive property of the Trust and held for the Trust’s Purposes. The Trustees will, and will procure that all employees of and/or contractors to the Trust will, execute all documents and do all acts necessary to vest that ownership in the Trust.
The Digital Reef means the geospatial information system (centred around GIS (ESRI ArcGIS under NFP license) with AI and other digital tools serving supporting roles) developed for enabling place-based well-being mapping and collaboration, including all underlying and derivative Intellectual Property, all of which is now and shall in the future be (a) developed and maintained in accordance with the Māori Data Sovereignty Principles and (b) owned by the Trust for public benefit, in each case in accordance with clause 16;
4.1 Purpose: The Trust is established exclusively for Charitable Purposes for the benefit of the public within Aotearoa New Zealand including the following:
(a) Advancement of education
(i) developing and maintaining the Digital Reef in accordance with Māori Data Sovereignty Principles as a geospatial platform to make place-based well-being, recreation, cultural, ecological and community spaces visible to decision-makers, educators, researchers and the public;
(ii) providing training, resources and educational programmes to place-based well-being organisations, outdoor recreation clubs, community groups and the public in the use of the Digital Reef; and
(iii) supporting research, analysis and the dissemination of knowledge relating to place-based well-being, recreation, environmental stewardship and social impact;
(b) Relief of poverty: providing low-cost or near-cost access to the Digital Reef, its tools and associated services to well-being organisations, recreation clubs, local communities or individuals who would otherwise face financial barriers to participation, planning or access to information;
(c) Other purposes beneficial to the community
(i) promoting social inclusion and community well-being through enabling greater access to outdoor
recreation and place-based engagement;
(ii) enhancing the capability of well-being and recreation organisations to collaborate,
coordinate, and communicate using the Digital Reef;
(iii) facilitating the involvement of local/central government, iwi/Māori organisations,
recreation groups and community stakeholders in accessible, evidence-based place-based
decision-making; and
(iv) supporting the development and maintenance of digital infrastructure in accordance with Māori
Data Sovereignty Principles that strengthens community outcomes, environmental awareness and
participation in recreation; and
(d) Ancillary purposes: any activities that are incidental or conducive to the attainment of the
above charitable purposes, provided they do not prejudice the Trust’s exclusively charitable
nature. For clarity, this may include owning shares in a not-for-profit company established for
such ancillary purposes.