Charter of Principles for Guardians

Fundação Terra Agora

April 2024

The Charter of Principles for Guardians¹ presents the set of principles that guide the relationship between the Fundação Terra Agora² and the Guardians. It results from the Fundação’s statutes³. The Charter of Principles for Guardians should be considered in conjunction with the Fundação’s Statutes, Charter of Principles and Code of Ethics.

This Charter was approved at a Meeting of the Fundação’s Board of Trustees in April 2024 and has been in force since that date. It will be reviewed no more than every 5 years — the next review will be in 2028. All proposals for amendments must be sent to the Fundação’s Board of Trustees as soon as they arise.

The procedure to amend the Charter is:

• The Board of Directors consults all the parties, listens to all the Chairpersons of the Governing Bodies, as well as the Patrons and Guardians, and collates the proposed changes;
• It drafts a new version and approves it at a Board meeting, submitting the approved version to the Board of Trustees;
• The Board of Trustees gives its approval after negotiating with the Board of Directors, the process being mediated by the respective chairpersons;
• The approved version of the Charter is sent by the Board of Directors to all interested parties and published on the Fundação’s website.
• The Charter of Principles, the Code of Ethics, the Charter of Principles for Patrons and the Charter of Principles for Guardians are 4 documents that form a unit and should be reviewed together.

Fundamental Concepts

Guardians are legal persons who establish a formal relationship, through a Guardian Contract⁴, with the Fundação to develop a project on one or more strategic assets — Guardian Project⁵ — in accordance with the Fundação’s statutes.

Guardians are committed to the Fundação’s Charter of Principles and Code of Ethics and ensure that their institution and people adhere to it and apply the Patrons’ Charter of Principles to their funders and Patrons.

The concept of Guardian is the result of the Fundação considering itself as ‘Guardian of the Earth’. And since organisations are made up of people, the term Guardian can also be applied to the people who are part of the Guardian collective — the Guardian Individual.

In a nutshell:

• The Fundação is the ultimate guardian of strategic assets;
• The Guardian enters into a ‘Guardian Contract’ with the Fundação to carry out a ‘Guardian Project’;
• The Guardian is made up of people, who are the ‘Guardian Individuals’.

Direction of the Guardians