# The Institutions

**Track 10 of 11 · the outside entities with standing inside · v5.0**

Institutions are how the outside world holds an account: registered outside entities that can contract, fund, and enroll — but never vote. The mechanics live in [Protocol §2](protocol.html) and [Roles §1](roles.html); this track names the institutions that exist now and what each one is *for*, because the first three aren't incidental partners — they are the launch's legal and operational scaffolding.

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## 1. What an Institution is (recap)

**A special type of Alliance, outside the hierarchy** ([Foundation §2](foundation.html)): it restricts membership and pays for/sponsors accounts, and it is always tied to a registered legal entity that is not a DUNA (in some jurisdiction; otherwise treated as a general partnership or sole proprietorship). Created by a member: **$1K Compute purchase · a Squads wallet · up to 10 enrolled members** whose Compute it may fund on an ongoing basis · contracts with members, allies, alliances, and organizations · **no vote, ever.** Two safeguards attach to enrollment: enrolled members cannot vote on their Institution's contracts (structural recusal, refused at the vote command), and enrollment is always disclosed as part of identity. Both are being generalized into a full conflict-of-interest policy ([Legal](legal.html), L-13).

## 2. The three institutions, now

| Institution | Home | What it is, and what it does here |
|---|---|---|
| **Kinship Intelligence Institute (KII)** | [kinship.institute](https://kinship.institute) | The 501(c)(3) — the research and alignment home (the HEARTS lineage behind [the Sentinel](sentinel.html)), and the **fiscal sponsor** for charitable-purpose dunas: a standardized application and sponsorship agreement ([Legal, L-11](legal-items-for-review.html)), with **Service Alliance, Mycelial Aid, and BiHome/Inner Clinic** first. |
| **Kinship Systems** | [kinship.systems](https://kinship.systems) | The technology company — builds and operates the platform's software under contract with Kinship Duna. |
| **Kiduna Club** | [kinship.club](https://kinship.club) | The IP holder — the marks and the patent-pending technology, **licensed to dunas** on standardized terms: minimum monthly payments plus a percentage of Compute sales ([Legal, L-10](legal-items-for-review.html)). Kiduna Club is also where the launch cohort begins (§3). |

| **Kinship Agents DAO, LLC** | — | The protocol steward — **maintains and manages the Kinship Agency Protocol (KAP)** ([Protocol §1a](protocol.html)): the specifications connecting Agency Servers to each other and to Agency Clients, and the Apache 2.0 releases they ride on. |
| **Lightbrush LLC** | — | **The first integration partner** — Moe's creative agent stack (Dowbot, the public-facing character agent; Zhowbot, the swarm manager; Digital Dolly, the digital-art agent; RenderDeck, the production system; audio mastering and game-content tooling) integrating into [The Ceremony Machine](organizations.html). Elias serves as forward-deployed engineer at no cost to Lightbrush; all Lightbrush tools remain Lightbrush's IP ([the agreement](legal-items-for-review.html), L-16). |

Potential partner: **Circle.**

## 3. Where the launch begins

**The launch cohort — every named Catalyst and Luminary ([Roles §1](roles.html)) — starts within Kiduna Club**: invited there, onboarded there, organizing there, while their own organizations take the standard path (an Alliance first, elevated to Organization when the WV Org ID validates). Their catalyst or luminary seat is in one duna; their participation is never limited to it — roles are per-duna, membership is everywhere.

## 4. The relationships to keep clean

Three institutions, three different relationships to the same platform: KII holds *purpose* (charitable sponsorship, research), Kinship Systems holds *labor* (build and operations contracts), Kiduna Club holds *property* (IP licenses). Keeping the three legible and separately contracted is deliberate — it is what lets any duna, and any regulator, see exactly which entity answers for what. The contracts themselves are legal work in flight: [L-10 and L-11](legal-items-for-review.html).

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*Changes in v5.2: Institutions redefined as a special type of Alliance outside the hierarchy; Kinship Agents DAO, LLC added as KAP steward; Lightbrush LLC added as the first integration partner. v5.0: track created — KII, Kinship Systems, and Kiduna Club named with their homes and functions; the launch cohort's Kiduna Club start recorded. Full history: [versions](versions/index.html).*
