Rooted Common Ground Back to Rooted Common Ground

Who we are

We're building more than a charity.

Today Rooted Common Ground is operated by Rooted Networks Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales. Our intention is to grow into three linked but separate bodies — a Land Trust that holds the land, a Community Benefit Society that raises the money, and Rooted Common Ground Wellbeing, a registered charity — a new way of organising community life, where neighbours help each other, where land is held in trust for the people, where nobody is left cold or hungry or alone, and where the community itself decides what happens next.

Here is how it all fits together.

Why we exist

Rooted Common Ground exists so that nobody is a stranger to the people who live nearest to them — so that help is never more than a street away, and nobody is left isolated by age, income, or lack of a smartphone.

Read our mission & values

One mission, three ways it lives

How it all fits together.

Rooted Common Ground Land Trust

The anchor — our intended land-holding body (not yet registered)

The Land Trust is the anchor. It buys and holds the land, and protects it for long-term community benefit under a statutory asset lock — the land cannot be casually sold or repurposed.

It is governed by a small, trauma-aware Stewardship Council rather than an open public vote — a deliberate choice to keep sensitive land and residency decisions insulated from a wide membership vote.

If it were ever wound up, the land would pass to another body with a similar protective purpose.

Our mission is simple: nobody cold, nobody hungry, nobody without community, land held in trust for everyone.

Learn more about our structure

Rooted Common Ground Community

Our intended fundraising engine (not yet registered) — a Community Benefit Society

The Community is the fundraising and outreach engine. It raises money through community shares — but it does not hold land.

It passes money to the Land Trust as a grant (no repayment, no interest — the safest option) or a loan (repaid gently over time, with interest optional and low).

If a shareholder wants their money back, the Community handles it from its own funds. The Land Trust is never responsible for share withdrawals, and the land is never put at risk to meet one.

Governance is one member, one vote, open to any county resident aged 16+ who holds at least one share — but that vote covers Community affairs only, not land or the Land Trust.

How the land is governed

Rooted Common Ground Wellbeing

Our intended charity (not yet registered) — the public-benefit arm

Wellbeing is the public-benefit arm — the intended registered charity (a CIO) that runs the platform, the Kindness Exchange, the heating programme, the community funds, the Buddy System, and the partnerships.

It runs its programmes on land leased or licensed from the Land Trust on favourable terms. It owns no land and holds no vote on residency or land decisions.

We commit to a strict 1:3 pay ratio — the highest paid person earns no more than three times the lowest. This is published openly and reviewed annually.

See how it all fits together

The Ministry

People in service to the whole

The Ministry of Rooted Common Ground is the spiritual heart of everything we do — multi-faith, all welcome, none excluded.

The heater built for a cold neighbour. The meal cooked for someone isolated. The land held as sacred, not as property. The gathering of people who belong to each other.

This is the Ministry. Not a denomination. A practice.

Learn more about the Ministry

Where everything goes.

  1. 1People join Rooted Common Ground
  2. 2They exchange Kindness with neighbours
  3. 3They gather in service to the whole
  4. 4They contribute to their local community fund
  5. 5Rooted Common Ground Wellbeing (the intended charity) runs the platform and programmes
  6. 6Funds support heating, food, community, resilience
  7. 7Rooted Common Ground Community raises money through shares and outreach
  8. 8The Community passes it to the Land Trust as grants or loans — never putting land at risk
  9. 9Rooted Common Ground Land Trust buys and holds the land — asset-locked, Stewardship-Council-governed
  10. 10Wellbeing runs community programmes on land leased or licensed from the Land Trust
  11. 11A Rooted Common Ground Farm could one day open — food growing, gathering, skill-building
  12. 12The Ministry gathers in service to the whole
  13. 13More people join Rooted Common Ground

It feeds itself. It grows itself. It heals itself.

We pay fairly. Openly. Always.

In Rooted Common Ground Wellbeing, the highest paid person will earn no more than three times the lowest paid person. This is a rule — one we commit to openly and publish here for everyone to see.

If the lowest paid role earns £15,000, the highest paid earns no more than £45,000.

More people working. More skills. More money staying in the community where it belongs.

RoleHoursAnnual salary
Community SupportPart time£15,000
Developer / SafetyPart time£20,000
Founder / DirectorFull time£30,000
Maximum allowed (3x lowest)£45,000

Our current pay structure is published here and updated annually. If you believe our pay structure has breached the 1:3 ratio, contact us at safety@rooted-common-ground.world. Every concern is reviewed.

What we are working toward.

  • Nobody cold.
  • Nobody hungry.
  • Nobody without shelter.
  • Nobody without community.
  • Land held for everyone.
  • Gathered in service to the whole.
  • Communities governing themselves.

These are not slogans. They are the measures by which we judge everything we do. Every heater installed, every Rooted Common Ground Farm acquired, every Kindness exchanged moves us closer.

Built by real people.

Rooted Common Ground was founded in Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire in 2025. It grew from a simple belief: that communities already have everything they need to look after each other — they just need the tools, the trust, and the structure to do it.

We are not a startup. We are not backed by venture capital. We answer only to the community — and to the mission.

N

Neil

Founder

Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire

Full bio coming soon.