The proof of independence
The Council and how it governs
A certification only has worth if the body that grants it is independent of those who build and sell the technology, and if it can take the mark away from anyone, including its own founders. This page is the structural answer to a single question: is this just a vendor grading its own homework? The answer is no, by design.
Hosted by Handing Hope
The standard is incubated inside Handing Hope, a nonprofit, as a dedicated standards program. The Council is a separate governing body with an independent-majority board and a capped, time-limited founder bloc. It owns the standard, the Yellow Butterfly mark, and the public registry, and it can grant, audit, suspend, and revoke any certification, including against the founders' own products.
Composition
An independent-majority board
The board is composed so that no single commercial party can control it. 3 of the 4 seat classes are independent of any vendor, and the founder bloc is a minority with time-limited special weight. Changes to the standard and to revocation policy require a supermajority, so no single bloc, including the founders, can move them alone.
Independent expert seats
IndependentRecognized authorities in child safety, AI safety, ethics, and relevant law, affiliated with no vendor.
Public-interest seats
IndependentRepresentation for young people and families, so the people the floor protects have a voice in it.
Adopter seats
IndependentOrganizations that require the certification inside their own environments. The first adopter seat is held by Million Peacemakers.
Founding seats
Founder, time-limitedRecognition for the architects of the standard. A minority of the board, with time-limited special weight, so founder influence shapes the body's birth without becoming permanent control.
Recusal
A board member with a commercial interest in a decision recuses from it. Founder seats recuse from decisions about their own affiliates' products. The body cannot quietly vote away the very independence that gives it worth: the independence provisions carry the highest amendment threshold, so they cannot be moved by a simple majority.
Why this matters
The Council cannot be acquired. It is not equity, and it has no owners to buy out. The mark and the registry belong to the Council, not to any vendor. This assignment is the founding act that makes the certification independent, and it is what lets the registry be believed.
The teeth
Revocation authority
- The Council may suspend or revoke a certification when a deployment fails the floor, misrepresents its status, or refuses audit.
- Revocation applies to every party equally, including the founders' own reference implementations. A certification the founders cannot lose is not a certification.
- The registry reflects suspension and revocation promptly and publicly, so anyone relying on the mark sees the truth.
- Revocation follows due process: notice, a chance to cure where appropriate, and a reasoned decision, with appeal to an independent panel.
The separation
The firewall
- Its own legal program, its own governance, its own brand, its own domain, and its own voice.
- LovingIsAI and Light Brands are vendors and adopters to the Council like anyone else. Their products are certified, monitored, and revocable on the same terms as any other party's.
- Funding from certification fees, grants, and a founding endowment, structured so that no single party's money buys control, and so the body weans off founder money.
- No party may acquire the Council, the mark, or the registry. On dissolution, all assets pass to a mission-aligned successor, never to founders or funders.
This describes the intended constitution of an independent body that owns and administers the Yellow Butterfly certification. Entity form, jurisdiction, and definitive governance are set by counsel. The name is provisional. Not legal advice and not an offer of securities.