Certification Scholarship Pool — Operating Procedure

Status: v1.0 draft. The Pool exists because the platform's mission of supporting community savings across jurisdictions of widely-differing economic conditions cannot accept that certification fees should function as a jurisdictional filter. The Pool is funded, governed, and awarded under the procedure below.

Preamble

The Treasurer certification ladder — Intermediate, Advanced, Multi-jurisdictional — is a paid professional development investment the Treasurer makes (TEP Methodology v2 §7.1). The certification fees are necessary: they fund course infrastructure, signal professional commitment, and align with independent-contractor framing. But the absolute fee — £25 / £150 / £400 in GBP — does not translate uniformly across the jurisdictions the platform operates in.

A Jamaican Treasurer earning average TEP fees in JMD faces a £150 Tier 3 certification fee that is a substantially higher fraction of their monthly income than a UK Treasurer faces. The platform's mission is to support community savings across the diaspora, not to filter the Treasurer profession by geography. The Scholarship Pool is the structural answer.

Section 1 — Pool funding

The Scholarship Pool is funded from three sources:

1.1 Tier 4 fee contribution

A percentage — initially 5% — of Tier 4 (Multi-jurisdictional Treasurer Certification) first-attempt fees is allocated to the Pool. Tier 4 Treasurers are the highest-earning Treasurer cohort; their fee contribution cross-subsidises access for newer Treasurers.

1.2 Member donations

Members may contribute to the Pool through a dedicated Storefront SKU. The SKU is honestly framed: "Fund a Treasurer's certification — your contribution helps a Member in another jurisdiction qualify for the professional certification they need." Suggested amounts: £10 / £25 / £50.

1.3 Platform commitment

Circlworld commits an annual minimum platform-level contribution to the Pool of £10,000 (or local-currency equivalent), reviewed annually as a budget item. This baseline ensures the Pool has funding even where Tier 4 fee contributions and Member donations are insufficient.

1.4 Pool reserves

The Pool maintains a reserve of at least one year's projected awards. Reserves are held in a dedicated multi-signature account opened in the name of an appropriate co-operative or charitable form, under custody rules consistent with the Custody Framework Charter v1.0.

Section 2 — Eligibility

A Treasurer is eligible to apply for a certification scholarship if:

(a) Jurisdictional currency disparity threshold met. The Treasurer resides in a jurisdiction where the absolute certification fee represents 5% or more of average monthly TEP fees at the Treasurer's current tier, based on the platform's published metrics.

(b) Standing band threshold met. The Treasurer's Standing on the 0–100 scale is 50 or above (the Building band threshold) — indicating substantive participation, not yet enough to qualify as personally well-resourced.

(c) Currently in clean standing. No upheld conduct violations in the prior 36 months. No active anti-gaming flags. No Selection Committee proceedings pending.

(d) Application is for first attempt only. Retakes are paid at the standard retake fee from the Treasurer's own funds. The scholarship is structured to ease access to the qualification, not to subsidise repeated attempts.

(e) Has not received a scholarship for the same certification level previously. A Treasurer who failed the first attempt under scholarship pays the standard retake fee themselves; the scholarship does not subsidise a second attempt at the same level.

Section 3 — Application

3.1 Format

Application is made through the platform's Help Office Treasurer-development portal. The application includes:

(a) Identification of the certification being applied for.

(b) Confirmation of eligibility criteria (§2).

(d) Disclosure of any other certification scholarship received in the prior 24 months.

3.2 Submission window

Applications may be submitted at any time. The platform processes applications monthly in batches.

3.3 Confidentiality

The substance of the Treasurer's application — including the statement of situation — is confidential. The Pool's award decisions are recorded but the Treasurer's individual application is not published.

Section 4 — Award decision

4.1 Decision body

Award decisions are made by a three-person panel:

(a) One member nominated by the Treasurer Council.

(b) One Member nominated by Town Hall.

Members of the panel rotate quarterly to avoid bias accumulation.

4.2 Decision criteria

Awards are made on the following criteria, in order of importance:

(a) Pool funds available for the application month.

(b) Strength of the Treasurer's eligibility under §2.

(d) The Treasurer's stated commitment to continued serving on the platform.

4.3 Award form

A scholarship covers the first-attempt fee in full. The Treasurer enrolls in the course without payment; the Pool pays the platform directly on the Treasurer's behalf.

Where the Treasurer subsequently passes the certification, the scholarship has been used as intended; no further action is required.

Where the Treasurer subsequently fails the first attempt, the Treasurer pays the retake fee from their own funds. The scholarship is not refundable, conditional on passing, or convertible.

4.4 Notification

Successful applicants are notified within 14 days of the monthly review. Unsuccessful applicants are notified with brief written reasons and information on the next application window.

4.5 No appeal

There is no formal appeal from an award decision. The Treasurer may re-apply in a subsequent month under the standard procedure.

Section 5 — Pool governance

5.1 Administrative responsibility

The Help Office is responsible for the administrative operation of the Pool — application portal, decision panel coordination, fund disbursement to the platform, record-keeping.

5.2 Financial oversight

The Pool's accounts are subject to:

(a) Quarterly internal review by Circlworld's compliance function.

(b) Annual external audit (independent auditor in the Pool's jurisdiction of registration).

(c) Annual public report on Pool inflows, awards made, geographic distribution, certification outcomes for award recipients.

5.3 Reserve management

The Pool's reserves are managed under conservative principles — no investment risk; held in regulated interest-bearing accounts at the Pool's jurisdiction of registration.

5.4 Independence from TEP fee accruals

The Pool is structurally independent of the TEP fee accrual mechanism. A Treasurer's eligibility for a Pool award does not affect their tier progression, their TEP fees, or any other entitlement under the TEP Methodology. The award is a discrete grant of certification-fee coverage, not a modification of any other relationship.

Section 6 — Transparency

6.1 Annual report

The annual report is published at /transparency/scholarship-pool — public, no auth required.

The Pool publishes an annual report including:

(a) Total inflows by source (Tier 4 fees, Member donations, platform commitment).

(b) Total awards made by tier (Intermediate, Advanced, Multi-jurisdictional).

(d) Certification outcomes for award recipients (pass rate, retake rate).

(e) Reserves at year-end and year-on-year change.

(f) Average application processing time.

6.2 Aggregate metrics

Aggregate metrics are published quarterly through the Town Hall transparency page.

6.3 Individual application confidentiality

Individual applications, the substance of statements, and individual award decisions remain confidential. The Treasurer may choose to disclose receipt of a scholarship; the platform does not disclose it.

Section 7 — Amendment

7.1 Material amendments

Material amendments (changing eligibility, criteria, award form, funding sources, governance) require:

(a) Treasurer Council recommendation.

(b) Town Hall consultation.

(d) Counsel review.

7.2 Minor adjustments

Threshold values (the 5% jurisdictional disparity threshold, the Standing band threshold, the percentage of Tier 4 fees allocated) may be adjusted by the Help Office annually based on the previous year's experience, with 30 days' notice. Material structural changes require full §7.1 procedure.

7.3 Annual review

The Operating Procedure is reviewed annually for fitness with the certification programme, financial sustainability, and the platform's mission.

Acknowledgement

By contributing to the Pool — whether through Tier 4 fees, the Storefront SKU, or platform-level commitment — the contributing party acknowledges that the Pool is a mission-funded structural answer to certification-fee access disparity, administered independently of the certification fee structure, and audited for transparency.

By applying to the Pool, the Treasurer acknowledges this Operating Procedure as the framework for their application and award.

By awarding a scholarship, the decision panel acknowledges this Operating Procedure as the framework for the decision.

— End of the Certification Scholarship Pool Operating Procedure —

Version history

| Version | Date | Change | Process | |---|---|---|---| | v1.0 | 2026-06-03 | Initial draft | Drafted 2026-06-03; counsel posture confirmed 2026-06-05 + Treasurer consultation before binding |

Plain-language one-line summary

The Scholarship Pool covers Treasurer certification fees for Members in jurisdictions where the absolute fee would otherwise be a filter — funded from a small percentage of top-tier certification fees, optional Member donations, and a platform-level commitment; awarded by a three-person panel of one peer-Treasurer, one Member, and the Help Office administrator; covers the first-attempt fee in full, audited annually for transparency.