By guest author Nick van den Tol
In recent years, communities around the world have been asking the same question: why are there frameworks to design a business model or government policy, but not to help communities organize their own shared initiatives? That question led to the development of the Commons Canvas – a practical tool for communities to organize shared resources and initiatives in a sustainable and self-managed way.
Why the Commons Canvas?
The Canvas builds on the Nobel Prize-winning work of Elinor Ostrom, who showed that communities across the globe can successfully govern shared resources when certain design principles are in place. The Commons Canvas adds to this by including practical elements for building local economies. In today’s world, it is not enough to only define rules – communities must also find ways to ensure that the value created together stays within the community instead of flowing out to external actors.
The nine building blocks
The Commons Canvas helps communities think through nine essential aspects of self-organization, such as:
- What do we manage together? – Land, energy, water, care, mobility, or other shared needs.
- Who are the members and owners? – People who contribute and benefit.
- How are decisions made? – Consensus, voting, rotating leadership, or other local methods.
- What rules apply? – And how are they monitored and enforced fairly?
- How do we resolve conflicts? – To keep the community strong over time.
- How do we finance it? – Through money, time, goods, or mutual exchange.
Together these nine blocks form a simple yet powerful roadmap for self-governed initiatives.
The Commons Canvas is designed like a lifebuoy. Each element around the circle helps keep the shared initiative afloat. If one part is missing or neglected, the whole commons risks “sinking.” For example, imagine a community cooperative that organizes water access. If the group agrees on fair rules but never sets up a way to resolve conflicts, small disagreements over usage can grow into larger disputes. Over time, trust erodes and participation drops — even though the physical resource (the water) is still there.
On the left picture you can see how it should work when all aspects of the commons are considered by the community. On the picture on the right, you can see what happens if one aspect is not taken care of. This creates a risk for the management of those particular commons.
The canvas helps communities see these risks early, so they can strengthen every part of the lifebuoy and keep their commons resilient.
Why this matters
Many community initiatives succeed and thrive on their own energy and creativity. But when external resources or partners — such as funding bodies, NGOs, or local authorities — are involved, additional requirements and expectations often enter the picture. These can create pressure for more formal rules, accountability systems, or decision-making structures.
The Commons Canvas helps communities prepare for these situations. By making governance, rules, and roles explicit, it provides a shared language between community members and external partners. This increases trust, reduces misunderstandings, and makes collaboration more equal and sustainable.
Open for everyone’s use
The Commons Canvas is published as a knowledge commons under an open license (CC BY-SA 4.0). This means any community, NGO, or network is free to use, adapt, translate, or share it, if credit is given and the results are kept open for others too.
» Download the Commons Canvas here
Call to action
The Commons Canvas is still evolving, and every community that uses it helps improve it. Try it out with your group or initiative, and let us know what worked well — and what could be made clearer. Your feedback will help strengthen the tool for communities everywhere.