Kin Foundation Overview

Foundation Mandate

The Kin Foundation’s mandate is to grow the reach and impact of the Kin Ecosystem, an open network of developers unified through the Kin currency.

The principal function of the Kin Foundation is the transparent governance and allocation of the Kin Reserves, which are intended to align incentives of ecosystem participants to grow the adoption of Kin and support the infrastructure that underpins it.

To fulfill its mandate, the Kin Foundation has dedicated resources to specific goals related to developer and user adoption, infrastructure support, research and development, and governance. This is done through a step-by-step process to create the space for iterative development and to test concepts and proposals, with the intent to further decentralize over time.

Governance Structure

Board of Directors

The Board of Directors has the overall responsibility to define the Kin Foundation’s strategy, manage and administer its assets, and to expand its capacity over time. The Board of Directors is appointed annually by the members and currently consists of two members: Ted Livingston, CEO of Kik Interactive Inc. and Founder of Kin, and William Mougayar, entrepreneur, startup investor, and author of The Business Blockchain. William Mougayar is currently the Executive Chairman of the Kin Foundation. Ted Livingston and Matthew Hannam are Board Directors.

Kin Representatives

In keeping with the Kin Foundation’s goal to facilitate the ecosystem’s transition to a decentralized and autonomous network, the Board created the Kin Representatives in March 2020. The purpose of the Kin Representatives is to be a conduit between the Kin Foundation and the community of developers and holders. 

Representatives actively participate in non-executive portions of monthly Board meetings, where the Board of Directors considers and votes on proposals that will impact the Ecosystem. Although Representatives are not voting members of the Board, they have the opportunity to participate in discussions and provide strategic, non binding advice, assistance and support to the Board to influence outcomes. Representatives are also considered to fill Board positions that may become available.

In April 2020, Matt Hannam became the first appointed Kin Representative. He was later joined by Will Gikandi. You can learn more about the Kin Representatives and how to get involved in this blog post: Announcing the Kin Representatives: The Next Phase of Kin Foundation Governance

Kin Community Council

The Kin Community Council was established in January 2020 to facilitate healthy and productive participation within the Kin Community and provide feedback in order to contribute to the development of the Kin Ecosystem. The Community Council is composed of 10 delegates selected from more than 30 applicants.