Forum Cooperative is a Citizen-Owned Civic Utility Empowering Verified Voters in both Private and Public Sector Communities.
Forum Cooperative is a Citizen-Owned Civic Utility Empowering Verified Voters in both Private and Public Sector Communities.
A fiduciary is a person or organization that has a legal and ethical duty to act in the best interests of another party, putting that party's interests ahead of their own.
This relationship is built on trust and requires the fiduciary to exercise care, loyalty, and good faith when making decisions or managing assets on behalf of their client or beneficiary.
Fiduciaries can face legal consequences if they breach this duty by acting in ways that benefit themselves at the expense of those they serve.
Forum’s fiduciary commitment relies on Data Trust accountability mechanisms that distinguish the Co-op from more common data-sharing or data-exploiting corporate data miners (Think: Meta, Google & Amazon).
This means, as the trustee, Forum must guarantee the privacy and security of all Co-op member generated data, restricing the public release of that data to the aggregate reporting of anonymized member responses to the Co-op’s verified polls, surveys, proposals and petitions.
Importantly, this fiduciary duty extends beyond mere compliance with data protection regulations to encompass proactive stewardship, ensuring that data is collected, stored, and utilized in ways that maximize value for individuals and the Co-op while minimizing potential harms such as discrimination, exploitation, or unauthorized disclosure.
This commitment creates an enforceable legal recourse for any members whose data rights may be violated, while also building community confidence in the co-op’s data-driven initiatives.