The Common Hearts Charter
Founding Charter, First Edition, October 2026
What We Stand For
Common Hearts stands for love. Love is what holds a community together when nothing else will, and what lets it do what nobody thought it could. Everything else we stand for grows from it. Community, so that a town knows its own people and provides for itself. Resilience, so that the young and the old are looked after, and no one faces hard times alone. Sovereignty, so that every community is free to shape its own future.
What a Commitment Means
A Common Hearts commitment is a choice we make freely and with open eyes, in good faith and in plain view, meaning the best for everyone it touches. We keep it out of respect for one another, not because anything binds us to it: trust here is given, not owed. A commitment can grow and change as we do, and as our towns do, and this Charter will have new editions as it does. Every relationship in a town matters to what we are building. In committing to our community we each bring something no one else can, we leave room for each other's paths to change, and we hold to the one thing that holds everything else: love.
My Common Heart Commitment
When I join Common Hearts, I commit to helping my community in every way I can, for the common good.
Local first. I will buy first from the people who grow, make and provide in my town, know them by name, and champion them.
Open and honest. I will be fair in all my dealings, and hide nothing.
Everyone welcome. I will make room for anyone, whoever they are and whatever they bring.
No one left behind. I will look out for the young and the old of my town, and stand with my neighbours in hard times.
Leave it better. I will hand on the land and my town in better shape than I found them.
Do no harm. I will never gain at anyone's expense.
Come to the table. At my town's Harvest Festival I will share a meal with my neighbours. Where we differ, I will seek understanding first.
One voice. When my town speaks as one, I will be part of it, and I will share Common Hearts with everyone I know.
My Commitment as a Provider
Providers are the people who grow, make or provide for their town: growers, farmers, trades, health practitioners, artists, musicians, everyone. As a Provider I keep my Common Heart Commitment, and add these.
Local first. I will offer what I provide to my own town first, and look to my town when I need hands.
Open and honest. I will tell you what I provide and how I provide it, and you are welcome to come and see.
No one left behind. When the people I provide for need me most, I will be there.
Leave it better. I will do what I do with care, and do it better every year.
Do no harm. I will never take advantage of the people I provide for, and I will treat the people who work with me fairly.
Come to the table. At my town's Harvest Festival I will bring what I do: my food, my craft, my music or my hands.