TransHarbor has a two-part structure:

1. The Swiss Association (Mission Guardian)

There’s a nonprofit in Switzerland that owns the mission:

  • The IP for the open source code
  • The “TransHarbor” name and branding
  • The servers and infrastructure

This Association has one purpose permanently locked into its founding documents: serving trans and nonbinary communities.

That mission cannot be removed. Ever.

Even if every board member voted to change it, that change would be void. The mission is constitutionally protected.

The Association runs all the technical infrastructure and servers. The mission is protected in a jurisdiction that respects privacy.

2. The Wyoming Nonprofit (Community Operations)

There’s a US nonprofit (called a UNA) that:

  • Manages the community (moderation, support, communications)
  • Handles the day-to-day

The UNA is what enables the community to own the app. However, the UNA doesn’t own anything itself. It operates under a partnership with the Swiss Association. If the UNA ever starts acting against the mission, the Swiss Association can shut it down and start over.

What This Costs

A few hundred dollars per year. That’s it.

  • Swiss Association: Free to form
  • Wyoming UNA: Free to file
  • Technical Infrastructure and Servers: The servers are donated and we volunteer time and expertise to run them
  • Mobile App Development: Volunteer development
  • Moderation: Volunteer moderation by trans community members

No investors. No venture capital. No board seats for sale.

Why Mission Protection Matters

The mission is the foundation. Without a protected mission, everything else falls apart:

  • Companies can buy the platform and change it
  • Boards can vote to monetize or shut down
  • Investors can demand changes that harm the community
  • Political pressure can force compromises
  • “Community ownership” becomes meaningless

Mission lock changes this. The community-driven, trans-centered purpose is in the Swiss Association’s DNA. It cannot be removed. Anyone trying to change it has no power - the mission stays regardless.

The Swiss layer protects the mission. Even if political climates worsen anywhere in the world, even if someone tries to buy us - the Swiss Association owns everything and can shut down bad actors to protect the mission.

The code being open source protects the mission. If TransHarbor ever betrays the mission, you can fork the code and start over. The mission can continue even if we fail.

What Could Threaten the Mission

Let me be real - mission protection isn’t perfect:

We could lose focus. Even with mission lock, we could make bad decisions that harm the community. The structure protects against intentional mission drift, not incompetence.

The community could fragment. Open source means anyone can fork. That’s a feature for mission protection, but it could split the community.

But here’s the thing: every other structure we can think of is worse for mission protection. This gives us the best shot at keeping the mission intact long-term.

Why We’re Sharing the Mission Structure

We open sourced all the legal documents (public domain, CC0 license). Any trans or queer community platform (or anyone else for that matter) can use this mission-protection structure.

This structure protects the mission. It’s not perfect, but it’s real.

TransHarbor is an experiment:

  • The mission is constitutionally locked
  • The code is open source
  • The governance can’t be bought
  • The community has real power
  • Nobody can change the mission and ruin it

Will it work? I don’t know, but I hope so.

A Note About Trust

I know “trust us, this structure protects you” is asking a lot. You should be skeptical. You should read the actual legal documents. You should understand what we’re claiming and what we’re not.

The structure is solid, but structures are run by people, and people fuck up. We will fuck up. The question is whether the structure can survive our fuckups and course-correct.

I think it can. The mission lock is real. The open source is real. The Swiss jurisdiction is real. The community governance is real.

But ultimately, you’ll decide if this is worth your trust and your time by seeing how we operate.

Final Thing

We built this because we’re tired. Tired of TERFs and chasers. Tired of losing spaces. Tired of platforms that start good and turn bad. Tired of not having somewhere we can call our forever home.

We wanted to build something that could last. Something where the mission can’t be removed even if everyone wants to remove it. Something that belongs to us in a way that can’t be easily taken away.

TransHarbor is that attempt.

Come build it with us.

PS: Yes, “TransHarbor Association” is technically a Swiss Verein and “Verein” sounds very serious and German, but it just means “association” and it’s how you make nonprofits in Switzerland. The important part is that it’s mission-locked and owns the IP. The UNA (Unincorporated Nonprofit Association) is the unglamorous Wyoming entity that does the actual work. Neither name is particularly sexy, but the structure is solid.

PPS: If you’re thinking “this sounds complicated” - it is! But it’s complicated in service of something simple: making sure this platform can’t be bought, sold, or compromised. Sometimes you need complicated legal structures to protect simple things like “safe spaces for trans people worldwide.”