The participant journey.
Six steps from application through completion. Each step has clear expectations, defined activities, and a published timeline. The Foundational Architecture Framework™ governs throughout.
Apply to the Program
Step 1 — Apply.
Organizations apply through the Apply page. Most applications complete in twenty to thirty minutes. Applications run on a published cohort schedule.
Step 2 — Review.
Each application is reviewed against published eligibility criteria and current cohort capacity. Review takes two to three weeks. Evaluation considers organizational eligibility, readiness for active institution-building work, and program fit.
Step 3 — Selection.
Selected applicants receive an offer to participate. Specific cost-share contribution is set at this stage. Foundational Pathway subsidization, where requested, is determined here. Applicants not selected receive specific feedback.
Step 4 — Onboarding.
Selected participants complete a structured onboarding within thirty days. Onboarding includes the signed program participation agreement, cost-share per the agreed schedule, intake interview with program staff, organizational document collection, AI Use Disclosure, and introduction to the cohort.
Step 5 — Program.
Thirty-six months. Participants work through the three phases of the Framework — Diagnostic, Architecture, Installation — alongside cohort peers. Program staff conduct monthly progress reviews and quarterly outcome reviews with the participant's governing body.
Step 6 — Completion.
Participants receive a final outcomes report, a complete archive of the institutional artifacts they have authored, and an alumni relationship with Settled Ground, Inc. The Program Completion Standard governs completion.
Cohort norms and confidentiality.
Participants share working sessions with cohort peers across tracks. Cohort norms are documented in the Cohort Norms and Confidentiality Policy and signed at onboarding.
- Confidential organizational data, financials, and information are not discussed in cohort sessions without explicit consent.
- Cohort sessions address shared structural challenges. Organization-specific confidentiality matters do not enter cohort settings.
- Participants opt out of any cohort topic without penalty. Direct technical support is unaffected.
- Program staff are bound by confidentiality on all participant information. AI tools handle participant data per the AI Use Disclosure.
Withdrawal and refund.
Participants withdraw at any time. The Withdrawal and Refund Policy governs.
- Within fourteen days of program start — full refund of cost-share contributed.
- Day fifteen through program midpoint — fifty percent refund of cost-share contributed.
- After midpoint — no refund. The participant retains all institutional artifacts authored to that point.
Where program staff and participant agree in good faith that the program is not the right fit, enrollment is discontinued and full refund of unused cost-share is provided regardless of timing.
The Program Completion Standard.
Completion is structural. A participant completes the program when the institutional artifacts have been authored to standard and demonstrated organizational change is recorded against the diagnostic baseline.
The Standard does not guarantee specific funding outcomes or specific organizational growth. Funding decisions belong to funders. Growth depends on participant execution. The institution installs the architecture; the participant builds on it.