Contracts
Savimbo values Trust. Our contracts are open-source, Indigenous-led, and designed for international use across nature and climate markets. They are a living document — we're committed to continuous improvement. These contracts are not ready to copy and reuse without legal advice. We have more work to do, and we're doing it
Climate credit contracts
For Indigenous Peoples, local communities, and smallfarmers worldwide.
Year
2026
Our contracts
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![Indigenous women conservationists in the Darien gap biodiversity pilot program]()
Biodiversity pilot contract
Biodiversity pilots are no-strings-attached. We believe strongly that communities own their own data, and need an experiential trial period to assess project enrollment.
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![Smallfarmer enrolled in Savimbo ecological credits contract, Colombian jungle]()
Ecological credits contract
One contract covers all Savimbo ecological credit programs — written plainly, built for international markets, and designed to be understood without a lawyer.
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![Indigenous women conservationists in the Darien gap biodiversity pilot program]()
Beyond-carbon contract
The same ecological credits contract, configured for communities that don't want carbon. Biodiversity, water, and trees. All the same terms, carbon simply not offered or used as an example.
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![Indigenous environmental activist with jaguar, Savimbo recoverable grant program]()
Recoverable grant contract
These blended-finance contracts are designed to provide no-strings-attached pilot funding to Indigenous communities as they explore climate projects in a way that works for them.
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![eDNA consent photo frog]()
eDNA consents (in development)
A sample consent form with clear disclosure of how Human Genetic Bycatch (HGB) in eDNA sampling will be handled in lab, data, and open-repositories.
Biodiversity pilot contracts
No-strings trial period
LEGAL INNOVATIONS
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Our pilot contracts are exactly that — a pilot. No long-term commitments. Just clear permission for monitoring and data collection so we can demonstrate outcomes together. Walk away anytime.
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Communities can work with us anonymously at the start. Try the relationship, see how it feels, before any public association with Savimbo. Lower social risk, same conservation outcomes.
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Your land generates the data. You own it. We hold an unlimited license to use it for ecological crediting — that's what makes the credits work — but ownership never transfers to Savimbo. We do not resell your data under these contracts; any secondary use requires separate, explicit consent. During the trial period you retain the right to withdraw your data. After that, the license is permanent. We built this in because Indigenous and community data sovereignty isn't a feature, it's a right.
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We raise catalytic capital on behalf of communities that want to run full projects. Because anonymous fundraising is nearly impossible, we're explicit upfront about what that looks like — with real examples — before asking for permission. No surprises. No assumptions.
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Contracts should be readable. We wrote ours so any person — lawyer or not — can understand what they're signing. That's not an accident. It's a value.
Recoverable grant contracts
‘Blended’ or ‘braided’ finance
LEGAL INNOVATIONS
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Recoverable grants are an emerging public-private finance tool — used by Morgan Stanley Gift Foundation and other private donors to spur community-led innovation while derisking capital deployment. When a project succeeds and generates revenue, funds return to the donor for redeployment. When it doesn't, it's a write-off with impact. Capital extends further, communities get real investment, and investors aren't exposed to pure grant risk. Everyone wins more often.
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Genuine free, prior, and informed consent takes time. In our experience, about six months of hands-on training and tools before a community can truly understand what they're committing to. We invest that upfront — technology, education, field experience — before asking for long-term commitments. Recoverable grants are how we derisk that investment for funders: capital that returns if the project moves forward, written off if it doesn't. Communities get the informed part of FPIC. Funders get a structured entry point. No strings, both directions.
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Win-win or no deal. Before any long-term agreement, communities should feel free to walk away — and leave better off than when we met. That's the intent of recoverable grants. A community that says "no deal" should still have more tools, more knowledge, and a better relationship with climate markets than they did before. A good exit is a success too.
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Contracts should be readable. We wrote ours so any person — lawyer or not — can understand what they're signing. That's not an accident. It's a value.
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These contracts run through our charitable arm, Empulsive Ink — a US 501(c)(3) nonprofit (EIN 88-1869344). The distinction matters: Savimbo the business can be selective about partners; the charity is open to the public. That means Empulsive Ink can receive recoverable grants for other business partners who meet our quality standards, and can serve communities with no Savimbo business relationship at all — as long as they qualify under the charity's aims. One structure, two doors.
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Blended finance is hard. International blended finance is harder. We've structured our recoverable grant terms to work for everyone at the table — appealing to communities, acceptable to donors, and legally clean for both our business and charitable arms. Social enterprise isn't a label we wear; it's an operational constraint we've built around.
Ecological credits contract
Biodiversity · Water · Trees · Carbon
LEGAL INNOVATIONS
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One contract. All Savimbo ecological credit programs. General terms apply universally; program-specific terms activate only for what you enroll in. Sign once, add programs as your conservation work grows.
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Your land generates the data. You own it. We hold an unlimited license to use it for ecological crediting — that's what makes the credits work — but ownership never transfers to Savimbo. We do not resell your data under these contracts; any secondary use requires separate, explicit consent. During the trial period you retain the right to withdraw your data. After that, the license is permanent. We built this in because Indigenous and community data sovereignty isn't a feature, it's a right.
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We removed financial penalties entirely. Communities on the frontlines of climate change and economic instability shouldn't be penalized for contract interruptions beyond their control. Instead, we're selective upfront — every Grower accepted has already demonstrated a track record of grassroots conservation.
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Where we can, we pay before credits are sold. It's not always feasible, but it's a priority as Savimbo scales. We're working toward making this standard.
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We pay gross revenue share — not net. Easier to understand, easier to verify. Savimbo's operational costs come out of our portion, not yours. Most programs pay when credits are sold and matched to your land. Some programs, like Trees, pay on initial verified outcomes. Your contract specifies which applies.
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Contracts should be readable. We wrote ours so any person — lawyer or not — can understand what they're signing. That's not an accident. It's a value.
Ecological credits contract
Biodiversity · Water · Trees
LEGAL INNOVATIONS
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One contract. All Savimbo ecological credit programs. General terms apply universally; program-specific terms activate only for what you enroll in. Sign once, add programs as your conservation work grows.
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Your land generates the data. You own it. We hold an unlimited license to use it for ecological crediting — that's what makes the credits work — but ownership never transfers to Savimbo. We do not resell your data under these contracts; any secondary use requires separate, explicit consent. During the trial period you retain the right to withdraw your data. After that, the license is permanent. We built this in because Indigenous and community data sovereignty isn't a feature, it's a right.
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We removed financial penalties entirely. Communities on the frontlines of climate change and economic instability shouldn't be penalized for contract interruptions beyond their control. Instead, we're selective upfront — every Grower accepted has already demonstrated a track record of grassroots conservation.
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Where we can, we pay before credits are sold. It's not always feasible, but it's a priority as Savimbo scales. We're working toward making this standard.
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We pay gross revenue share — not net. Easier to understand, easier to verify. Savimbo's operational costs come out of our portion, not yours. Most programs pay when credits are sold and matched to your land. Some programs, like Trees, pay on initial verified outcomes. Your contract specifies which applies.
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Contracts should be readable. We wrote ours so any person — lawyer or not — can understand what they're signing. That's not an accident. It's a value.
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Carbon has a complicated history in Indigenous territories. Many communities have experienced extractive, poorly structured carbon contracts that didn't deliver on their promises — or worse, compromised their sovereignty. Our ecological credits programs — biodiversity, water, trees, and more — were designed as an alternative path. If you have an existing carbon agreement, that's not a barrier. We coordinate. If you don't want carbon at all, you don't need it.
eDNA consents
Ethics
LEGAL INNOVATIONS
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eDNA sampling is being widely applied cross market, we can’t fully anticipate how it will work in future in ecological programs this is a consent at the data collection level.
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Rights to human genetic sequences are asserted, and control over laboratory processing, destruction of samples, and post-processing of data are defined.
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Contracts should be readable. We wrote ours so any person — lawyer or not — can understand what they're signing. That's not an accident. It's a value.
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This is a highly experimental protocol. Please see the Case study here for how it was developed and why.
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We encourage practitioners to fork and clone this protocol to improve it. It will be hosted publicaly on GitHub for this purpose.
Open feedback
Our contracts are open-source legal innovation. We actively want feedback — from communities, lawyers, and partners — to make them fairer and more useful across the industry. Fair contracts are fair trade. If you see something that could be better, tell us.