We're a small nonprofit run by volunteers — replies come from a person, usually within a week.
A fair question for any intentional community — so here's the anatomy. Cults have leaders; we're leaderless by design, with rotating facilitation and annually elected coordinators. Cults take money; we have no dues, fees, or donations required. Cults isolate you from your life; we exist to enrich it. Cults make leaving hard; you can leave with a text message. No doctrine, no politics, no religion — just dinner every two weeks with people who show up.
We select for character, never status — profession, income, education, age, and politics are explicitly irrelevant. The goal is compatibility, not exclusivity: a circle only works if everyone in it is genuine, kind, and reliable. And the model is deliberately non-exclusive at the system level — when a chapter fills, we start another. Anyone can be referred; anyone can start a chapter, anywhere in the world.
Nothing, in money. Costs are shared organically — you bring a dish to the potluck, someone hosts, someone drives. The real cost is commitment: gatherings every two weeks, showing up for members in hard moments, and keeping confidences. Membership is free; the commitment is not.
Membership is by referral because trust has to start somewhere. If you don't know a member, you have two honest paths: write to us and tell us about yourself — we sometimes arrange coffee with members in your city — or start a chapter where you live. The founders of every future circle started exactly where you are.
Sometimes the answer is "not this circle, not right now" — a full chapter, or a fit question. It isn't a judgment of your worth. We'll tell you honestly, keep you in mind as new circles form in your city, and you're always welcome to found one.
Missing occasionally is human — life happens, and the circle covers for you. Disappearing is different: if you stop showing up, someone will check on you first (that's the point of the whole thing), and if the commitment no longer fits your life, you can step away gracefully. Fifteen only works if the seats are held by people who are actually there.
A registered nonprofit with founding members in Naples, Florida — architects, not leaders. The organization is explicitly designed so that founders become unnecessary: chapters self-govern, the playbook is open to any city, and no individual's departure — including a founder's — interrupts a single circle.
Application answers are read only by the members involved in your process. Well-being survey data is published only in aggregate, anonymized. And inside the circle, anything a member marks confidential stays there — that rule is the foundation everything else stands on.