--- title: what stewardship funding is designed to pay canonical_url: https://ensurance.app/guide/what-stewardship-funding-is-designed-to-pay markdown_url: https://ensurance.app/guide/what-stewardship-funding-is-designed-to-pay.md subtitle: the purchase pays the agent. holding is designed to pay three yields. splits and streams are what move today category: proceeds --- # what stewardship funding is designed to pay *the purchase pays the agent. holding is designed to pay three yields. splits and streams are what move today* The easement closed in the spring, and the grant that paid for the closing ended with it. The meadow is still there, and so is the work: the fence line after the snow, the cheatgrass before it seeds, the monitoring visit the deed requires every year. That season of stewardship happens whether or not anyone buys anything. **[Ensurance](https://ensurance.app/?from=guide)** is one way that work gets paid for. It is not the meadow, and it is not the grant. **Stewardship funding** is the money that pays for care after protection is signed: crews, monitoring, repairs, the long tail a closing grant rarely covers. Endowments, annual funds, and stewardship grants do this work, and they still should. The gap they leave after an easement is [its own subject](/guide/land-trust-stewardship-gap-perpetual-funding?from=guide). This post answers a narrower question, the one a steward asks once a certificate exists for their work: what does holding it pay, who receives it, and what is actually running today? ## the purchase is still the paycheck Start here, because everything after this section is secondary. When someone buys a **certificate**, the price goes to the agent that certificate names. That is the steward's account, or a split that names who shares the check. It does not pass through a coin pool. Jay's certificate funds Jay. Yours funds you. The buyer is paying the cost of the work, on a certificate that was issued on the value of what the work keeps. That purchase is the crew's money. It does not wait on anything else in this post. A **coin** works differently, and the difference matters if your group was allocated coins. When someone buys a coin, their money goes into the pool. If you sell your allocation to make payroll, you are selling into that pool, and the price drops for everyone holding it. A coin buyer bought a place in a pool. A certificate buyer paid for the work. Holder yields do not come out of the steward's money. They do not. The purchase price already reached the agent when the certificate sold. What holding pays is a separate, later payment to whoever holds the certificate. :::johnson **the purchase pays the steward. holding is designed to pay the holder.** The first payment is live the moment a certificate sells. The second is the design for what holding returns over time. [read the certificate rules →](/manual/certificates?from=guide) ::: ## three yields, by what you hold Holding a certificate is designed to pay three yields. Each one is defined by who holds what, not by a number. | yield | who it pays | why they qualify | |---|---|---| | Agent yield | Holders of that one certificate | The certificate names that agent | | Group yield | Holders of the certificates in that group | The agent belongs to a group, such as a watershed's or a trust's namespace | | Protocol yield | Holders of any certificate | Every certificate is an equal share of one contract | The third row is the one people miss. Every certificate is a token on a single contract, so each one is an equal share of the whole. Someone holding a meadow certificate and someone holding a creek certificate two states away stand in the same place for the protocol yield. Each certificate still names who gets paid when it is bought. The three scopes are one certificate, the set of certificates in a group, and every certificate. Within a scope, a distribution is pro rata to the supply in that scope. Hold more of the certificates in scope and you receive more of that distribution. ## what moves today Splits and streams already route money where they are pointed. A **split** names who shares a payment, such as a steward, a crew lead, or a partner trust, and divides it every time money arrives. A **stream** pays out over time instead of in one lump. Some splits are tied to certificates, so a certificate's purchase price can land in a split that already knows who shares it. This runs on [0xSplits](https://splits.org), open infrastructure for onchain payment routing. The [proceeds map](/proceeds?from=guide) shows where the splits point. For a steward, this is the money that moves today. A split pays the names written in it, and a certificate's price can land in one. If a split or stream is pointed at you, money moves. The agent's owner sets that when the certificate or the split is created. ## what is still being built The batch engine that would pay every holder those three yields automatically is specified and still being built. The design takes a snapshot of who holds what in each scope, then pays those holders in batches. Until it ships, nobody should tell a holder that three checks are arriving in their wallet. They are not. Say this to a board or a buyer in plain words. It costs you nothing, because the purchase already paid the crew, and it keeps the conversation honest. The three yields are the design of what holding pays. Splits and streams are what move today. ## who receives a distribution The manual's rule is short. Only a member who holds the certificate in a wallet connected to an agent receives a distribution. A member means someone with an agent account. A holder who keeps the certificate in a marketplace wallet with no agent account does not receive one. That limit is deliberate. It is the reason to hold through an agent, and it is the line to read before you tell a holder anything: [distribution eligibility, in the certificate manual](/manual/certificates?from=guide). ## when a holder wants out A holder who wants out will eventually ask how, and the answer is the exchange (a floor in `$ENSURE`, or a one-for-one swap for another certificate), which is built and not switched on yet; [post 5](/guide/how-to-fund-a-restoration-crew?from=guide) covers it. ## frequently asked questions ### what does stewardship funding pay the holder? Three yields, as the design: agent yield from the one certificate they hold, group yield across the certificates in that group, and protocol yield because every certificate is an equal share of one contract. The purchase itself already paid the steward. That is a separate payment from what holding is designed to pay. ### do i get three checks now? No. Splits and streams route money today wherever they are pointed. The batch engine that would pay all three yields to every eligible holder automatically is specified and still being built. ### who is eligible? Members who hold the certificate in a wallet connected to their agent. A certificate held in an outside marketplace wallet with no agent account does not receive distributions. ### is there a rate? No. There is no number here and none is advertised. The three yields describe who holding is designed to pay: that agent's holders, that group's holders, and every holder. They are the design, not an advertised return. ### does the holder's yield come out of the steward's purchase price? No. The purchase price went to the agent the certificate names when it sold. Any yield to holders is a separate, later payment. ## next Post 5 is the conversation a crew lead has when a buyer asks how to get out: [how to fund a restoration crew](/guide/how-to-fund-a-restoration-crew?from=guide). If your trust or council wants a certificate that names your work, [talk to someone who can set it up](/contact?from=guide&topic=certificate-paycheck). For land trusts and stewardship groups, start with [the land stewards page](/solutions/land-stewards?from=guide&topic=certificate-paycheck). ## the series 1. [how conservation fundraising reaches the crew](/guide/how-conservation-fundraising-reaches-the-crew?from=guide) 2. [how to fund a watershed](/guide/how-to-fund-a-watershed?from=guide) 3. [how land trust fundraising pays the trust](/guide/how-land-trust-fundraising-pays-the-trust?from=guide) 4. [what stewardship funding is designed to pay](/guide/what-stewardship-funding-is-designed-to-pay?from=guide) 5. [how to fund a restoration crew](/guide/how-to-fund-a-restoration-crew?from=guide)