In-Kind Standard

Who prepares this work, and who pays for it

Working draft · Version 0.5 · 12 November 2026 · Released

Prepared by Timothy Smith · Citizen-prepared working draft · Not legal advice

Except where otherwise noted, this page is licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The name In-Kind Standard and its logo are not licensed, and material quoted from others stays under its own terms.

This page is about In-Kind Standard, a citizen-prepared, nonpartisan project that writes free model documents Florida counties may use when a large data center seeks to locate there, and keeps a public record of what Florida counties and cities have done. The work is prepared by one person: its founder, Timothy Smith, a private citizen. AI tools help draft and check the work, and the founder reviews every item and decides what is published, except work the founder steps aside from because of a tie, meaning a connection that might be, or look like, a conflict of interest. Such work waits until someone without the tie can prepare and check it (Conflict of Interest Policy, section 3.5). The founder's ties, and the decisions on them, are listed in "The Founder's Ties and Decisions" (the same policy, sections 3.4 and 9). Once the project's main website is live, it will show that list on the page that says who prepares the work; until then, and afterwards too, the list is sent to anyone who asks at contact@inkindstandard.org.

No client, funder, company, county, government or political party asks for the work, directs it or reviews it before it is published. No one but the founder has paid for it: the founder pays its small costs himself, and the project has received no money or other gifts. Every gift or grant from an organization will be published with the funder's name, the amount and its purpose, and no gift is accepted from an organization that will not be named; individuals who give $5,000 or more in a year will be published by name and amount, and smaller gifts as a total (Gift Acceptance Policy, section 5).

The project takes no money or other gifts, at any time, from developers, owners, operators or sponsors of data centers, of any size and in any state, or of a facility of another kind that its published model documents cover, in a state for which they are published. Nor does it take any, at any time, from a utility that is or may be a party to an agreement built on its model documents, or from a company it has found tied to such data centers or facilities (its funder screen); and it takes none from anyone else with a direct financial stake in how those documents are written or applied, while the stake lasts and, after it ends, for a waiting period still to be set (until then, such a gift is decided in the open). It takes none from political parties, campaigns, political committees or organizations whose main purpose is partisan, from any foreign government, or from a "foreign source of concern" as Florida law defines it (among them the governments, officials, political parties and organizations of the countries the law names, such as China and Russia, and people living there who are not U.S. citizens; the Gift Acceptance Policy, section 2.5, lists them all).

Gifts from advocacy groups, unions and business associations (other than trade associations of those with a direct financial stake, which are barred) are decided in the open, and are usually declined if the group campaigns for or against data centers or the other facilities its published model documents cover, on either side (the Gift Acceptance Policy, sections 2.2, 2.7 and 2.8).

The project explains, and never urges a county to decide a particular way (Political Neutrality Policy). The project has no organization of its own yet, and no fiscal sponsor (an established nonprofit that would oversee the work and hold its money) or board. No county has adopted its model documents, and no lawyer has reviewed the work.

Funders so far: none.

Fees so far: none. Fees for the project's courses and other services, such as talks, are published here each year as a total, apart from gifts, with the part paid by public bodies (Gift Acceptance Policy, section 5.4).

The Founder's Ties and Decisions

Record · updated as needed · started 5 November 2026 · Released 12 November 2026, for the project's website

Prepared by Timothy Smith · Citizen-prepared working draft · Not legal advice

Except where otherwise noted, this document is licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The name In-Kind Standard and its logo are not licensed, and material quoted from others stays under its own terms.

What this is. The list of the ties of Timothy Smith, the founder of In-Kind Standard, and of the founder's own decisions on them while the advisory committee cannot act, kept under the Conflict of Interest Policy, sections 3.4 and 9. Section numbers given without a policy's name are that policy's. It will be shown on the project's main website, on the page that says who prepares the work, once that website is live. Until then, and afterwards too, it is sent to anyone who asks (contact@inkindstandard.org). Each version passes the Neutrality Test (Political Neutrality Policy, section 3.13) before it is shown or sent. It names no household member and no private individual other than the founder. "The Record" means the County Record, the project's public record of what Florida counties and cities have done about the kinds of large facilities it has entries on, such as data centers.

Known gaps. No organization has adopted the Conflict of Interest Policy, and no lawyer has reviewed it. The advisory committee has not been formed, so no one independent of the founder has checked the list of ties or reviewed any decision below; each decision waits for its review (section 9, point 3). The founder's first yearly statement (section 6) is not yet due.

Ties

The founder has one tie to disclose, listed below under section 2, item 7, which covers anything else that might be, or look like, a conflict of interest. On 12 November 2026 the founder confirmed holding none of the ties in items 1 to 6: work and money ties; political ties; seeking or holding public office, or holding party office; public statements about a company or its owner; an official legal position for a party; and ties to a funder.

Decisions on the founder's own ties (section 9, point 2)

Change log

The policies this page names are working drafts not yet published here.

Page updated 14 November 2026.