Relationship to the wider ecosystem — PROVE Institute

The Proven Improvement Evaluation (PIE) methodology that Provers apply is licensed from Earth Returns. That licence is the whole of the relationship.

Certified Provers are granted the right to apply the PIE methodology in their work. The Institute trains them in it, examines them on it, and upholds the conduct around it. Beyond that licence, the two organisations are separate.

We state this relationship rather than understate it. A body whose product is trust cannot afford an unexplained connection; it can afford a clearly-bounded one.

What the relationship is
A licence to apply the PIE methodology, granted to certified Provers.
A defined, documented intellectual-property arrangement.
What it is not
Not an equity stake, in either direction.
Not shared governance, board seats or common control.
Not a share of any revenue a Prover or Improver earns downstream.

The terms "PIE", "KiniCo", "KiniAurum" and related marks belong to Earth Returns and are used here only to describe the methodology Provers are licensed to apply. The Institute's certification of a Prover is independent of any commercial use that Earth Returns or any Improver makes of a verified outcome.