Trust Agreement Template
Client. TIESS (Innovative Territories in the Social and Solidarity Economy)
Service. Simplification of legal content and processes
Vision. Promote data sharing for projects with social and environmental impact through social data trusts and legal design
Prices ClearMarks recognize the best in plain language communications (in English, French, and Spanish) across North America.
Our client
TIESS is a nonprofit organization.
Their mission: to contribute to regional development through knowledge transfer by equipping social and solidarity economy organizations so they can address societal challenges in innovative ways and transform their practices.
Our Mission
TIESS has asked us to simplify their data trust agreement template.
What is a data trust agreement template?
This tool is designed to help those who wish to do so create a social data trust. This guide will help them draft the founding document (the articles of incorporation) that establishes the legal and structural foundations of the trust. This tool is like a recipe that helps us understand the basics of the dish we’re cooking (the trust), but also allows us to adapt it to our tastes and needs.
In this case, the subject matter is complex. Indeed, trusts can be a very abstract concept for non-lawyers. Social-purpose data trusts are even more so, since they are a new concept introduced by the TIESS.
Our goals:
To facilitate the establishment of trusts for all interested organizations or individuals
To assist them in drafting the founding document—the deed—which establishes the legal and structural foundations of the trust.
-
![]()
Step 1: Analyze the template and its supporting documentation
Documentation. The trust agreement template was one of seven documents that needed to be reviewed to establish a data trust. Our analysis revealed issues not only with the template itself but also with the entire ecosystem of related documents. The number of documents to review and their level of detail made it difficult to understand an already complex subject.
We have therefore adjusted the scope of our mandate to include not only simplifying the template, but also simplifying the overall user experience and user journeys.
-
![Persona Profiles]()
Step 2: Gather feedback from potential users
Persona profiles that summarize the findings of our user research (interviews and user tests). The interviews helped us identify users’ expectations and needs, and the UX tests helped us identify issues related to the document and possible solutions. We interviewed 8 people who represent the template’s primary users, namely:
The initial settlors and trustees: those who wish to establish this type of trust.
Advisors: those who assist the original settlors and trustees in establishing a trust.
-
![]()
Step 3: Map and Analyze the User Journey
A closer look at the user experience map, which illustrates the various steps required to establish a trust and the friction points that hinder the workflow. The two main friction points were:
Information overload. For example, the template contained a great deal of legal and theoretical information that was useful for advisors but not necessary for the initial grantors and trustees.
The lack of an overall view. The large number of documents, combined with a lack of clarity regarding their purpose and the absence of clear steps, increased the risk of users giving up, in addition to hindering their understanding.
-
![]()
Step 4: Ideation and Recommendations
New, streamlined process and recommendations. We have redesigned and simplified the documentation by creating four documents that outline the steps to follow. This ensures that users see only the information that is relevant to them, at the right time.
We also recommended that TIESS clarify the purpose of each document, who it is intended for, and which stage of the process it corresponds to. These clarifications allow users to save time and energy, which they can then reinvest directly in reading the documents, thereby enhancing their understanding. These additions enable TIESS to offer a more transparent experience to its users, which can boost their engagement.
Results
Each of our recommendations is based on concrete facts derived from our user research and our analysis of the template and its documentation. This approach allows us to promote an intuitive and streamlined user experience.
To see how TIESS has put our advice into practice, you can check out their tools:
The tool underlying the mandate
The new documents we recommended that TIESS create to replace the rest of the document collection
Where should I start?
It's easy. Every client started by just having a chat with us.