Sovereign Database
Your own private database — just for your community.
A paid add-on that gives your Village its own private, dedicated place for its information — so your data sits on its own, not shared with anyone.
What this is
Every Village already keeps your information safe and separate from every other community on the platform. That is how it works as standard, and it is well proven. The Sovereign Database add-on goes one step further: your community gets its own private database — a separate place of its own — so your information is never stored alongside anyone else's.
Two levels of keeping your data apart
Standard (included)
Included with every Village
Your information is kept in a shared database and separated by your community's own private label, so only your Village can see it. This is the same trusted approach most online services use. It is safe and well tested.
Sovereign Database (add-on)
—/month
Your information lives in its own private database, just for your community, on New Zealand-owned infrastructure. Because your data is not in the same place as anyone else's, a mistake in another community's setup can never reach it.
Standard is like having your own locked filing cabinet in a shared office. The Sovereign Database is like having your own locked room in a separate building. Both keep your information safe — one just adds an extra wall around it.
What you get
Your own private database
- Your own dedicated database, just for your community
- Held on New Zealand-owned infrastructure, operated by Catalyst Cloud in Wellington
- Your information is scrambled (encrypted) while it is stored, so it can't be read if the storage is ever taken
- A fresh backup is made every day and kept safe for 30 days
- Same Village, same features, same support — the only thing that changes is where your information is kept
- You can download your own information any time, in open formats
Infrastructure you can check
- Your data is held in New Zealand, under New Zealand law
- It is not exposed to foreign data-access laws that reach data held by overseas-owned companies
- Nothing leaves New Zealand unless you choose it
- You can ask for a report on how and where your data is held, any time
Who this is for
The Sovereign Database is for communities where keeping data apart is a rule to meet, not just a nice-to-have.
Boards and governance groups
Boards that look after decisions, money and correspondence often have rules about keeping records separate and safe. Your own private database gives them the extra assurance those rules ask for.
Whānau and hapū groups
Whakapapa, pūrākau and tikanga carry responsibilities that go beyond ordinary data protection. Your own private database means this taonga is held on its own, apart from everyone else's, under New Zealand law.
Associations and businesses
For member records, client details and financial information, keeping your data on its own reduces the risk of it being caught up in someone else's problem.
Standard vs Sovereign Database
| Feature | Standard (included) | Sovereign Database |
|---|---|---|
| Where your data is kept | Shared database, private to your Village | Its own private database |
| Kept apart by | Software (your Village's private label) | A separate database of its own |
| Where it's held | Shared servers (Europe + NZ) | New Zealand only, operated by Catalyst Cloud in Wellington |
| Scrambled while stored | Yes | Yes |
| Daily backups | Yes | Yes, kept 30 days, scrambled |
| Risk from another community | Guarded by software | Removed — nothing is shared |
| Foreign data-access laws | Not exposed | Not exposed (NZ-owned) |
| Which country's law | Europe + NZ | New Zealand only |
| Village features | All of them | All of them (identical) |
| Record of who did what | Yes | Yes, plus an infrastructure report on request |
Pricing
The Sovereign Database is a flat monthly add-on to any Village — one fixed price, the same every month, whatever the size of your community. No per-user, per-GB, or per-query charges. The price reflects the real cost of running a dedicated database on New Zealand-owned infrastructure, and may change at most once a year (capped at 10% or inflation).
The monthly price covers your private database, scrambling, daily backups, and keeping those backups for 30 days. Storage inside your database is included. If your data grows beyond what's set aside, we'll talk it through with you before anything changes — no surprise invoices.
How it works
When you add a Sovereign Database, we set up a private database just for your community and move your existing information across from the shared database into your own. From then on:
- Everything in your Village (stories, members, events, documents, messages) is kept in your own private database
- Your Village looks and works exactly the same — your members won't notice any difference
- Your information is scrambled while it is stored
- A backup is made every day, scrambled, and kept for 30 days
- If you ever stop the add-on, we move your information back to the shared database — nothing is lost
Moving your data takes one short pause
We handle the move. There's a short window (usually under 30 minutes) when your Village is read-only while we do it. Your members are told in advance. Nothing is lost.
Where your data lives
Your own private database is held in New Zealand, on infrastructure owned and run here, under New Zealand law.
This matters because data held by overseas-owned companies — even on servers in your own country — can be reached by foreign authorities under their own laws, sometimes without the owner ever knowing. Data held on New Zealand-owned infrastructure is not open to that.
For groups with legal, cultural or governance responsibilities around where their data lives, this is not a "what if". It is simply where your data is.
Interested in a Sovereign Database?
Get in touch and we'll talk through what your community needs — how we set it up, how we move your information across, and reduced rates for qualifying groups.
Register your interest
Let us know you'd like to hear more about the Sovereign Database. All it takes is an email — nothing to sign.