Seasonal Funding Process
Background
The seasonal funding process started in Season 1, and has slowly evolved over time. In its current form, the process is governed by the Grants Committee as per Section 7.1 of our Constitution. Section 7.1 doesn’t go into much detail, so this article is meant to document seasonal funding process and requirements.
The latest DAO input came in Oct 2023 on the forum in [TEMP CHECK] BanklessDAO Grants Reform. This document takes this feedback into account.
Eligibility
According to the TEMP CHECK above…
- Only Departments and Guilds are eligible for seasonal funding. Project can follow the regular grant procedure to request a grant at any time.
- Only L1 members and above are eligible for grants.
- Only DAO units in good standing are eligible for grants. To be in good standing…
- DAO units must submit KPIs and information when GC requests them
- DAO units must not be led by leaders of units marked as Delinquent in Project List
- delinquent projects are those that have not submitted KPIs regularly after receiving grants
- DAO units must regularly update the DAO on their progress (via the Community Call)
Grant Requests
All grant requests must…
- use the appropriate template, pinned on our governance forum
- include a summary of the progress in the previous season
- include a plan for the following season
In addition…
- Department grant requests must include the Department’s purpose and 1-3 KPIs which show their strategy towards achieving their purpose.
- Guild grant requests must include the # and list of active members
Process Overview
The process looks like this from a high-level:
- Timeline - The current season specification on Snapshot will provide milestone dates for the season in the Operational Timeline, which includes when seasonal grant requests should be posted to the forum, Snapshot, etc.
- Posting Period - Departments/Guilds/Projects use the grant templates that are pinned on our forum to post their seasonal grant requests to the forum for review
- Review Period - Grants Committee assigns reviewers to each proposal who vet the proposal and the group, and decide whether or not to include the proposal in the seasonal funding Snapshot
- This will involve back-and-forth between the DAO unit and the Grant Reviewer to ask questions and agree upon KPIs (see: )KPI Process
- Seasonal Snapshot Proposals - The Grants Committee posts two proposals to Snapshot to gather DAO consensus on seasonal funding
- Seasonal Grant Proposal - This proposal asks the DAO whether or not funds from the BanklessDAO vault should be disbursed to cover the seasonal grant requests (Example: seasonal funding Snapshot proposal)
- Seasonal Guild Signaling - This proposal asks the DAO to signal support for guilds to get funding beyond the guild weekly flat rate, and requests these funds from the BanklessDAO vault (starting for S10 seasonal funding round)
- Seasonal Grant Disbursement - Assuming the above Snapshot proposals pass, the BanklessDAO Vault Multisig disburses the full amount to the GC, who then disburses grant funds as appropriate
Step-By-Step Process
- At the beginning of the season, Grants Committee checks the Operational Timeline dates in the current season’s seasonal spec on Snapshot, and creates tasks with due dates corresponding to the dates in the spec to help them remember when important dates are coming
- One week before the Posting Period starts, post an announcement in #announcements which…
- Reminds the community about the upcoming round
- Links to the grant templates (for Depts/Guilds/Projects)
- Reminds DAO units to include a poll in their proposal
- On the day the Posting Period starts, post an announcement similar to the above announcement
- During the Posting Period, GC members should feel free to start commenting and asking questions on the proposals themselves
- After the Posting Period ends, Grants Committee should create a spreadsheet to track all of the seasonal grant requests
- GC Leads should assign projects to reviewers in this spreadsheet
- post an announcement in #announcements which shares the spreadsheet with the DAO and encourages them to double-check it (turn on commenting, but NOT editing)
- During the Review Period, GC Reviewers will review proposals assigned to them (and others, if they wish). See “How to Review Grants Proposals” below for more details.
- Feel free to use our forum, Discord, or voice chats with contributors to vet their proposals
- Whether or a not a proposal is “approved” should be recorded in the spreadsheet
- Proposals who are not approved are free to go through the regular grant process (i.e. get forum consensus, then come to GC for a vote).
- After the Review Period, GC Leads will create a draft Seasonal Grant proposal for seasonal funding, and have it reviewed by the rest of the GC
- The more people who review the better, so feel free to share with more than just the Grants Committee
- Snapshot proposals - Post an announcement in #announcements to inform the DAO of these Snapshot proposals
- The BanklessDAO Vault Multisig posts the Seasonal Grant Proposal to Snapshot for DAO consensus
- The BanklessDAO Vault Multisig posts the Seasonal Guild Signaling Proposal to Snapshot for DAO consensus
- Assuming the above Snapshots pass, BanklessDAO Vault Multisig disburses the total amount to the Grants Committee
- The Grants Committee sends Departments and Guilds their seasonal funds as a Seasonal Grant Disbursement
- Post an announcement in #announcements to keep DAO units informed