Authors
DAO Core Contributors
Summary
The Merit Circle DAO consists of large quantities of talented individuals all having their expertise in their respective fields. For the purpose of stimulating these individuals to step up and contribute to the Merit Circle DAO, we propose that the DAO forms a committee that is granted the right to offer relatively small grants that will allow these developers/creators to focus on their project for a brief period of time. This period is meant to quickly figure out whether there’s product market fit, and whether the project requires additional funding.
Abstract
The Community Research Grant offers enthusiastic members in our DAO a chance to pitch in and help contribute towards the development of the Merit Circle ecosystem. The idea of this program was born out of a response to the overwhelming amount of interest shown by community members in adding value to the DAO. With such an international group of backers, members and project founders; we noticed the large pool of untapped skills and expertise that is waiting to be unleashed.
We’ve seen multiple proposals pass our governance inbox in the last couple of months. Some are well thought out and well written; others are onto a good idea, but maybe a bit immature. This program aims to give that little push in the back to bring your thoughts into reality.
The goal here is to create an environment that lowers the threshold for community members to contribute to the DAO and in which great ideas are presented in a form that respects the idea’s true potential. To make things clear, we’re looking at two different kinds of grants here;
- Research grant: The grant is set at a maximum of $10,000 per applicant, which will be distributed by the DAO to researcher(s), for the expenses that are incurred while working on their project’s proposal. The intent for this grant is to lead up to a larger proposal, on which the community will vote. This will be for proposals exceeding the limits of this grant.
When publishing the grants and thereby opening up for applicants, we will be sharing a more elaborate breakdown of expectations for these applications. However, to illustrate the expectations, and why in some cases a budget might be required to draft a proposal, please see below;
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Each application should include a breakdown of the required budget, which will be made public
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Each applicant will write weekly, bi-weekly or monthly progress reports dependant on the project and its complexity
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Each accepted application will either lead up to a proposal on the governance forum, or an explanation why the project doesn’t seem fruitful after the research process
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When the aim of the application is to create a new product for the Merit Circle DAO, we will advise you to create a prototype to properly illustrate your product. This will be an important indicator of the capabilities of the applicant.
It must be clear that the budget will not be granted for the person merely writing the proposal. The budget is there to spend on external working hours creating a prototype, graphic design or any kind of work the applicant is not able to do themselves.
- Development grant: The grant is set at a maximum of $25,000 per applicant, which will be distributed by the DAO to developer(s), for the expenses that are incurred while working on their project.
In some cases, building a product does not require a large budget. However, to compensate for the time and effort spent by the developers, we do wish to provide a grant. This grant will be used for the complete development of the product, and will not (always) require a further proposal.
Examples of projects which could be eligible for a development grant:
- Development of a treasury dashboard
- Integration into a certain protocol or game
- Development of a specific feature for the gaming platform, Sphere or any other Merit Circle DAO product
- Creation of an extensive series of research reports
- Realization of physical items to distribute among MC community
When publishing the grants and thereby opening up for applicants, we will be sharing a more elaborate breakdown of expectations for these applications. However, to illustrate the expectations, and why in some cases a budget might be required to draft a proposal, please see below;
- Each application should include a breakdown of the required budget, which will be made public
- Each applicant will write weekly, bi-weekly or monthly progress reports dependant on the project and its complexity
- Each accepted application will either lead up to a proposal on the governance forum, or an explanation why the project doesn’t require a full proposal
Applications for the grant will be initially screened and vetted by a newly formed grant committee consisting of various contributors to the Merit Circle DAO. Having every single idea pass through the official governance channels (forum, snapshot voting) will not be efficient and distract from what we’re trying to achieve with this streamlined program through which DAO community members can contribute to the DAO.
For optimal transparency however, there will be a clear public overview of which parties have received a grant, and we’ll aim to update frequently about these projects. Additionally, various research grants will lead to an official MIP, in which the community gets the opportunity to vote on the proposal.
Grant committee
We are proposing the following DAO community members to be part of the Grant Committee, the committee responsible for approving or rejecting grant proposals.
- Sad Cat Capital (Consistent DAO Contributors)
- Douwe (Xeric)
- CitizenX (Investors)
- Giga (DAO Research firm)
- Orange Pill
To ensure a decentralized view and a fresh pair of eyes every now and then, we propose to re-elect the members of the committee every 12 months through a proposal. However, the proposed DAO community members of the committee will have the liberty to remove or replace any committee member through a unanimous vote. These decision should be announced on the governance forum.
The selection of the committee above has been done based on the input and contributions of these individuals to the Merit Circle DAO since the very beginning. Decisions will be made based on the majority of committee approving, or rejecting the proposal. Each application can expect a brief summary of the committee’s thoughts as an an answer on their application.
Wonderverse
To facilitate this system, we will be utilizing the software built by Wonderverse. This allows for a nice and transparent manner of handling applications, sending payments and keeping track of everything that’s occurring. A more detailed breakdown will be provided once this system goes live.
Motivation
As mentioned above;
“This program was born out of a response to the overwhelming amount of interest shown by community members in adding value to the DAO. With such an international group of backers, members and project founders; we noticed the large pool of untapped skills and expertise that is waiting to be unleashed.”
We’re extremely proud to see how the Merit Circle DAO has attracted the attention of so many talented individuals. Ever since the emergence of the DAO, the DAO has received lots of support from its community members in all means imaginable. Some wrote extensively about Merit Circle and its future, others developed tools to support the DAO’s NFT collection Edenhorde, made a treasury dashboard, helped structure the DAO’s gaming operations and hosted community events, to name a few.
Within our communities we’re seeing daily chatter from supporters talking about new ideas, existing projects and their possible improvements. Incentivizing these people and beyond to afford themselves to exclusively focus on a solution that could bring additional value for the DAO is something we truly believe can make a difference.
Long-term value to the DAO.
As an additional motivation, simply imagine the value that a couple decent proposals can bring to the DAO. Xeric for example, accepted in MIP-15 by the DAO is far exceeding the required budget. In this case, the spent budget is 50,000 USDC in exchange for 50% of the equity. With the aims of a funding round for Xeric, the equity held by the DAO will be of substantial value.
Budget
To fund this grant system, we are requesting an ongoing budget of up to 150,000 USDC per quarter. This amount will only be utilized when ideas are approved by the committee, if not, the funds will not be transferred out of the DAO’s treasury. Unused funds from one quarter will not be transferred to another quarter, the maximum amount this system can deploy per quarter can not exceed 150,000 USDC.
Payment will be made after the application is accepted as a one-off payment.
Rationale
Beneath, we have compiled a list of questions that might be asked after going through the proposal above.
Why do we need a system like this?
Building the Merit Circle DAO, we’ve realized the value in multiple distributed and autonomous contributor teams consisting of many talented individuals. Allowing these developers or creative individuals to in general devote time to the DAO will bring significant value towards the DAO, we’re convinced. Without this structure in place, we’re already seeing tons of inbound from creatives interested in building things for the DAO. This structure will function as a boost to that inbound, and increase our overall output.
Is funding really necessary for a proposal?
Analyzing the various proposals we have received over time, there’s a clear difference between those that have been published after a brief epiphany by its author, or those who have gone through various rounds of feedback and include extensive research.
Often so, proposals sometimes benefit from external research or knowledge, asking an expert to weigh in or doing additional research. All these factors cost time and money and therefore, a small budget can definitely make a difference.
What will be the criteria to receive a grant?
When we open the grant system, we’ll see what kind of applications we receive allowing us to set certain criteria. In the initial phase, we do not wish to limit ourselves through these harsh limits but there will be some important factors that we’ll take into consideration strongly.
- Value: what kind of value can the project bring towards the Merit Circle DAO in the short term, mid-term and long term? Is this in balance with the requested budget?
- Timeline: is this project realizable in a realistic timeframe? In other words, has the applicant thought through the project?
- Team: Who’s behind the application? Does this person or group of people have it in store to complete the project as described in the application?
- Feasibility: Is the project realistic or is it far out of scope? This takes into account all the above factors?
Does this mean that I can’t publish proposals directly anymore?
No. Anyone can still publish a proposal at any given time directly on the governance forum. We are always open to proposals, but this system is merely in place to make everything easier, more streamlined and stimulate quality proposals.
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