I am stoked to finally present to you the latest Draft for the Marketing DAO Charter that is now open for Community Feedback.
What to Expect
A Governance Charter is the document that details all the processes by which an organisation operates. But decentralised governance is different, and so is this Charter.
Written from scratch, this documents draws upon the many lessons we’ve learned from disbursing funds over the last two years, acknowledges the many challenges we see in the ecosystem today and builds upon the feedback given by many community members, including some that lost faith along the way.
Most importantly, this document embodies a very ambitious vision for the future of NEAR and enshrines a series of Objectives, Guiding Principles, and Governance Processes to make the Marketing DAO future-proof: able to respond rapidly to the evolving needs of the ecosystem and to continue operating effectively regardless of the leadership team at the time.
These are not a How-To-Guide on ways to extract value from Community Treasury. This is an OGs Manifesto that seeks to empower and protect builders and top community contributors.
We are thrilled to be transitioning to Community Treasury and to position Marketing DAO as a community-led engine for growth.
Overview
Cheeky guide to skimming through this 34 page document to find the interesting bits to you:
Objectives - what is the reason why the Marketing DAO exists? Clear goals to measure MDAO performance and align all stakeholders.
Scope - introduces a more holistic approach to Growth, including a duty to leverage our positions (and grantees) at the forefront of the community to constantly gather User Feedback, create direct communication pathways and foster open dialog (let’s not pour money promoting something that doesn’t work - let’s improve onboarding flow, etc.)
Scope II - introduces the notion of Change Agents, a high bar for accessing funding, a clear call for top performers. Usher a culture of excellence.
Types of proposal. Inbound proposals remain open to any community member at anytime. DAO-led proposals to enable things such as Bounties, and other strategic partnerships.
Guiding Principles - a set of values and constraints imposed on the Marketing DAO that should inform all decision making, particularly when there are no predetermined guidelines. This are the mental models that leaders can rely on to ensure we can navigate any situation while still advancing Marketing Dao objectives and NEAR Ecosystem strategic goals.
Overview of MDAO Roles (Enforcer, Trustee, Council, MDAO Community)
Eligibility for Each MDAO Role (also the criteria by which performance will be measured, triggers removal mechanisms).
Process for Appointing each Role (Enforcer, Trustee, Council)
Process for Removing each Role (Enforcer, Trustee, Council)
Dispute Resolution
Conflict of Interest
Schedule I - Guidelines for Incoming Proposals
Next Steps
The Charter is a living document. We are expecting to have some minor additions and edits to reflect the current round of feedback, but are confident that the core substance is there.
Community Consultation Period: initially 7 days, can be extended if there are major objections and changes required. Acknowledging compressed timelines, we’ll be proactively reaching out to key stakeholders to ensure they can provide feedback prior to consultation closing.
You can leave specific feedback by adding a comment to the Google Doc or you can ask general questions or show support as a reply to this thread.
I am currently in Korea where a sizeable contingent of the NEAR community will be descending shortly. Happy to meet in person if you are around or to arrange calls to discuss any major pressing issues.
Shortly after the Charter has been approved, if there aren’t any major changes that create misalignment with the latest version of the Trust, both Charter and Trust instrument should go live.
This means Marketing DAO will start receiving funding from Community Treasury
We are working hard to ensure that the transition is as smooth as possible for applicants and to create all the necessary documentation to reflect any new processes.
A word of appreciation
I’d like to thank everyone for your patience. Special thanks to the small cohort that has provided extensive feedback and words of encouragement along the way. And to all community members - thanks for sticking around during a bear market. This is our chance time to take ownership of community governance and unleash an unlimited growth machine. All the pieces are falling into place - LFG
This is awesome. There’s a lot to unpack so I’ll focus on 2 parts that jumped out, the DAO’s approach to Growth and Change Agents.
By viewing Growth as a System as a “holistic” system, the DAO is acknowledging that every stage of the customer journey matters. This is big because it’s not just on awareness. (So any chart/graphic should eventually drive traffic to a CTA or conversion of some sort!) From getting new folks on board (acquisition), to getting them active and involved (activation), and then keeping them around for the long haul (retention). A super important 1, 2, 3.
New users are very important for the NEAR ecosystem but you’ve got to make sure they’re engaged and sticking around too. This is SO IMPORTANT. And this only takes a couple successful examples for more projects to use as a blueprint.
Alright, let’s talk Change Agents Big fan of this concept. They’re not just members or contributors, they’re the ones who are really driving things forward.
First off, these people should really get NEAR. I mean, they’ve got a deep understanding of the whole ecosystem. They know the ins and outs, defi, nfts, projects building, community members that add value and others that extract.
But it’s not just about knowing stuff. These Change Agents are also doers. They’re the ones spotting problems and opportunities, coming up with hypotheses, and running experiments to see what works. I do think finding these people will take time. But a few top level change agents could do a lot.
I don’t think this charter is even close to being ready and MDAO needs to clearly showcase how they measure value.
There is no sign of
how value is measured
how proposals get scored
what are the metrics used to asses the proposals
And the whole process is completely non transparent.
All the pointers mentioned show intent of MDAO, but with zero plan of how it will be achieved.
Additionally,
No methodology and process displayed to show how trends and comprehensive market analysis will be conducted but mentioned it will be.
No talent acquisition strategy in place but mentioned it will be
Most of the write up seems just like fancy words without any strategy to plan to show how these will be achieved.
If you guys need any help in creation of a community based metric system, we’d be happy to assist you. It took us months to get the first community based metric system established and I think it will take lesser time for MDAO as we already have the blueprint and learnings.
Also - Closing a 30 pager charter in 7 days doesn’t give time to the community to completely understand and add inputs.
As per GWG 2 weeks atleast are recommended. Please stick to the same days for the whole community to be able to asses the charter and give feedback.
I have taking the time to read through it and here are some thoughts and feedback
I love the Charter and purpose outline
However, I have some major concerns on what is considered Check and Balance on the charter and how very little community input in decision making is included.
My Concerns
Council seems to the body appointing everyone that meant to keep Councils accountable.
The removal process of anyone from the Dao( Trustees and Enforcer) also go through either the recommendation of the council or directly from the council
With the council having this much power to Appoint and Remove any working member of the Dao without the ultimate input of the community at anytime shows much concern. How can there be true Accountabililty on the council when the council according to this charter is heavily involved in the appointments and removal of those to keep them accountable.
My recommendation
Working Dao members ( Trustees and Enforcer) should have term limits that comes with their appointments as this would gurantee them to make independent decisions without the fear of being removed by the council at any time if said decisions are not favorable or being a hand push od the council
Removal process other than resignation and term expiry should involve a Proposal to the community as already stated in your charter
There is sure separation of duties but very little in powers, there is need for more seperation of powers.
@Ola,I believe that a member of the marketing dao community can create a proposal to remove a council member. I am not sure if the community has the power to remove an enforcer or trustee, but It does seem that the community has some form of check on the council, and could potentially remove the entire council via vote if operations are not going smoothly.
Hi @Cryptonaut thanks for reviewing the Charter and your comments. This is still a ‘work in progress’ and we will certainly take your comments, and comments from the rest of the community, on board in the final draft.
We discussed the timeframe for the community to review and leave comments in our weekly call and will be extending the period to two weeks.
Big fan of this concept. They’re not just members or contributors, they’re the ones who are really driving things forward.