Overview
Intro
There is an abundance of talent within the Umee community, and a Community DAO can be used to help unlock it. Anyone who makes valuable contributions to the Umee community can and should be rewarded for their work. Contributors are free to get creative, and autonomy is encouraged. Contributors will simply submit their valuable contributions for review each month in order to be eligible to receive compensation for their work.
The Community DAO will allow the community to decide what defines a valuable contribution, and where resources should be directed to ensure various types of contributors are properly incentivized and rewarded. The DAO will be led by a committee of community leaders who identify and reward community members that deliver valuable contributions in order to better align their interests with Umee over the long term. When there is clear demand for a certain type of contribution, it is the Community DAO Committee’s duty to solicit said contribution. This DAO can be a sustainable way to source talent from within the community to help onboard, educate, and support active and prospective Umee users while further improving the community’s experience.
The Umee Community DAO will be organized on the Umee Discord. At the start of a period, the Community DAO Committee will share "Requests for Contributions" (RFCs), a brief list of deliverables that they will be looking for when assigning rewards for the upcoming period. This list should be derived from things the community has directly or indirectly demonstrated a want/need for, and any relevant initiatives that can help improve the overall community experience. Committee members may also share periodic announcements in the #cd-announcements channel to help guide community contributors along the way. The committee is free to offer bounties or portions of the total rewards pool towards certain initiatives if desired.
There are certain types of contributions that will always be considered valuable, including but not limited to educational content, community support, and translations. Contributors are encouraged to focus on what they’re good at, and will be asked to share their contributions publicly within the #cd-general channel on Discord as they’re made, while also submitting them for review. Everyone will be able to view unaltered submissions in the #cd-contributions channel.
The Umee Community DAO committee will make note of top contributions along the way and assign rewards within 14 days of each submission deadline. The committee is by no means obligated to use the entire purse over the course of the quarter, especially if the contributions during the period are not up to expectations.
Validators are encouraged to contribute through the Community DAO but will be capped at 50,000 UMEE in potential earnings per month. Validators should also submit their contributions through the Umee Validator DAO.
Valuable Contributions
“Valuable contributions” is an intentionally vague term used to describe any contribution that helps bring value to Umee and the Umee community. Since different contributions require different amounts of time, effort, and skill, the committee will aim to reward contributors based on the amount of value their contributions have brought to Umee. While this is a subjective process, it can help the committee avoid rewarding mercenaries who attempt to capture UMEE token rewards with several low effort/low value contributions.
Contributions that are always deemed valuable include:
- High quality educational content that is actively used or can be used to onboard new users and increase the overall usage of Umee;
- Active user support provided by volunteer community leaders across Umee’s community channels (Discord, Telegram, Reddit, Twitter) and community-led regional channels;
- Native translations of Umee documentation and blog posts that are actively being utilized by previously underserved communities;
- Community events that further educate, engage, and/or grow the community;
- Other miscellaneous contributions like dashboards, bots, and high quality design work;
- And many more ideas that may be useful to the community!
The Committee
The Community DAO Committee will consist of seven members; one lead and six reviewers. One observer who does not sit on the committee will monitor the committee to make sure they fulfill their duties and always act in the best interest of the Umee community.
Goals & KPIs
Transparency
All contribution submissions will publicly viewable once submitted. Following the completion of a period, token disbursements will be shared publicly on a sheet (via Discord announcement) with details including:
- Date/period
- Discord ID of recipient
- Amount (UMEE)
- Brief description of contribution made
- Link(s) - if applicable
- Wallet address of the recipient
- Initiator
The Community DAO Committee is expected to host community calls during the first week of each month in the cd-calls channel on Discord in which they give an overview and feedback on the contributions submitted during the previous period, and comment on what they will be looking for in the upcoming month. During this call community contributors are encouraged to ask questions and voice any concerns.
Compensation
All payments for the Community DAO Committee will be in the form of native UMEE tokens. Payments will be calculated in USD at the time of disbursement. Payments will be distributed within 48 hours after the completion of a period.
The lead should expect to commit at least 30 hours per month to the Community DAO. The lead will be compensated at a monthly rate of $1,500, bringing the maximum quarterly compensation to $4,500.
Reviewers should expect to commit a minimum of 20 hours per month to the Community DAO. Reviewers will be compensated at a monthly rate of $1,000, bringing their maximum quarterly compensation to $3,000.
An additional $1,000 USD in UMEE will be reserved for unforseen operational expenses.
The payments above bring the Community DAO Committee's quarterly expenses to $23,500.
The Umee Core team will initially handle all token disbursements.
Selection Process
The first Community DAO Committee will be proposed by the Umee Core team based primarily on previous involvement within the Umee community. Initially the recommended DAO committee will consist mainly of contributors who have experience supporting the Umee community over the past year including some moderators, volunteer ambassadors, and validators.
In the event that a committee member is no longer able to perform his or her duties before the end of the term, he or she can request to step down. A committee vote will require four of the remaining six committee members to be in agreement in order to add a replacement without requiring a vote through community governance. Replacement committee members will be paid pro-rata for their time on the committee.
Continuation Process
The Umee Community DAO needs a clear readjustment and re-election process in order to scale and accommodate the needs of the Umee community over time.
Initially the Community DAO will be funded for one quarter (3 months). At least 2 weeks before the end of this period the Community DAO Committee is expected to put forward an updated proposal in order to secure funding for the next period. The Committee should work with top community contributors and stakeholders to modify the Community DAO to satisfy the changing needs of the community.
Over time many aspects of the Community DAO are expected to change including but not limited to the organizational structure, goals, KPIs, committee responsibilities, committee members, committee compensation, and overall funding. For example, after key contributors have been identified for different areas working groups can be formed to help outline the workflow process and streamline the contribution solicitation, submission, and compensation processes.
Community DAO Committee members are welcome to serve multiple consecutive terms; first hand experience will likely be very valuable in order for the Community DAO to thrive over longer time frames. If a Committee member steps down at the end of a period, the Committee is expected to solicit applications and vote to replace the member. The same voting terms outlined in "Selection Process" apply.
The observer may not serve more than two consecutive terms or 6 months, whichever is shorter. This can help prevent affinity bias and ensure the DAO Committee members are held up to the community's standards over time.
Funding
At start, a total of 20,000,000 UMEE from the community treasury will be allocated in order to fund the Community DAO for a quarter. The 20,000,000 UMEE will be used to incentivize and reward contributors as needed, and any leftover tokens at the end of a quarter will be rolled over into the next quarter.
Community DAO Committee members will be compensated separately in predetermined USD amounts following the completion of each period. Each month $7,500 USD in UMEE from the community treasury will be used to compensate the Community DAO Committee as outlined in "Compensation." An additional $1,000 USD in UMEE will be reserved for unforseen operational expenses, bringing the Community DAO Committee's quarterly expenses to $23,500.
