[Formal Review][RGP-21] - Foundation Org Proposal 2024

👩‍⚖️ Governance 🚀 Passed Governance Proposals
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Author(s): @ange @abbey
Type: Org
Created: 2023-11-06
Discussion: [Discussion][RGP-21] - Foundation Org Proposal 2024
Status: active

This is the official Formal Review draft for RGP-21. Please formally review the proposal and vote in the Snapshot poll by :rotating_light:17:00 CET - Monday, November 27th :rotating_light:

TL:DR; In response to the feedback on the first draft ([Discussion][RGP-21] - Foundation Org Proposal 2024 - #10 by shelb_ee) of this proposal, we’ve incorporated the following changes in this version:

  • Restructured committee objectives and timeline to reflect a more lean & gradual approach for tackling Radworks’ strategy & governance initiatives
    • Delayed sustainability modeling & distribution of influence objectives by a quarter
    • Added objectives for supporting Org Leads with go-to-market & strategy
    • Removed any “final mile” objectives, leaving 2024 focused on research & experimentation
  • Reduced overall budget by 18.5%
    • Reduced legal spend by 30%
    • Reduced marketing budget by 30%
    • Reduced Ops, Strategy, and Governance contributor rates/hours
    • Removed Q3 open hire from Gov Committee

With these changes, the Foundation Org is now requesting $400,877 USDC from the Treasury for 2024 (in addition to the approximately 1,322,310 USDC that will be unspent from the 2023 budget). We hope these changes satisfy the concerns of the community.

Purpose

The Foundation’s purpose is to support the development of resilient and humane software infrastructures.

Since the evolution of the “Radicle Project” into what we now know as Radworks, the term Radicle has become specifically related to the code collaboration protocol & product. In this new reality, the name “Radicle Foundation” no longer reflects the Foundation’s wider purpose, supporting “resilient and humane software infrastructure” beyond Radicle. Therefore, as previously suggested, the Foundation has since renamed itself the Better Internet Foundation (referred to as “Foundation” below). This name is not only more compatible with the Foundation’s purpose, but more accurately reflects its larger vision for promoting and protecting Internet technologies.

The Foundation can, in part, fulfill its purpose by working in partnership with Radworks, which has an aligned purpose: to fund new, resilient, permissionless technologies to cultivate Internet freedom. More on this relationship can be found in the “Reasoning & Analysis” section below.

In 2024, the Foundation requests funding from Radworks with the intention of driving activities that will serve three roles:

  1. A Protector: The Foundation supports legal strategy, ensures operational and financial health, and promotes transparency within the Radworks ecosystem.
  2. A Nurturer: The Foundation incubates proposals and research to mature Radworks’ decentralized governance system, while also maintaining documentation, improving governance processes, and establishing best practices for the ecosystem.
  3. An Advocate: The Foundation advocates for resilient and humane software infrastructures, building networks of individuals, initiatives, and organizations that can educate and push (technical and cultural) adoption of these technologies.

Organizational Structure

The Foundation is governed and managed by the Foundation’s Council, which - at its core - is responsible for ensuring that the Foundation is governed in accordance with its deed (and ESA’s supervision) and spends funds in line with and in pursuit of its purpose. The Council holds several meetings per year, during which it discusses all management subjects and resolves all issues according to the deed.

The Council intends to approve the organization of three committees for 2024: Operations Committee (known as “Operations” or “Ops”), Radworks Strategy Committee (known as “Strategy”), and Radworks Governance Support Committee (known as “Governance”). These committees are created to give greater autonomy to “bodies" of suppliers, which (as a committee) have control over their own budget. These committees are governed by their annual proposals and budgets, which are approved by the Council. Each committee has a committee lead, who is responsible for reviewing invoices falling into the budget of their committee and overseeing the use of the committee budget more generally - including the quality of work being paid for. The committee leads meet quarterly with the Council to report on and discuss the committees’ spend and work.

Annual Strategy & Quarterly Objectives

Foundation Council

The Council retains overall responsibility for the Foundation’s operations, activities, and strategy.

Objectives

  • Draft 2023 annual activity and financial report on the Foundation’s work for the Radworks ecosystem. [Q1 2024]

  • Revamp the Foundation’s website to better reflect its most current focus and relationship with Radworks - as well as its name change. [Q1 2024]

  • Identify opportunities for the Foundation to have impact as an “Advocate,” by:

    • Building a network of individuals, organizations, and institutions that are purpose-aligned and that pave the way for future advocacy and research partnerships.
    • Testing a Foundation “pitch” with this network, in order to refine the Foundation’s priorities and intentions for its advocacy work.
    • Leveraging this network to identify users to test and provide feedback for Radworks-supported technologies.
    • Identifying sponsorship opportunities (e.g. workshops, initiatives) within this purpose-aligned network and the work they are driving.

  • Hire a Strategic Financial Partner Manager. [Q1 + Q2 2024]

  • Hire the Radicle Org to support the migration and maintenance of Foundation and Radworks documentation to the Radicle Network. [Q2 + Q3 2024]

  • Publish annual grant proposal and budget for the following year (2025) relating to the Foundation’s work for the Radworks ecosystem. [Q4 2024]

Responsibilities

  • Quarterly

    • Attend and participate in quarterly Council meetings.
    • Review new contributors seeking supplier contracts with the Foundation.
    • Meet with Operations, Strategy, and Governance Committees to review work and funds spent.

  • Annual

    • Ensure Operations, Strategy, and Governance Committees spending is aligned with Foundation’s purpose; approve budgets for Operations, Strategy, and Governance Committees.
    • Complete the Annual Audit and Activity Report for ESA, the Foundation’s Swiss supervisory authority.

  • Ad-Hoc

    • Review and approve Foundation reports, circular resolutions, contracts, etc.
    • Create and maintain the Foundation’s strategy to manage its assets in line with the Foundation purpose.
    • Manage relationships with token holders.

Operations Committee

Maintain Foundation health as well as drive transparency standards with best practices and financial reporting, and contribute legal strategy and defense across the Radworks ecosystem.

Objectives

  • Foundation Health

    • Support the drafting and publication of the Foundation’s 2023 financial report on 2023 spend and activity report on the work that was and status of capital allocated from Radworks, with a clearer estimate of unspent funds from 2023 [Q1 2024]

    • Support the drafting of an annual activity report focusing on the Foundation’s work for Radworks [Q1/Q2 2024]

    • Support the onboarding to Radicle technologies [Q2 2024] and migration of Foundation documentation [Q3 2024] with Governance Committee and Foundation Council

    • Produce 2025 Ops Committee proposal and budget to the Foundation Council [Q4 2024]

  • Radworks Ecosystem Support

    • Develop processes and resources for Orgs’ expense payment and reporting to successfully transition financial reporting and subscription payment responsibilities to Orgs [Q2 2024]

    • Research and design a small legal defense fund to protect Radworks, Orgs funded by Radworks, and participants in Radworks [Q2 + Q3 2024]

    • Work with partners to clarify and inform regulatory definitions and guidelines for “decentralization” [Q1 + Q2 2024]

    • Develop Radworks Community Handbook with Governance Committee, which stores and manages the following resources (and others as the need arises) [Q3 2024]: Budget templates [Team/Function/Org, Events]; Radworks service provider and contributor agreement templates; Radworks community call information; Operational best practices and guidelines [for Orgs]; Licensing and IP policies

    • Work with the Governance Committee to design a new Radworks proposal payout model for 2025, optimizing payouts as well as reporting timelines and processes [Q4 2024]

    • Work with the Strategy Committee to facilitate the legal support and consultancy they need to accomplish objectives related to a Radworks sustainability model, treasury management, and power distribution

Maintenance

  • Monthly

    • Create reports for Radworks Orgs that clarify how they are spending funds they receive from the Radworks [through Q2 - see Objective above]
    • Complete monthly payroll and invoice payments, including managing Foundation wallets, bank accounts, and financial service partners
    • Complete regular accounting, including: consolidation of books; monthly, quarterly, and yearly tax filings; payments and updates to insurance and social security obligations

  • Quarterly

    • Ongoing coordination and prioritization of legal risk assessments for Radworks and its Orgs
    • Prepare and support the quarterly Foundation Council meetings (including the maintenance and updating of the Internal Control System, annual budget, and internal processes)

  • Annual

    • Support Foundation Council in completing the Annual Audit and Activity Report for ESA
    • Draft annual Foundation Org budget and provide budgeting support to Committees

  • Ad-Hoc

    • Facilitate (if needed) contractual relationships between Radworks Orgs and Service Providers
    • Maintain relationships with legal, accounting, and banking partners
    • Maintain the Radworks ecosystem’s trademarks and enforce its IP strategy
    • Maintain subscriptions to infrastructure that support and enable the Foundation
    • Provide general support to the Foundation Council, as needed
    • Manage contracts and relationships with [including on/offboarding of] Foundation contributors

Radworks Strategy Committee

Support the development of Radworks’ strategy by incubating community proposals that enable Radworks to fund new, resilient, permissionless technologies, achieve self-sustainability, and steward mission-aligned governance.

Objectives

  1. Define Radworks’ vision. Using its purpose as a North Star, where is Radworks going next?

    Deliverables:

    • [Q1] Complete a draft of a Radworks vision document.
    • [Q2] Internal “onboarding” to vision via workshops with community stakeholders
    • [Q2/Q3] Develop & publish content expanding on the Radworks purpose & vision alongside of marketing contributors

  2. Identify and validate potential sustainability models for Radworks. How should Radworks be setting itself up for the long-term? Exploring questions like:

    • What other organizations and funders are operating in the FOSS space? How are they funded and sustained?
    • What is Radworks’ model for funding technologies? What does success look like?
    • How can funding for Radicle & Drips be sustained in the long-term?
    • How does funding for other purpose-aligned technologies look in the long-term?

    Deliverables:

    • [Q2] Workshop potential sustainability models & facilitate discussions with relevant stakeholders.
    • [Q3] Conduct research to validate chosen model with externals.
    • [Q4] Coordinate preliminary legal work to analyze feasibility of potential sustainability models with Ops Committee.
    • [Q4] Present findings to Radworks community for discussion.
    • [:infinity:] Collaborate with Org Leads to strategize around their go-to-market strategies (See Responsibilities)

  3. Substantially increase token-holder diversity, influence & power distribution, and voter participation within the Radworks community by 2024. We need to take a massive step forward in decentralization to evolve our governance and mature our community.

    Deliverables:

    • [Q1] Analyze current token distribution and stakeholder map to identify critical pools of centralization.
    • [Q2] Explore new potential stakeholder relationships with purpose-aligned organizations, individuals, and initiatives.
    • [Q3] Identify and source ideal governance participants based on decision-making map and system level goals.
    • [Q4] Research and workshop potential “leadership models” for Radworks.
    • [:infinity:] Collaborate with Governance Committee to develop rules, process, and best practices to continue establishing legitimacy.

  4. Orient and activate Radworks’ treasury management goals & strategies.

    Deliverables:

    • [Q1] Conduct additional treasury runway analysis, taking into account 2024 Org Proposals.
    • [Q1] Coordinate legal work related to treasury management strategies with Ops Committee.
    • [Q2] Define treasury objectives and communicate to Governance Committee.
    • [:infinity:] Identify missing expertise to develop treasury strategy & identify solutions alongside of Governance Committee.

Responsibilities

  • Support Radworks’ relationships with funded Orgs.

    • Run quarterly check-ins with Orgs to review progress on MoUs.
    • Facilitate discussions with Orgs around strategy and sustainability to drive clarity in their relationship with Radworks.
    • Ensure continued alignment and communication between Orgs and Radworks community.

  • Ensure $RAD token holders and the “community” understand, feel connected to, and are able to contribute to Radworks’ success.

    • Maintain and improve current stakeholder relationships.
    • Grow the Radworks audience.
    • Create memorable, impactful content that supports the Radworks mission.
    • Facilitate meaningful conversations among top thought leaders & mission-aligned organizations.

  • Direct community-led treasury management efforts and set Governance Committee up for success.

    • Manage relationships with community service providers alongside of Governance Committee.
    • Coordinate relevant legal work alongside the Ops Committee as needed.

Radworks Governance Support Committee

Incubate proposals and research to mature Radworks’ decentralized governance system, while also maintaining documentation, improving governance processes, and establishing best practices for the ecosystem.

Objectives

  1. Increase diversity of token holders & votable supply.

    Deliverables:

    • [Q3] Scope and design an MVP governance mechanism for distributing influence.
    • [Q4] Onboard a new set of governance participants with the support of the Strategy Committee.
    • [Q4] Activate governance participants by allocating them influence by Q4 2024.

  2. Increase governance engagement & participation.

    Deliverables:

    • [Q1] Re-evaluate and update participation parameters (e.g. quorum, participation thresholds, Snapshot access control).
    • [:infinity:] Design and introduce new governance structures/mechanisms for stewarding effective participation (e.g. reputation building, governance participation incentives, checks & balances).

  3. Refine Radworks’ governance processes (e.g. budget disbursements, requirements & expectations, proposal templates) for 2025 proposal cycle.

    Deliverables:

    • [Q3] Implement new Radworks Treasury payout model (for its grants to Orgs) for 2025 with Ops Committee.
    • [:infinity:] Refine governance processes as needed, based on feedback and experience of stakeholders throughout the year.
    • [:infinity:] Research new tooling for facilitation, communication, and collaboration.

  4. Formalize governance risk management processes.

    Deliverables:

    • [Q1] Optimize current risk management tooling (e.g. dashboards) and establish emergency protocols for governance attacks alongside of Ops Committee.
    • [Q2] Improve on-chain governance stack.
    • [Q2] Complete migration of Radworks documentation to Radicle alongside of Ops Committee and Foundation Council.

  5. Incubate an initial treasury management strategy to implement in 2024.

    Deliverables:

    • [Q2] Support the development of a governance proposal(s) related to treasury diversification and management, alongside of Strategy Committee and external service providers.
    • [:infinity:] Manage relationships with service providers and communicate relevant updates to the community.

Responsibilities

  • Facilitate monthly proposal cycles and enforce governance processes (e.g. proposal templates, voting deadlines).

    • Moderate proposal discussions on community forum.
    • Communicate updates and announcements on forum, Discord and X.
    • Develop resources for Orgs (e.g. proposal templates) to facilitate relationship with Radworks as needed.
    • Continuously improve and refine processes to support governance participants.

  • Develop and maintain Radworks documentation.

  • Maintain Radworks-wide communication channels.

  • Host and sponsor events in the Ethereum community alongside other governance operators, researchers, and builders.

Contributors

Foundation Council

  • Abbey (@abbey) was a founding team member of Monadic and has been working on Radworks projects since 2019, leading all things related to community and governance. She has been a member of the Foundation Council since March 2022.

  • Alexis (@cloudhead) is a co-founder of Monadic and the Radicle project and works on code-collaboration elements within the Radicle technical stack. He’s been a member of the Foundation Council since the start of the Foundation in September 2020.

  • Ange (@ange) was a founding team member of Monadic and has been working on Radworks projects since 2018, leading initiatives related to operations and legal. She’s been a member of the Foundation Council since July 2023 and is currently serving the role of President.

Operations Committee

  • Sally (@sllyllyd) has been working on Radworks projects since 2022, supporting the operations of the Foundation and its contributors. She will be serving the role of Operations Committee Lead.

  • Yuval (@Yuvalis) joined the Foundation in March 2023 to work on financial processes and reporting related to Radworks Support.

  • Wendy (@wendy) joined the Foundation in March 2023 to support accounting and operations for Foundation Health.

  • Ange (@ange) has been working on Radworks projects since 2018, leading initiatives related to operations and legal. She’s been the President of the Foundation Council since July 2023 and was the Operations Committee Lead in 2023.

Radworks Governance Support Committee

  • Abbey Titcomb (@abbey) has been working on the Radworks project since 2019, leading all things related to community and governance. She has been a member of the Foundation Council since March 2022, and Governance Committee Lead since 2023.

  • Shelby (@shelb_ee) has been working as the governance facilitator of Radworks since 2021.

  • Apiary is an applied research company developing governance solutions for decentralized organizations. Apiary was previously a Radworks grantee.

Radworks Strategy Committee

  • Abbey Titcomb (@abbey) has been working on the Radworks project since 2019, leading all things related to community and governance. She has been a member of the Foundation Council since March 2022, and Governance Committee Lead since 2023.

  • Julien Donck (@Julien) was a founding team member of Monadic and working on Radworks projects since 2018, leading product & design initiatives.

  • Camille Canon (@cc-apiary) has been contributing to Radworks since 2023 with her team Apiary, an applied research company developing governance solutions for decentralized organizations.

Marketing

  • Sean MacMannis (@sean) has been leading Marketing at Radworks since 2023.

  • Becca Creamer (@bcccrmr) has been leading Events at Radworks since 2022.

Communication

The Foundation provides updates about its work (with regard to this proposal) on the Radworks Community Forum. The Governance Committee, specifically, uses the Discord to flag new proposals and discuss governance-related topics. The Governance Committee also plans and facilitates Radworks’ Quarterly Community Calls (where all Orgs are responsible for participating).

Reasoning & Analysis

The Foundation was created in 2020 and, in 2021, became a critical vehicle for deploying capital to support the maintenance and core development of the Radicle and Drips stacks. At the same time, a key directive of the Foundation has also been to support the development and growth of collective community infrastructure that can be employed to further decentralize the project. In 2022, the Foundation became a more formal partner of Radworks when it received its first grant to coordinate project-wide strategy and objectives to ensure the effective and impactful allocation of capital to the Radicle and Drips projects. In 2023, the Foundation supported the continued decentralization of Radworks, by spinning out the work of Radicle and Drips into independent Orgs funded directly by the Treasury.

The Foundation has a proven track record as Radworks’ trusted real-world partner, which not only protects, nurtures, and advocates for its ecosystem, but also adapts its relationship with Radworks as the network matures.

In 2024, the Foundation will no longer be exclusively focused on the development of Radicle and Drips, but will instead be directed toward paving the path for the long-term success of technologies aligned with the Foundation’s purpose. Since Radworks’ purpose is to fund such technologies, the Foundation will continue to support the maturation, professionalization, and resiliency of the Radworks ecosystem. Furthermore, the Foundation will advocate for the cultural, educational, and political shift necessary for the mass adoption and impact of these technologies.

Drips and Radicle are critical pieces of infrastructure that enable the long-term proliferation of and access to resilient and humane technologies. While Radworks provides them with important financial support, they will also need a clearer, more receptive global environment to succeed. This is where the Foundation intends to use its grant from Radworks: to set-up governance, educational, and advocacy initiatives that will drive the long-term success of resilient and humane technologies.

Reporting & Success Criteria

Accountability is a key motivation of the Foundation’s work as a partner of Radworks. In that sense, the Foundation will set a standard for regular transparent financial reporting, maintain documentation that clarifies Radworks’ processes, and develop (operational) best practices for the rest of the Radworks ecosystem.

The Foundation will publicly share the following on community.radworks.org:

  • An annual report similar to the one sent to the Foundation’s supervisory authority, focusing on the Foundation’s work for the Radworks ecosystem [Q1 2025]
  • A financial report on spending and status of capital allocated from Radworks [Q1 2025]
  • A proposed annual budget for the following year (2025) relating to the Foundation’s work for the Radworks ecosystem [Q4 2024]
  • Monthly financial reports on Radworks-granted funds spent by the Foundation
  • Monthly reports on voting cycles and proposal discussions shared on community.radworks.org.

Furthermore, the Foundation will be participating in the reporting to Radworks during the quarterly community calls.

Retrospective

Timeline & Budget

The Foundation intends to apply any unspent proposal award granted to the Foundation by Radworks in April 2023 (for the Foundation’s work as outlined in its 2023 Proposal for a budget 3,660,992.78 USDC) towards its 2024 budget. Based on the Foundation’s year-to-date spend and the forecasted costs for the remainder of 2023, we can assume that we will have spent approximately 2,338,683 USDC of the proposal award granted in April 2023 in the year 2023. Therefore, approximately 1,322,310 USDC will be applied towards the 2024 budget requested here. Once the accounting has been completed for 2023 (around February 2024), the Foundation will:

  1. Calculate a more precise amount of the Foundation’s 2023 Radworks proposal grant used by the Foundation in 2023 and include this as part of a 2023 financial report.

  2. Publish a financial and activity report to the Radworks Discourse with regard to how funds were used in 2023 (see Foundation Council “Objectives” above).

:bulb: NOTE: The 2023 financial report (on spending and status of capital allocated from Radworks in 2023) will be published in Q1 2024 instead of December 2023, as previously indicated in the Foundation Org’s 2023 Proposal. This is because the accounting for 2023 will not be completed until February 2024, and therefore any report created before then would be incomplete.

The Foundation has budgeted 1,723,187 USDC for its work in 2024, as outlined in this proposal; therefore, applying the unspent funds from 2023, the Foundation is requesting a grant of 400,877 USDC. This will enable the work of the Foundation Council as well as the Operations, Strategy, and Governance Committees (which have their own proposals and budgets, approved by the Foundation Council), as well as general Foundation administration costs, through December 2024.

Component Requested Budget
Accounting & Auditing Costs $40,414
Bank/Gas Fees $25,832
Contributors - All $1,072,747
Legal Expenses - All $218,456
Marketing, Sponsorships, and Events - External $288,547
Offsites/Events - Internal $48,989
Rent & Subscriptions $28,203
Total Annual 2024 Budget $1,723,187
Unspent Grant from 2023 (-) $1,322,310
Requested Grant from Radworks for 2024 $400,877

Fund Management

The requested grant for 2024 would be paid out in one transfer of $400,877 USDC once this Proposal has been approved via Radworks governance. The majority of the funds received by the Foundation will be stored in a multi-sig wallet controlled by the Foundation Council, which requires 3 of 5 signatures. Every month, approved funds will be sent to a separate multi-sig wallet managed by the Foundation Ops Committee (set at 2 of 5 signatures), which is used to pay contributors and all invoices. The Foundation Council remains responsible to assure that all funds are used within the Foundation’s purpose. The amount stored in this second multi-sig wallet is only enough to cover the anticipated cost of invoices for one to two months.

The Foundation Org - also the “Grant Recipient” of Radworks, if this proposal is passed - hereby agrees to use the amount granted by Radworks in support of fulfilling the purpose outlined in the “Purpose” section above. The Grant Recipient understands and acknowledges that the awarded amount may be used only for this Purpose. Furthermore, any part of the grant that goes unused in the calendar year outlined in this proposal (for 2024) will either be returned to the Radworks Treasury (by March 2025) or rolled over into and applied towards the Org’s 2025 proposal and future grant from Radworks.

Technical Implementation

The proposal will transfer 400,877 USDC amount to the Foundation multisig, which is controlled by five signers, with a three out of five quorum. The signers will consist of the Foundation Council (@abbey @ange @cloudhead) and Foundation Op Reps (@sllyllyd and @wendy).

0xA0b86991c6218b36c1d19D4a2e9Eb0cE3606eB48 0 "transfer(address,uint256)" 0x85C6CeEeb8E1A2E49D23cE8b9E0e59413FDb8bbB 400877000000
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:sparkles:Snapshot Poll Results :sparkles:

This proposal has PASSED :white_check_mark: with 4.3M $RAD in support of the proposal. It will be submitted on-chain this week for a final vote.

See final results here: Snapshot

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Ops Committee - 2024 Proposal

Here is the 2024 proposal to form the Ops Committee that was approved by the Better Internet Foundation Council before the Foundation Org proposal was submitted to Radworks.

This is a proposal to the Better Internet Foundation Council to form an Operations Committee (also called “Ops Committee”) within the Foundation.

Purpose

The Operations Committee’s purpose will be to support the Foundation’s ongoing maintenance and achievement of its purpose by:

  1. Driving and maintaining the Foundation’s health, ensuring optimization (and documentation) of internal processes and committees as well as fulfillment of the requirements of its supervisory authority (ESA).

  2. Supporting the Radworks ecosystem by

    • enabling and documenting operational best practices;
    • driving financial transparency throughout the ecosystem; and
    • facilitating legal strategy in light of evolving projects as well as a shifting real-world regulatory environment.

Annual Strategy and 2024 Objectives

The annual strategy and objectives of the Operations Committee are informed by the two purposes above. Below, the “2024 Objectives” - the initiation or creation of new deliverables or processes - as well as “Maintenance” - the work after the process has been initiated - are outlined for each purpose.

Foundation Health

2024 Objectives

  • Publish the 2023 financial report to Radworks on spending and status of capital allocated from Radworks, with a clearer estimate of unspent funds from 2023 [Q1 2024]

  • Support the drafting of an annual activity report focusing on the Foundation’s work for Radworks [Q1/Q2 2024]

  • Support the onboarding to Radicle [Q2 2024] and migration of Foundation documentation [Q3 2024] with other Committees and Foundation Council

  • Produce 2025 Ops Committee proposal and budget to the Foundation Council [Q4 2024]
    Maintenance

  • Annual

    • Support the completion of the Foundation’s annual audit and completion of its annual report to ESA [Q1/Q2 2024]
    • Plan and execute Ops Committee offsite to assess team priorities and processes and make plans for 2025 [Q3 2024]
    • Draft Foundation’s 2025 budget [Q4 2024]

  • Quarterly

    • Prepare and facilitate the quarterly Foundation Council meetings (including meeting agenda, minute preparation, maintenance and updating of the Internal Control System, annual budget, and internal processes)

  • Monthly

    • Complete monthly pay run and invoice payments [for all committees and Council expenses and remuneration], including managing payments from/to Foundation wallets and bank accounts
    • Complete regular accounting, including: consolidation of books; monthly, quarterly, and yearly tax filings; payments and updates to insurance and social security obligations; ensure liquidity in bank accounts and wallets
    • Create monthly expense reports for Foundation Committees and Foundation Council to understand and review [Committee and Foundation-wide] spending
    • Publish monthly financial reports on Radworks-granted funds spent by the Foundation Org

  • Ad Hoc and Ongoing

    • Maintain relationships with [including oversight of] accountant, ensuring the completion of tax filings
    • Maintain relationships and manage contracts with [and onboarding/offboarding of] the Foundation’s partners [including legal, accounting, and banking], suppliers, and employees
    • Manage and maintain the Key Ceremony Protocol
    • Maintain Foundation Operations Handbook - including processes, roles, and key documentation
    • Provide operational and financial/budgeting support to the Foundation’s Committees
    • Provide the necessary support to the Foundation Council in the running (governance) of the Foundation and propose new operational processes and guidelines, as appropriate
    • Conduct up to two trips to meet with Foundation partners

Radworks Ecosystem Support

2024 Objectives

  • Provide monthly financial reporting to Radworks on behalf of the Foundation, Radicle, Drips, and Grants Orgs [Q1 and Q2 2024]

  • Develop processes and resources for Orgs’ expense payment and reporting to successfully transition financial reporting and subscription payment responsibilities to Orgs [Q2 2024]

  • Research and design a legal defense fund to protect Radworks, Orgs funded by Radworks, and participants in Radworks [Q2 + Q3 2024]

  • Work with partners to clarify and inform regulatory definitions and guidelines for “decentralization” [Q1 + Q2 2024]

  • Develop Radworks Community Handbook with Governance Committee, which stores and manages the following resources (and others as the need arises) [Q3 2024]:

    • Budget templates [Team/Function/Org, Events]
    • Radworks service provider and contributor agreement templates
    • Radworks community call information
    • Operational best practices and guidelines [for Orgs]
    • Licensing and IP policies

  • Work with the Governance Committee to design a new Radworks proposal payout model for 2025, optimizing Org payouts as well as reporting timelines and processes [Q4 2024]
    Maintenance

  • Quarterly

    • Quarterly Radworks risk evaluation with technologies that have new features that might warrant additional legal analysis

  • Ad Hoc and Ongoing

    • Maintain relationships with legal partners and coordinate and prioritize legal support as needed by Radworks
    • Maintain Radworks trademarks and IP strategy
    • Research, inform, and support relationships with with Radworks service providers alongside the Governance Committee
    • Attend up to 2 relevant web3 events [e.g. ETHCC, Berlin Blockchain Week] to build relationships with Radworks contributors as well as Foundation partners, e.g. legal team and accountants

Organizational Structure

The Operations Committee is led by @sllyllyd; work is divided so that the owner is the one with the most relevant skills.

Contributors

  • @sllyllyd has been working on the Radworks project since 2022, is Ops Committee Lead.
  • @ange has been working on Radworks projects since 2018, will lead on legal initiatives and be key adviser to the Ops Committee Lead.
  • Wendy Mitchell joined the Better Internet Foundation in March 2023 to support accounting and operations for Foundation Health.
  • @yuvalis joined the Better Internet Foundation in March 2023 to work on financial processes and reporting related to Radworks Ecosystem Support. She will also be providing support to the Strategy Committee.

Communication

The Committee prioritizes and coordinates work during a Committee-wide 30min weekly sync.

The team will carry out at least one offsite [Q3] to reassess work and priorities and make plans for the following year. There is also a budget set aside for in-person meetings in-line with building on the Foundation Health and broader Radworks-support activities.

We also use the below tools:

  • Telegram: Day-to-day coordination and communication about priorities
  • Email: Day-to-day coordination and communication about priorities, especially with external providers and Radworks Contributors
  • Notion: Documentation for guidelines and processes
  • Discourse: Publishing reports to the Radworks community
  • Google Drive: Store documents

Partners + Subscriptions

As part of its scope, the Ops Committee will manage relationships with several external partners that enable the work of the Foundation as well as the subscriptions to platforms that support and enable the Radworks Ecosystem. The Ops Committee will vet and onboard new service providers as the need arises.

A list of software subscriptions managed and administered by the Foundation will be formalized by the Ops Committee and published in the Foundation Operations Handbook. The Ops Committee will be in charge of administration of these subscriptions.

Reporting

Quarterly meetings with the Foundation Council to report on:

  • Key activities from the prior quarter
  • Year-to-date and average Operations Committee costs (and how they compare to the original budget)
  • Current challenges and areas for Council input
  • Plans for the following quarter and beyond (and how this compares to original proposal)

Timeline + Budget

The budget requested by the Ops Committee includes costs for the work of the individual Operations Committee members, but also the costs for all the partners, accounts, and subscriptions required for carrying out the scope covered under “Annual Strategy and 2024 Objectives” above. This requested budget totals Fr 503,297 and intends to cover this scope from January through December 2024.

By including these costs in the Ops Committee budget, the Committee intends to have ownership over these relationships and pay the resulting invoices. The Committee will report on these costs during its quarterly meeting with the Foundation Council; however, the approval of this budget will indicate the ability for the Ops Committee to pay these costs without additional individual approval of invoices by the Council.

Fund Management

As work under the Operations Committee domain is completed, invoices will be generated that specify the work. These invoices will be reviewed by the Committee Lead, before being paid on the same rhythm as all invoices to the Foundation. The Ops Committee’s monthly spending report will be reviewed by @sllyllyd and Wendy.

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The final version of the 2024 Governance Support Committee proposal was finalized and approved by the Better Internet Foundation in January 2024. Sharing here for visibility and transparency.

2024 Radworks Governance Support Committee

Purpose + Mandate

The purpose of the Governance Committee is to support the Better Internet Foundation’s role as a nurturer of the Radworks ecosystem. Its mandate is to incubate proposals and research to mature Radworks’ decentralized governance system, while also maintaining documentation, improving governance processes, and establishing best practices for the ecosystem. Specifically, its work can be boiled down into two categories:

  1. Supporting Radworks stakeholders & participants with facilitation, documentation, and communication, while iterating and improving on governance processes as the need arises.
  2. Prioritizing, coordinating, and project-managing community-led initiatives that strengthen the resilience of Radworks, including (but not limited to) decentralization efforts, mechanism design, and research.

The Governance Committee will have three main goals for 2024:

  1. Improve governance resiliency
  2. Continue assessing & reducing risk within the governance system
  3. Incubate treasury management proposals based on Radworks sustainability goals

Annual Strategy & 2024 Objectives

The annual strategy and objectives of the Governance Support Committee are informed by the purpose outlined above.

  1. Improve decentralization and token holder diversity through increased delegation to purpose-aligned individuals and organizations (w/ Strategy Committee)
  • Review and contribute to development of “decentralization targets” by the Strategy Committee.[Q1/early Q2]
  • Scope and design an MVP governance mechanism that distributes power in line with “decentralization targets” defined by the Strategy Committee. [Q2/Q3]
  • Onboard and activate a new set of governance delegates alongside the Strategy Committee by Q4 2024.
  1. Increase governance engagement & participation
  • Re-evaluate proposal cycles and improve governance processes to enhance clarity and usability for participants [Q1]
  • Re-evaluate and update participation parameters (e.g. quorum, participation thresholds, Snapshot access control). [Q2]
  • Design and introduce new governance structures/mechanisms for stewarding effective participation (e.g. contributor onboarding, proposal reviews). [Q1 & Q2]
  • Research new tooling for facilitation, communication, and collaboration. [ongoing]
  1. Refine Radworks’ governance processes (e.g. budget disbursements, requirements & expectations, proposal templates etc…) for 2025 proposal cycle
  • Define key stakeholder expectations and responsibilities within the Radworks processes and specifically strategize on ways to make the annual proposal cycle more inclusive, positive, and manageable for all participants. [Q1]
  • Create a comprehensive timeline for [annual] budget cycles, including governance & operational milestones (e.g. financial reporting, proposal cycles, annual proposals cycle, retro due dates). [Q1]
  • Research and implement new Radworks Treasury payout model for Orgs with Ops Committee. [Q2/Q3]
  • Publish v3 of Org proposal template and v2 Org retrospective template with Ops Committee. Note: this work product needs to be aligned with the “new Radworks Treasury payout model for Orgs.” [Q2/Q3]
  • Continue refining Community Calls and Org cycle specific communication processes in order to ensure that community members receive the information they need, concisely. [ongoing]
  1. Formalize governance risk management processes
  • Coordinate the executable proposal to upgrade governance contracts to new industry standard (OpenZeppelin Governor) to improve security and composability [Q1]
  • Optimize current risk management tooling (e.g. dashboards) and establish emergency protocols for governance attacks alongside of Ops Committee [Q2]
  • Complete migration of Radworks documentation to Radicle alongside of Ops Committee and Foundation Council [dependent on successful Radicle 1.0 launch, goal is Q2]
  1. Incubate an initial treasury management strategy to implement in 2024
  • Support the development of governance proposals related to treasury sustainability alongside of Strategy committee and external service providers [TBD - expected Q3]
  • Manage relationships with service providers and external experts and communicate relevant updates to the community [ongoing]

Responsibilities

  • Facilitate monthly proposal cycles and enforce governance processes (e.g. proposal templates, voting deadlines, etc…)

    • Support proposal authors to move their proposals though governance
    • Moderate proposal discussions on the community forum
    • Communicate updates and announcements on forum, Discord and X
    • Develop resources for Orgs (e.g. proposal templates) to facilitate relationship with Radworks as needed
    • Continuously improve and refine processes to support governance participants

  • Develop and maintain Radworks documentation

  • Maintain and manage Radworks communication channels:

    • Facilitate discussions on community.radworks.org
    • Manage & moderate Radworks’ discord
    • Coordinate quarterly community calls

  • Host and sponsor 2-3 Global Governance Gatherings throughout the year, alongside other governance operators, researchers, and builders.

Reporting

At the end of each year, the DAO Governance Support committee will publish a report outlining the output and deliverables of its contributors and initiatives. It will include a categorization of the committee’s work and a breakdown of how much time, resources, and capital was allocated across these categories.

Updates from DAO-wide governance and the Committee itself will be presented quarterly during the Quarterly DAO-wide Community Call which takes place in the first week of the following quarter.

Contributors

Abbey Titcomb (@abbey) has been working on the Radicle project since 2019, leading all things related to community and governance. She has been a member of the Foundation Council since March 2022.

Shelby Steidl (@shelb_ee) has been working as the Governance Facilitator of the DAO since 2021.

Timeline & Budget for 2024

The budget requested will cover costs and expenses for the Governance Committee through December 2024. The budgeted costs include contributor costs, operational support, event attendance/travel costs, offsites and projects with external experts that are necessary for carrying out the scoped objectives listed under the “Annual Strategy and 2024 Objectives” section above.

Total budget requested: 364,813.79 CHF

(amount in CHF to align with Foundation accounting currency)

Operational Resources

  • Notion [Foundation subscription]
  • Discourse (community.radworks.org) [server supported by the Foundation]
  • Gmail [Foundation subscription]
  • DAO-wide Discord [server supported by Foundation]