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:
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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).
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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
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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]
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Support the drafting of an annual activity report focusing on the Foundation’s work for Radworks [Q1/Q2 2024]
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Support the onboarding to Radicle [Q2 2024] and migration of Foundation documentation [Q3 2024] with other Committees and Foundation Council
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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]
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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)
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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
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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
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Provide monthly financial reporting to Radworks on behalf of the Foundation, Radicle, Drips, and Grants Orgs [Q1 and Q2 2024]
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Develop processes and resources for Orgs’ expense payment and reporting to successfully transition financial reporting and subscription payment responsibilities to Orgs [Q2 2024]
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Research and design a legal defense fund to protect Radworks, Orgs funded by Radworks, and participants in Radworks [Q2 + Q3 2024]
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Work with partners to clarify and inform regulatory definitions and guidelines for “decentralization” [Q1 + Q2 2024]
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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
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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
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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.