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

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]