Thanks for reiterating here @shawn16400
In the Gitcoin Community Call this week we had a discussion of some of these points that I felt created open loops. Maybe we can try to close them here.
On that call there were a few points mentioned that I thought were interesting and wanted to share with the wider community:
from @shawn16400: I miss the linkage to core web3 ethos: decentralization, autonomy, and transparency.
On vision: We envision a better future [alt: world] shaped by community led positive change.
from @shawn16400: “Shaped by community led positive change” is a mouthful. I love the direction and can get behind it, but when you get to wordsmithing, ideally we end on something a little more flow-ey
from @Viriya:
- Suggestion for vision: we envision a flourishing world shaped by empowered communities.
from @garysheng:
suggestion for vision: We envision a world shaped by community-led positive change
I feel the proposed vision is directionally right but needs some wordsmithing as I feel that “better” feels too preachy and “future” doesn’t ground us in the present enough (I much prefer “world” - especially in an intentional contrast (but not contradiction) of our brand value of “forward thinking”.
On mission: To create tools and touchpoints that make it easier and more equitable for communities to build what matters.
@garysheng: touchpoint is really inaccessible (to me at least)
@Jodi_GitcoinDAO: I disagree that we can keep it to just “tools” [as someone else suggested] and I think touchpoint is directionally right.
I personally feel that “touchpoints” is directionally right but we might look at another word for that. Would love to understand why you’ve moved away from “create solutions, from programs to protocols” as this seems most accurate to me.
On another note, I think it’s also worth mentioning that we’ve been working on missions for our individual products.
@krrisis I hope the core program product branding & its mission will focus very specifically on open source & public goods
If we consider the grants program a “product” then it might make sense to have that focused on building open source & public goods. Alternatively, if we consider the program a brand activation/marketing tool for our protocols then would this impact the overall Gitcoin mission?
Our historical focus on open source & public goods is both important to highlight (for me personally) but also noting that a mission should direct business decisions and influence organisational goal setting - from what I’ve heard from the partnerships team, we don’t have enough certainty around which verticals we are pursuing yet. I’m concerned that having a mission that focuses too specifically on open source or even public goods might limit the potential of the protocols as we are seeing increased interest from the NGO/impact space. Therefore, I think something closer to the above suggestions are safer to try. I think with this approach we can activate the mission and vision with a more specific brand expression like manifesto or theory of change that is bolstered by different campaigns that more explicitly state what we stand for in this moment in time (and those can evolve with us over time - a mission is harder to change)
@benwest said it well: What is going to work for a web3 native, public good audience may be very different than what resonates with or is understandable for say a potential partner from an organization like for example Serena Ventures or another org in the tech space focused on what we would call public goods that might be less clear about who we are and what we do for them and their community.
And, finally, on “Mutuality” as a brand value:
We did a lot of back and forth about this term. Collaboration felt too literal, coordination didn’t feel human enough and mutuality (defined is a positive, interactive relationship between people) aims to emcompass the vibe of “co-creation”, “collaboration”, “coordination” and “community” in one.
Happy to explore this word further as I think this one got the most question marks.
Hoping this spurs on some convo about this important topic!