Preface
In May of 2021 Gitcoin launched GTC, the native governance token for Gitcoin. Along with the creation of GTC, the governance of Gitcoin was handed over to the community via a group of individuals known as Stewards. Stewards are trusted community leaders with delegated (including self-delegated) voting power to make decisions on behalf of the community.
To support a move towards more active and engaged governance participation, and recognizing governance took a significant amount of time, the Steward Council was created in March of 2022 and it consisted of the most active and engaged stewards as illustrated by the steward health cards found at https://www.daostewards.xyz/.
Background on those efforts can be found here:
- Introducing the Steward Council
- The Steward Council - Formation & Mandate
- Introducing v2 of the Steward Council & future plans
Proposal
To continue a history of ongoing Governance evolution, this proposal seeks to build on what we have learned to date by implementing a number of course corrections. This proposal is split into the following sections:
- Update objectives and role of the Steward Council
- Steward council remuneration
- Change the selection process for steward council members
1. Update objectives and role of the Steward Council
The original objective of the steward council was to âenable engagement through simple, non overly taxing yet highly valuable engagement flows using high context individualsâ. Specifically, the council was tasked with:
- Keeping a âdocketâ of ongoing proposals / their current status
- Ensuring proposals follow template(s) / adjustments to template
- Coming to an initial y/n answer on the proposal itself
- Bi-weekly sync calls for better alignment & broader DAO strategy discussion
During the Steward Council v1 retrospective, we received feedback that Gitcoin needed an externally connected strategic body and the original intent was for the Steward Council to become that body. As we adjust the focus on the Steward Council, we are looking to improve our market sensing ability and to develop deeper linkages to external protocols, DAOs and organizations who are solving similar issues. To make this happen, we propose the Steward Council pivot to an externally connected and strategically focused team.
For reference, here is an illustration of of the current state and the future state:
What changes: The work
What changes: The team
To facilitate a move to an externally-aware advisory body, this proposal changes the team composition to 6 Gitcoin core team delegates and 10 external stewards. This move will bring external ideas into Gitcoin as well as help Gitcoin better sense market shifts. External stewards should be web3/DAO thought leaders and may include former or part-time Gitcoin contributors. Internal Gitcoin contributors will include 1 representative from each DAO workstream and one from the Gitcoin Foundation. The selection process of both stewards and Gitcoin representatives is explained in more detail in Part 3.
Potential Outcomes for the Steward Council:
- Provide input on organizational changes and proposals
- Recommended/provide input on significant partnership agreements/discussions
- Review and comment on strategy alignments related to Grants Protocol & Passport Protocol
- Improve proposals and updates to Gitcoin processes by providing input & suggestions
- Do deep dive reviews of seasonal budgets (aligning to one or two workstreams)
- Give expert input on CSDO/workstream issues & opportunities
- Identification of cross workstream overlaps
Concrete proposal for council (how might we achieve the outcomes above):
- Steward council meets fortnightly, standing agenda topics to include:
- Review/prereview of new proposals & provide input
- Review CSDO decisions/discussions & identify action items
- Review CSDO issues an participate in for async feedback & follow-up calls
- Workstream feedback sessions (on demand via workstream)
- Once a quarter CSDO representatives deep dive into budget proposals
- Requirements for council members
- Attend monthly Steward Sync calls (min. 2/3 per season)
- Attend fortnightly Steward Council calls (min. 4/6 per season)
- Attend & participate in ad-hoc meetings 2x30â/min per month
- Arrive with pre-reading complete (when sent >24 hrs in advance)
- Give (substantial) feedback to min. 2 workstream budget proposals/quarter
- Provide input on relevant forum discussions
- Gitcoin delegates are expected to bring ad hoc topics for discussion
Meeting cadence & sample agenda:
Steward Council members are expected to participate in the monthly Steward Sync meetings and Steward Council calls. Below are sample agendas to illustrate the differences between two meetings.
Standing calls
Ad-hoc / on demand meetings:
CSDO or Workstreams may request specific time with individual or small groups of Council members to work through relevant topics. Examples may include input on budgeting processes, compensation, strategic planning, or specific workstream topics like sybil strategies, marketing plans, or developer relations. Steward Council members are requested to join at least two 30 min sessions per month.
Sample ad-hoc meetings and topics
- FDD Sybil meeting: Review the most recent sybil attack for lessons learned
- MMM meeting: Request input on new Grants Protocol marketing campaign
- CSDO Budgeting: Discuss pros/cons for 3 vs. 6 month budget cycles
- DAOOps Community: Ideas to encourage community engagement
- Gitcoin Product Collective: Pre-test the release of the Round Manager module
2. Steward council remuneration:
We expect the Steward Council will require time spent remaining externally connected while providing internal guidance and breadth. As such these roles will be rewarded with reputation (health cards), influence (GTC delegation) and compensation (GTC rewards).
Reputation
Being an elected & active Steward Council member will be one of the things that boost your score for the health cards considerably. The extra points for these will be added manually to the steward health card score on a monthly basis.
Influence
As many large GTC token holders allocate GTC delegation via Steward Health Cards scores, which are found at https://www.daostewards.xyz. The consistently higher a delegate score, the greater the possibility for GTC delegation.
Compensation
GTC compensation will vary depending on the current relationship to Gitcoin :
- Existing full time Gitcoin contributors will receive a $200 stipend per month
- Existing part time Gitcoin contributors will receive a $400 stipend per month
- Non Gitcoin contributors will receive a $750 stipend per month
All payments will be in GTC, and will follow the existing monthly compensation process, to be initiated by the council member. This means the USD amounts will be the GTC amount at spot price, at the end of the preceding month. Alternatively, council members can choose to donate their proceeds to Gitcoin Grants.
Additionally all Stewards (not only the Council) will also be compensated for any voting, which requires gas, these compensations will happen once every season and will count only for transactions linked to the eth address linked to the Stewardâs delegation address.
3. Updates to the selection process for steward council members
The move to an externally connected strategic posture requires a special kind of person. Candidates must be able to understand Gitcoinâs challenges & opportunities while being able to provide solutions and suggestions to those situations that fit with the strategic direction of Gitcoin.
Characteristics of ideal candidates:
- A passion for public goods or funding mechanisms to fund shared needs
- Recognized mastery in a specific DAO domain
- ex: Product & business development, operations, marketing, governance
- Demonstrated ability to think and influence strategically
- Experience in organizational or product development
- Exceptional communication skills
As such, we need to move past an algorithmic selection process (steward health cards) and use a more targeted approach to find the right candidates. Below is a proposal on the process
Step 1: Workstream steward nomination:
Each workstream and the Gitcoin Foundation will nominate one representative per season. These nominees (one from each workgroup) will represent the workstream on the council and will be tasked with bringing workstream issues & ideas to both the standing fortnightly calls and ad hoc meetings. The representative will also be tasked with bringing back relevant information to the workstreams from the Steward Council. Each workstream can use their own methodology for choosing a representative. The nominations from the workstreams are final and there is no confirmatory step. If a workstream representative cannot attend any call they must ensure they have a replacement to represent the workstream.
Step 2: External steward nomination:
In addition to nominating a representative, each workstream will nominate 3 stewards that will be entered into an electoral pool. Each nomination must be a Steward who is not active in our DAO or a non-full time workstream member or (i.e. an âindependentâ member). Workstreams may nominate part-time Gitcoin contributors who are active externally or have relevant external experience & exposure. This allows Gitcoin to bring in external guidance and relevant domain expertise that might not be leveraged internally. The Steward Health Cards are used as a strong guiding metric, and workstreams are strongly encouraged to select Stewards with a +7 score. The Stewards need to confirm (before the election) that they will be able to meet the requirements of the Steward Council participation. The initial nominees will be reviewed by CSDO, who will identify nomination overlaps and reallocation nomination slots back to work streams if needed.
Those who are interested in being nominated for the Steward Council should flag their interest on this post by including a link to their steward post which can be found here. For more information and questions on this process, please reach out to shawn16400#5507 on discord. An official call for nominees will follow once this proposal has been passed officially.
Step 3: Steward elections:
The fifteen nominees (5 workstreams x 3 candidates) will be entered into a quadratic voting pool for a steward vote using https://quadraticvote.co/ tool. Existing stewards will vote on nominees using the nominee linked bios found here. Each steward will receive 10 âvotesâ, which can be used to vote for up to 10 candidates using the standard quadratic voting methodology. Individual voting links will be distributed via email to voters, and it is the responsibility of the voter to pass along their preferred email address.
The top 10 of this ranking will be invited to join the Steward council, and the outcome of this Quadratic vote will be considered final. There will be no additional snapshot or Tally vote to ratify the selection of the 10 + 6 steward council members.
Term length and limits
Following the initial creation of The Steward Council - Formation & Mandate, the election term for external stewards will be from the time the proposal passes for a period of 180 days. Each successive term will be for the same duration and subsequent elections will be held prior to the close of each term to avoid gaps in coverage.
Participation on the council is limited for external stewards to three successive terms. After a gap of one term, external stewards are eligible to begin a new-three term cycle. This constraint also applies to elected part-time Gitcoin contributors. There are no term limits for internal workstream or Foundation representatives - however it is recommended the workstreams build capability for this work within their organizations.
For questions, comments, or concerns on any of the above, please comment below.
I will include term limits this in a revision. Thank you Jodi!
