Dear Community Members,
The Grant Support Squad was created to support the grantees in achieving their goals and take care of the DAO treasury.
Three formal requests were presented about this project. One was dismissed (card 15), and two moved forward (cards 16 and 20) and after thoroughly reviewing this project with the Grant Manager (@fifitango ) and the Advisor (@yararasita ), the Squad wants to showcase valuable information and our observations.
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The concerns were:
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Roadmap
- The goals are not been accomplished
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Metrics
- The metrics promised have not been accomplished.
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Budget
- Misuse of funds
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A recap of the project:
- Grant Size: $60,000 USD in DAI
- Project Duration: 12 months
The project called “Strengthening Creativity: A Continum of Entertainment and Education for Women and Minorities,” was proposed by Serena Elis to create Daydream X. The project aims to continue and expand its efforts in Decentraland metaverse by providing entertainment, education, and resources for women and minority groups.
Objective:
According to the following link embedded in the original proposal of the grantee and the updates, we compared the Roadmap with the goals accomplished to have an overview of the health and direction of the project.
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EDUCATION:
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Blogs.
The Grantee (@serenaelis) mentioned that the goal of this subcategory (quote) “is to add another 96 Blogs on top of the 22 already created covering artists within the community with their information”
Analysis:
In other words, 96 blogs during 12 months means 8 monthly blogs.
We have two different sources for this point; one is Serena Elis’ page, and another is Daydreamx.com
According to her blog post, during the period of time between March and October of the current year, 14 blogs were published.
And according to DayDreamx.com, 19 blogs were made.
Grant Support Squad assessment: this goal is not being achieved because to complete the total number of blogs proposed (96 during 12 months), it is expected by this time, they should have posted 48 (6 month-period).
Also, it is not clear which source should be used because if the project is to create DAYDREAMX and migrate Serena Elis to that brand, it should be taken into account daydreamx.com
- Educational Streams.
The grantee mentioned that this subcategory will be integrated by (quote):
- “Learning Events for OBS, Performance, Digital Art. 1 hr Sessions with creators to teach.
- LIVE Q & A’s - ask probing questions, and learn more about creations in the Metaverse.
- Fun, engaging experience that will allow others to teach as well and engage with the audience.”
Analysis:
As part of our tasks, we requested more information about this topic (Educational Streams) to the grantee through the following questions:
- Clarify how many educational streams have been created.
- Explain progress on creating an effective long-term curriculum.
- Provide a time frame for achieving the curriculum goal.
- Describe the plan for creating and delivering the curriculum.
- Specify where the content created is being saved or allocated.
Below you will find a detailed analysis regarding the concerns connected to the curriculum point.
The grantee answered:
- We Have done over 5 Education Streams in Decentraland.
- Every week on Sunday I perform and showcase art in Decentraland so it varies and changes From Digital Art to Music, presentation, or showingDaz 3D Digital software and music Ableton DAW software.
Related to point A).
According to what the Grantee answered, she seems to be completing their one-hour Educational Streams.
| Month | Number of: Learning Events for OBS, Performance, Digital Art. 1 hr Sessions with creators to teach | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| April - 2023 | 1 | |
| May - 2023 | 1 | Fashion Illustration from Teacher and Artist Victor Mnendie Iseyen. | Decentraland Events |
Live Fashion illustration|
|June- 2023|1||
|July - 2023|1||
|August - 2023|1|“This is being worked on for this sunday event - Will be a presentation. We are early. 08/28/2023 We finished this event - This has been recorded and saved. Will also be in the curriculum.|
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The grantee provided the following links to prove the existence of these events. However, some of the links don’t have much information about the content, date, location, etc. That’s why we are requesting more information about them:
- https://www.canva.com/design/DAFhjDyFrkg/cebtk5syS_Ivvpt-g_nfrQ/view
Questions to the Grantee:
- Could you please give more details about this event?
- When did it happen? Where?
- Was the event held in Decentraland?
- Also, this is an event on how to create/write music, and in the canva-presentation, there is no logo of Decentraland and no mention either. Could you explain how this interacts with Decentraland?
- Question to the Grantee: this is a private link.
- Multimedia Sundays with Serena | Decentraland Events the Grante said (quote): “Sunday Events are my Events - Digital art ai art from Midjourney to a obj.fbx file and then to mixamo for animation. Digital Art creations “
Question to the Grantee: the link used is a periodical event, so we can’t see events that already happened.
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Could you specify the events that took place?
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Could you specify the content of each one?
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Is this a Sunday event or an educational event? How should it be counted?
- The grantee explained that during August (8/28) an event called Unleashing Imagination was going to happen.
- Question to the Grantee:
- Could you share the recording or the link, please?
- What was the content of this event?
- Is this a Sunday event or an educational event? How should it be counted?
- Educational Event - 09/17/23
Related to point B)
Every week on Sunday I perform and showcase art in Decentraland so it varies and changes From Digital Art to Music, presentation, or showingDaz 3D Digital software and music Ableton DAW software.
| Month | Number of: LIVE Q & A’s - ask probing questions, and learn more about creations in the Metaverse | It should be 1 per week |
|---|---|---|
| April - 2023 | 2 | |
| May - 2023 | 4 | |
| June- 2023 | 1 | |
| July - 2023 | 3 | |
| August - 2023 | 2 | |
| September - 2023 |
- Question to the grantee:
- Could you share the recording or the links regarding all the events that happened under this category? (1 per week)
- We completed the unique user that Serena Elis’s location had during the period of time between April to September. The total number of unique user is 727. You can check the information here.
Disclaimer: We cannot contrast with a secondary metrics tool as DCL Metrics has technical issues. We have reported this to the tool, but to be responsible for the concerns and to be responsive in a timely manner, we are using the Foundation tool as a reference.
- CURRICULUM:
The Grantee mentioned that the goal of this (quote) is “ to create an effective long term use curriculum of courses that are available for FREE for everyone to use and learn”.
Analysis:
As part of our tasks, we requested more information about this topic to the grantee through the following questions:
- Explain progress on creating an effective long-term curriculum.
- Provide a time frame for achieving the curriculum goal.
- Describe the plan for creating and delivering the curriculum.
- Specify where the content created is being saved or allocated.
The grantee answered (quote) “The curriculum should be finished at the end of my Grant. There is always something new to add and edit. I am still learning And adding more of what I learned in WEB 3. To be effective in building this, is to separate all the topics, from Music NFTS, NFTS, Security measures, how to use OBS, Performing in the Metaverse topics. Just like school subjects. It will be easily readable. The plan is to finish this by of 2024, and it will be easily accessible for anyone who wants to use it. Matter fact, F3 ventures (Hetal) had a meeting and she would like to have access to this as well. So i know it will come in handy for those who have no idea how this all operates. This curriculum is saved on Thinkfinic. A pretty popular platform for courses. Some Files in there are saved as PDF files. Which can be downloadable.“
Grant Support Squad assessment.
The total number of blogs written on the proposal as a goal is not being delivered, the content of the IRL events has not been recorded, and most of the content of the YouTube videos published is the Grantee singing (these concerns will be detailed later) So we don’t have any proof of the content that the curriculum will have.
However, the grantee explained that (quote) “Content is being saved and created on Canva and also in The curriculum”.
Also, there is no information about who the target of this curriculum will be, how the users will consume the content, or what the plan is to deploy the content into Serena Elis’ World (DAYDREAM), etc.
So, we recommend showing the content saved in the Curriculum listed here (published in the Grant Update 4 posted on their grant proposal). Present a plan with a timeframe to deploy the curriculum should be shown before the 1st of December to prove that this goal can be achieved
- IRL EVENTS:
The grantee mentioned that this subcategory will be integrated by: (quote) “… not only to host virtual events, but also incorporate IRL events.
- Hosted once a Month (12 IRL EVENTS):
- Live IRL EVENTS sharing relevant content
- Networking and collaborating with IRL gatherings
- Meetups can be in co-working spaces, boardrooms, outside events.
- Create metaverse IRL events to attract individuals interested in creating AND Bringing there brand in the metaverse but don’t know where to start”
Analysis:
As part of our tasks, we requested more information about this topic to the grantee through the following questions:
- Detail the hosting process for the monthly events.
- Specify the cities where events have been hosted.
- Share the number of attendees at each event.
- Provide media content (photos, videos) for each event.
- Share the topics or themes of each event.
The grantee answered (quote) “The most important detail is finding a location Where Web 3 is popular and known. I position myself where there are Entrepreneurs in Web3 and in the crypto Space. I found ‘Yellow Connect’ in the city of Chiang Mai. Since I was Sponsored by yellow, they allowed access there office space and tools to host events and also their network Group. I stayed in contact via Telegram Group with the team. Once I found the location i can begin to setup events Via Meetup. Meetup allows you to make IRL events all around the world. I created my own Event Profile. Which I pay a monthly subscription for to be a host.
Yellow is a coworking hub and Web3 startup incubator located in the thriving city of Chiang Mai, Thailand – Southeast Asia’s notorious startup hub. The space is a blockchain-savvy ecosystem and community with a collaborative network of professionals.
All the 4 Events I hosted where in the City of Chiang Mai, Thailand…
Event details:
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Event DJ SET. Event Hosted in Bangkok, Thailand at Durian Radio multi streamed into Decentraland with a radio station.
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Serena Elis LIVE in Bangkok, Thailand Hosted by Durian Radio Station | Decentraland Events
Grant Support Squad assessment: this event took place (March 4th) before the Grant started (April 1st). It can’t be counted as 1 event of the twelve promised.
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Event 1: May
- Introduction of Serena Elis. The grantee provided a flyer to prove that this event happened.
- Introduction of Serena Elis. The grantee provided a flyer to prove that this event happened.
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Networking. The grantee provided a photo to prove that this event happened.
- Event 2: May 15, 2023
This Event was an Introduction to Decentraland. We discussed Decentraland Basics. Logging, exploring events, page, sharing my project.
The grantee provided a flyer to prove that this event happened. And also a Video, but is private and the meetup link but it doesn’t work.
Question to the Grantee:
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Could you share the recording, please?
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The following link https://www.meetup.com/61d814be-2545-4e2d-a33b-2c4772ed2788/ isn’t working.
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Event 3: June 7,2023
Metaverse Tour. (quote) “We went over events, and how to create one, we toured Decentraland, my land, other plots and also billies party. And answered questions to attendees who wanted to know more.”
The grantee provided a flyer and a picture to prove that this event happened.
Question to the Grantee:
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The following link Login to Meetup | Meetup isn’t working.
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Event 4: July 26,2023
The grantee explained that: (Quote) “Went over the Decentraland dao and grants.” The grantee provided a flyer and a picture to prove that this event happened.
Question to the Grantee:
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The following link https://www.meetup.com/61d814be-2545-4e2d-a33b-2c4772ed2788/ isn’t working.
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Event 5: August 31, 2023.
Enhancing Creativity in the Digital World
- Event 6: September 29, 2023
Metaverse meetup and network at Somiya Lounge
Grant support Squad conclusion in this topic:
The IRL events are being accomplished. However, we don’t know the number of attendees of each event or the quality of the content of each one.
Also, there is not enough proof that the events happened, and we need to take into account that a budget was allocated for this point.
- STAFF: $8600 has been allocated to have help hosting events, filming, photography, social media content.
- IRL EVENTS: $6000 has been allocated to IRL events, which is approximately $500 per event. Hosted IRL event, flyers, supplies, and rent of rooms.
Therefore, the grantee mentioned that Yellow, the company where some events happened, sponsored her with commodities (workspace, etc), so more budget has been available.
In other words, the budget to do the events, record the content, and flyers, have been allocated and we don´t know the ROI of this, because we don´t know the number of attendees for example.
- PURSUING MUSIC ARTISTIC ENDEAVORS
The grantee mentioned that (quote) “I have put a lot of time, effort and money into increasing my name recognition and building a Decentraland reputation while also promoting the platform. I want to continue to deliver quality performances and onboard a diverse group of artists.
- Allows Serena to create in DCL full time
- keeping up innovation and fresh ideas
- More collaborative work with IRL brands and community members.
- Bring inspiration and new concepts to the table”
Grant Support Squad Assessment: it looks like Serena Elis is dedicating hours to Decentraland. However, it is not clear if it is to create awareness of her brands (Serena Elis), or DreamX or Decentraland.
Lack of outreach and target audience: We recommend the grantee look for communities of diverse groups of artists, invite them to the events, and actively ask the target audience what they’d like to learn from Decentraland.
- IN WORLD
The grantee mentioned that the goal of this milestone is (quote) “we would like to change Serena Elis World, including changing the name to “DAYDREAM”- a lounge that caters to all types of performing artists and entertainment. It will also include an education center. We want to take advantage of the in world dcl.eth and use it to broaden this vision and bring a venue that delivers more than just a party scene. It will be a multi-functional build with rooms for different educational content, that brings all these materials together in one place.
- Daydream.dcl.eth - Build World and Maximize it
- Build that caters to different Genres of Entertainment
- Share and Inspire the possibilities with In World and what is possible.”
According to the following link, and her updates:
Analysis:
We asked the grantee if we could “Provide a timeframe for creating the world “Daydream.dcl.eth.”
The grantee answered: “Time frame will be till the end of Grant 2024”
Also, the grantee has made 8 events regarding this topic, most of which are performance.
Grant Support Squad Assessment: this milestone should be done 1st of December, showing some of the content of the curriculum already produced.
- MARKETING
According to the budget detail, the grantee promised (quote) “Youtube Videos to be deployed 3 times a week. This includes daily posts on IG REEL.”
Analysis and Grant Support Squad Assessment
The grantee says that they have made all the videos promised.
After visiting https://www.youtube.com/@SerenaElis/videos and gathering the data we noticed that during April, May, June, July, August, and September, there were 37 videos, 1 duplicated. Still, there weren’t 12 videos per month as they promised.
Also, visiting https://www.youtube.com/@daydreamxsea, during the mentioned period of time, 8 videos were made. Most of them without quality content or educational.
Last but not least, is not clear if this goal is about DayDreamX or Serena Elis.
Also, the Decentraland DAO logo wasn’t shown in the videos or social media (this was a requirement. Recognition requirement)
- BUDGET
The grantee explained in detail the Budget in the proposal
BLOGS 2 Blogs per week to be effective with SEO. (96 Blogs )
10 hrs a week = 40/hrs a month. 800/ x 12
Total = $9,600
Grant Support Squad assessment:
$9600 / 96 = $100 per blog. 14 blogs were made, 100*8= $800 (DreamX)
-PERFORMERS - Bringing Female Entertainers,
Quality as shown in previous grant.
Total = $12,000
-CURRICULUM
Thinkfinic FREE Courses for the community - 40 /hrs a week.
500/ hrs for the year - 20/hr
topics and references.
Total = $ 9,600
Grant Support Squd assessment: until there is not proof of the content of the curriculum, we can not estimate the cost.
-MARKETING web 2/3 Included.
YouTube videos to be deployed 3 times a week, a total of 12 YouTube videos.
12 videos per month during 12 months is a total of 144 YouTube videos.
8videos were made regarding DreamX.
Total = $7,200.
Grant Support Squd assessment: 144 videos promised. 37 were posted but 1 is the same video.
$7200/144= 50
8*50= $400
SERVER
Quality over Everything - One year for the Server
Total = $2,000
CODE/BUILD
Covers basic SDK/3DBuild
We are grateful that Decentraland has opened up the world for users to create without having to purchase land. We want to Maximize this space.
Total = $5,000
STAFF
Help Hosting Events, film, photography, Social Media content =
(hired only in dcl community)
Artist Onboarding Assistant : (only connections in the Music industry)
Total = $8,600
SPECIAL EVENTS/IRL EVENTS
Total = $6,000
We want to create unique events for holidays, deploying wearable for special events,
All of these contents will be effective long term, funneled to other platforms, and that is critical to onboarding but also helping users stay. Hosted IRL event, flyers, supplies, rent of rooms.
Conclusion.
The Grant Support Squad has conducted a thorough review of the project, and we have assessed various aspects, including the roadmap, metrics, budget, and project goals.
Roadmap and Goals:
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The project aimed to create educational content, including blogs and live-streaming events. However, the number of blogs produced falls significantly short of the proposed goal, with only 8 blogs completed regarding DreamX, compared to the planned 96 during a 12-month period.
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Live streaming events, which were part of the educational streams, were conducted but lacked detailed information about content, attendees, and relevance to Decentraland.
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The curriculum, which was intended to be a practical long-term educational resource, lacks precise details about its content, target audience, and deployment plan. The grantee mentioned that it should be completed by the end of the grant, but there is no clear evidence of progress.
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IRL (In Real Life) events were conducted, however, if we consider the budget allocated, content creation lacks detailed ROI (Return on Investment) information, making it challenging to assess the effectiveness of these expenditures.
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The project lacks clear metrics to measure the success of its educational and outreach efforts. The number of attendees at events and the impact of content on the target audience are not adequately tracked.
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The project aimed to produce a significant amount of content, including YouTube videos. While some content was created, the quantity and quality did not meet the original goal. There is also confusion about whether the content is related to DayDreamX or Serena Elis.
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Also, the Decentraland Brand Awareness doesn’t seem to be built by the project (this was a requirement. Recognition requirement)
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The target audience for the marketing efforts is not well-defined, and there is a lack of outreach to diverse communities of artists within Decentraland.
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The goal of creating the “Daydream.dcl.eth” world is set to be achieved by the end of the grant, but there is no evidence of substantial progress or content related to this milestone.
Budget:
The budget allocations for various project components appear reasonable, but without clear evidence of the impact and results achieved, it is challenging to evaluate their efficiency.
- Last questions:
- Based on the roadmap, we have clear metrics for the activities, but from the grantee, we have reports coming from two sources/brands: Serena Elis and Daydream. ¿Which are the activities to measure?
- How many Female performers have performed?
- How will you demonstrate the Decentraland shoutouts in radio stations in your 3rd update?
- What was the content of the Sunday event that took place 9/3, 9/10, 9/17, 9/24?
- Could you describe the content of the videos published on Serena Elis and DXS account?
- What is the relationship between the token you minted and the proposal?
Recommendations to the Grantee:
- Augment capacity of team to be able to comply with the times of the project and vesting contract, as they have demonstrated to have a slow delivery on their activities and roadmap.
- To be intentional about the intersectional approach, finding diverse communities in Web3. Part of that strategy might include using hashtags to find diverse creators, follow them and their lists, contact the communities they are involved in, and onboard diverse people the project has around, among other outreach strategies for the project to have the expected impact.
In summary, the project has encountered challenges in meeting its stated goals.
Therefore, The Grant Support Squad suggests that the grantee provides more detailed documentation and proof of progress for each project component, clarify the source, and ensure that the project adheres to the stated roadmap and goals.
While we strongly believe in the importance of supporting initiatives for women and minorities, we’ve identified that the initial proposal may be too ambitious to implement effectively with the small team that we currently have, especially considering the slow progress in achieving some of the goals outlined in this proposal, that’s why we recommend revoking the vesting contract.
Also, it is confusing if the main goal is to increase the Serena Elis brand or create the DreamX. However, The grantee could respond to the questions, clarify the situation to the Revocations Committee, and create a new arrangement regarding the rest of the funds if needed.
In conclusion, we are sending this case to the Revocations Committee (@revocationcommitee , which triggers the pause of the vesting contract (@HPrivakos @rizk @Tobik )