[DAO:563942a] Holistic Improvement of Decentraland DAO Finances

[dao]

by 0xc53e74d0ad1601ac02e2e1bc71823819512f9192 (r3genavantgarde)

Should the problem/opportunity outlined be refined and taken to the next level?

Problem Statement

The Decentraland Community faces challenges that are threatening the long-term financial sustainability of the DAO. These include negative P&L month by month, lack of income stream diversity, sub-optimal financial reporting and planning, ineffective grants program, continuous sell pressure on MANA, and lack of robust treasury management. While these challenges are common across many DAO and can be resolved with the right corrective actions, the financial future of the DAO may be at risk without immediate intervention.

Proposed Solution

Hire service providers with the right skillset, comprising experts from Avantgarde (https://avantgarde.finance) and r3gen finance (https://r3gen.finance) to address the identified financial challenges. These contributors will focus on financial reporting, budgeting & planning and treasury management. r3gen will provide Big-4 accounting expertise, while Avantgarde will leverage its treasury management capabilities. The implementation of the treasury management will be conducted on Enzyme (https://enzyme.finance), a DeFi protocol that is best-in-class for control, transparency and trustless delegation.

Target Audience/Customer Base

The primary audience for this proposal is the Decentraland DAO community, key stakeholders, and delegates. r3gen and Avantgarde aim to gather feedback and build consensus among stakeholders to ensure alignment with the DAO’s long-term objectives.

Why is this relevant now?

The current challenges facing the Decentraland DAO necessitate swift action. With monthly expenses surpassing income, lack of income stream diversity, and inefficiencies in financial reporting and planning, the DAO’s financial future is in jeopardy. Establishing a service agreement now will enhance financial transparency, optimise treasury funds, and support the sustainability and growth of the Decentraland metaverse. By addressing these challenges now, the DAO can secure its financial future and enhance its long term impact, prosperity, and success.

For the full fledged proposal, please read more here: r3gen <> Avantgarde - Decentraland DAO Finance Comittee - Google Docs

Vote on this proposal on the Decentraland DAO

View this proposal on Snapshot

[Huepow]

I would like to remind that the platform at the moment supporting only grants for “Technical Capabilities” by the end of 2024

The proposal by @REDACTED about Freeze All non-Platform Grant Spending is PASSED

Freeze All non-Platform Grant Spending

Quote from proposal:

MOTIVATION

There is a great deal of concern in the dao around sustainability and effective use of resources. On top of that, we all agree that DCL needs to improve by an order of magnitude before it is going to be truly ready for mass adoption.

Removing the other categories will remove a great deal of the noise and stress within the DAO and allow the focus to return to building the platform."

Finance Committees are completely different sections from the Technical Capabilities

Voting NO

And would like to add that requested budget is for building a rocket!
That’s 19,583$ in a month for 1 year
(Budget screenshot below from documentation linked to the current proposal)

[OGContraBand]

I support the hardfork approach first. Clean it out start over with 1 wallet 1 vote. If we don’t count the invalid 500k accounts and include the low VP voters we can see the TRUE VOTE shows the community is ready for 1 wallet 1 vote clearly. Nothing done without addressing the VP problem is going to help much. These grants might as well read “Do you vote to give yourself money or give it to others instead?”

[ginoct]

This is a Bidding & Tendering proposal, not a Grant. I would suggest watching the community call the avantgarde+r3gen team held a few days ago with details about the proposal. @Ivey @Fehz is the recording published already?

[web3nit]

Here is the link to this fin planning session.

https://youtu.be/SWfvW_8snJw?si=l-oqV6u_1qTg-8kq

[Banned]

Seems like a miss use of the Bidding and Tendering for a project to put forth the idea then intend on submitting for

[ginoct]

For the money to be allocated, when the Bid submission period ends, at least one other proposal will be needed to open the voting window.

[Banned]

Still feels like if @Fehz is working to police self voting, wouldn’t hurt to add something about creating your own Proposals to bid on.

Not that it is going to stop the system from being fairly easy to abuse…

Guess we will have to debate if “freeze all grants” should include Bid & Tendering since it is part of the Grants program

[Manadaiquiri]

I am not convinced that the DAO is in a dire position that requires swift actions. We have to believe in our decentralized system and that funds are granted with votes. I believe the DAO does not need these financial services.

[OGContraBand]

Where is the bidding and tendering documentation? How does this work? Who is best person to visit in-world about this process?

[r3gen]

1. Bidding & Tender process

@OGContraBand

Where is the bidding and tendering documentation? How does this work? Who is best person to visit in-world about this process?

@Huepow

I would like to remind that the platform at the moment supporting only grants for “Technical Capabilities” by the end of 2024

@Banned

Guess we will have to debate if “freeze all grants” should include Bid & Tendering since it is part of the Grants program

More details on the Bidding and Tendering process can be found here. It is worth highlighting the text below indicates the Bidding and Tendering process stands as separate from the grants program and different from the grants program in a number of structural ways.

2. Need for financial services

@Banned

Seems like a miss use of the Bidding and Tendering for a project to put forth the idea then intend on submitting for

Decentraland DAO has already expressed a strong desire through governance for Financial Reporting. This proposal should allow that need to be met and which we believe will help support the sustainability and success of Decentraland DAO.

3. Value for money

@Huepow

Voting NO

And would like to add that requested budget is for building a rocket!

This proposal would represent only a small fraction of total spend at Decentraland - yet upon implementation will offer the DAO the largest and most stable revenue stream to fund ongoing operations.

We believe the Decentraland Community finds itself at a crucial juncture. While the DAO has grown significantly and continues to flourish, several formidable challenges have raised concerns within the community. These include:

• Monthly expenses surpassing income
• Lack of diversity and strength of DAOs income streams
• Lack of robust financial reporting, planning and long term budgeting
• Challenges around the efficacy of the grants program and spending.
• Sell pressure on MANA and significant DAO dependance on the token.

Together, the following challenges create a significant risk to the long-term sustainability of Decentraland DAO. Without an immediate course change, continuing down the current road could jeopardise the financial future of the DAO. We believe by addressing these challenges now, the DAO can secure its financial future and enhance its long term impact, prosperity, and success.

[Banned]

@r3gen

More details on the Bidding and Tendering process can be found here . It is worth highlighting the text below indicates the Bidding and Tendering process stands as separate from the grants program and different from the grants program in a number of structural ways

If the process isn’t part of the grants program, it was made invalid by the proposal to stop the spending of DAO funds outside of the grant program

So I wouldn’t spend too much energy arguing that this is outside the grant program.

[r3gen]

The specifications of for [DAO:2ed70c8] Reverse “Freeze All non-Platform Grant Spending" were as follows.

@dao

Specification

Stop funding grants outside of the Platform category for all of 2024

Do not allow Platform grants that are primarily focused on creating art.

Do not allow the Platform grant to be used to fund private business enterprises.

Allow funding to remain for Facillitaion Squad as they are responsible for promoting the DAO as well as moderation in working on improving communication with the Foundation which will continue to need improving if Decentraland is ever going to live up to it’s potential.

We aim to honor the community’s wishes and comply with Decentraland’s governance procedures. Various delegates have provided differing viewpoints on whether the Bidding and Tendering process is affected by the Grant Spending freeze.

Given this ambiguity, it seems prudent to advance with the Bidding and Tender process. This empowers token holders to express their opinions and either endorse or oppose this interpretation of the grant freeze, as well as the proposal overall, through on-chain governance.

[Banned]

I wasn’t speaking of the Grant Freeze

If you want to argue “the Bidding and Tendering process stands as separate from the grants program”

it would also be arguing that that process was invalidated by the proposal to Limit Fund Appropriation to Grant Proposals

Limit Fund Appropriation to Grant Proposals

[OGContraBand]

Thanks for the link.

[Fehz]

I understand that the intention behind this proposal is not malicious… However, it’s important to adhere to the essence of Pitch proposals, which is to identify issues and suggest solutions at a high conceptual level. It’s also important to highlight that under the B&T framework, solutions should remain “agnostic” to specific teams, organizations, or companies to uphold the principles of an open and transparent bidding process. Moreover, tender proposals should maintain a similar conceptual approach to delineate technical specifications and scope of work without bias, fostering fair competition.

Given these considerations, I’m inclined to vote yes, but solely to provide an opportunity for the proposal to be refined and aligned with the appropriate format and guidelines, ideally presented by other community member(s).

[dao]

Holistic Improvement of Decentraland DAO Finances

This proposal is now in status: PASSED.

Voting Results:

• Yes 73% 5,703,862 VP (73 votes)
• No 26% 2,071,972 VP (14 votes)
• Abstain 1% 41,920 VP (2 votes)