You know what I find interesting, my comment is no where to be found on this and I posted it on here a few days ago. 
What kind of inefficiencies? Would this be worth the value of the grant?
Hi @Shiny!
Yes! We worked with the Decentraland Foundation, based on the fact that most of the blockers were technical, and it made sense to host them to support grantees. Decentraland Foundation wanted a space to help the community for a while too. So we worked together to design the AMAs, communicating the space to the grantees whenever they had blockers and moderated the space. This past grant, we started delegating this to the Facilitation Squad, as this was a space that organically grew beyond the Grants Support, and was a good space for the DAO. So even though we were involved in the creation and moderation and outreach of this space until now, in this renewal we are fully delegating it to the Facilitation Squad. This is also why it is not part of this proposalās roadmap, milestones or impact metrics.
Equipment refund covers devices for the squad such as cameras, keyboards, microphones or computers if needed. As you might know, the DAO Grant Support Squad is running under the same non-profit foundation created for the DAO Governance Squad. This foundation provides a flexible vehicle to manage a budget with autonomy while still giving authority to the DAO to steer its direction. But everything we purchase in terms of equipment for this team is property of that non-profit. For this last period we purchased a computer for a team member, hardware wallets for security purposes, and a webcam, and you will be able to see them as expenses reflected on the 6th update of our grant, which will be posted before the 22nd of May.
This is something to be defined during these six months. We do have the contents index weād like to include, and we envision it to be hosted as grants.decentraland.org but that is something to be discussed with partners.
Yes, we are planning to send physical items to grantees.
To add info about what Zino mentioned above,
Fifi in this next renewal has under her job description to lead the onboarding of grantees Process, be the PM of delegated grantees, host TownHalls, Testing Tuesdays and host others that might arise. Sheāll lead the Testing Tuesdays Initiative, contribute to program changes, contribute as Agile Methodology Coach to improve team & grantees processes and start taking the moderation of teamās ceremonials.
Zino on this next renewal has under his job description to be the PM of delegated grantees, lead of database infrastructure and tools (Notion, Drive), heāll lead the Revocation Committee Processes and will be the granteeās concerns analyst. Heāll also be the pull requester for needs of the grants program in the Decentraland infraestructure, and also contribute to program changes and will be coordinating with core units.
Pablo will be PM of delegated grantees, lead GSS communications such as the landing page initiative, documentation of GSS processes, and outreach with the community (mailing). Heāll also lead the GSS marketing such as taking the onboarding kits (design, production and logistics), and blog Posts. Heāll continue working on GSS Financial Administration, coordinating with DCL Foundation (partners, MKT, etc) and as any other member, contribute to program changes.
And in my case in this renewal, and as part of a strategy of our team to explore new spaces of leadership, will be delegating ceremonials to Fifi as she wants to explore that role, delegate the pull requests to Zino with technical training, and work on the exits of the grants program with Pablo. As an advisor, Iāll also support strategic planning by analyzing grantees feedback from the program when they finish, tabulate those answers and bringing key learnings to the team, and support the initiatives of the team that arise based on that feedback, coordinate with core units, and work on improvements for the Decentraland Grants Program based on the learnings. Iāll continue working on reporting to the community in Townhalls, write our monthly updates, the renewals, and our end of grant report, among other changes to the Grants Program that may arise.
Let me know if you have others,
Hi @jar0d,
I wanted to address the current challenge we face in measuring the success of our grants program. Evaluating the impact of our program was difficult because there was no baseline to measure how many succesful grants there were before we joined the DAO. However, we can provide some key metrics that illustrate the significant work our team has accomplished thus far.
Prior to the establishment of our team (Jun 2021 to Jul 2022), the DAO approved 50 grants with a total investment of $2,610,300. We contacted all of them, and from those, 36 projects successfully demonstrated to fulfil their commitments, which accounts for a success rate of 72% based on our historical analysis. Unfortunately, 14 projects either did not respond, or failed to meet their grant commitments. However, we managed to recover funds from some of these cases, with 4 grantees returning a total of $14,916, which represents 0.2% of the funds that were provided until then.
Since our team started actively operating (Ago 22 - Dec 22), the DAO has approved 94 grants (Iām talking just about the ālegacy grantsā), 24 are still active and 70 have finished with an investment of $3,818,369. Out of these, 57 projects have successfully completed what they set out to achieve, resulting in an 81.43% success rate. As for the remaining 13 projects that did not meet their commitments, 10 of them were paused or revoked, allowing us to recover $174,619, which accounts for 20% of the funds initially deemed ālost.ā Additionally, we have implemented a culture of regular project updates, ensuring transparency and accountability throughout the process.
Moreover, weāve developed strong relationships with the grantees in our ecosystem, fostering proximity and providing each one of them with a dedicated point of contact (Project Manager) to address any issues they may encounter.
In conclusion, given the lack of strategic planning in the past and the absence of clear metrics, the only objective measure we currently have to assess the impact of our grants program is the completion of projects. However, we are actively working on creating a comprehensive matrix of successful grants to provide a more integral evaluation of the program, where we can measure not only if a grantās commitment was achieved, but how the Decentraland Grants Program is providing a space for contributors to develop and enhance their skill sets, training future Web3 developers, and developing a world owned and developed by its users.
Thanks for drawing attention to that, on Discord #strategicplanning we will share more info about it.
If anything you guys should ask for more money. I voted no, because this is not enough money for all the work you done. The DAOs fate is in your hands and we all see how well it is doing now. Keep up the amazing work! I know ignoring those that ask you opposing questions is completely necessary in making sure you have a great DAO. Also listing random facts is also important.
Decentraland was founded in 2017. Because of that fact alone, this grant is well deserved except they should get more money.
The GSS does a great job and I agree that we need oversight of the grants program. Should this cost us 200K/year? Is 10 hours/week worth a quarter of that budget? How will the proposals regarding term limits and the selection of GSS members affect the future of the squad? What is the plan for transfer of knowledge in the event these proposals pass? 4K/month for 10 or even 20 hours per week is a lot of moneyā¦ We are a small community right now. I believe we should keep the GSS but Iām just having a hard time with the cost and wondering if this is sustainable long term.
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Renewal Grant Support Squad 2023H2
This proposal is now in status: PASSED.
Voting Results:
- Yes 92% 6,818,639 VP (110 votes)
- No 1% 16,128 VP (11 votes)
- Abstain 7% 534,231 VP (4 votes)
Hi Everyone! Thank you so much for voting in this proposal. We are really excited to serve the Decentraland DAO for 6 more months <3
Answering to @cheddarqueso, hope you are doing good!
As you might have seen in the proposal, we are working to generate an Operational Manual from the Grant Support Squad to transfer knowledge of our processes. As for the worth of the work, I think it is up for the community to decide on each renewal. Regarding the term-limit proposal and the selection for the squad, I think that is something for the people writing that proposal to ask. And as for sustainability long-term, my personal take is that the 6-month renewals mitigate and help adapt the roadmap as needed, allocating resources depending on how the program evolves.
Hope you have a good rest of the week,
Y
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@yararasita I hope you are well too! Please know that my concern is not with the worth of your work but the long-term financial sustainability of the cost for the DAO, the increased workload/costs in the future. I am surprised to see little discussion about it but I support the work of the GSS and the decision of the community. Thank you for responding and clarifying the issue of transfer of knowledge and processes. Have a great week.
Renewal Grant Support Squad 2023H2
This proposal has been ENACTED by a DAO Committee Member (0xbef99f5f55cf7cdb3a70998c57061b7e1386a9b0)
Vesting Contract Address: 0x46DEC1352A0339F0E3EBEF7DD4C5725492E8B109