Illustration by @Brazy
Original Proposal
Reason for Return
I never received a clear answer on why the previous proposal was, “at odds with the well-being of the Foundation,” but below is what was posted on Discourse by the previous Administrator.
Hello everyone,
After review, this Topic submitted by @badteeth has been deemed to Return for Reconstruction. In doing so, the Special Council cited that a mission statement can be crafted to appropriately serve the purposes of WG0. However, the proposal, as it is written, is at odds with the well-being of the Foundation. The Topic may be resubmitted and upon approval, will be open for 7 days for community discussions.
This Topic will be moved to and remain in the Withdrawn AIPs category. The author may resubmit their proposal if they wish.
Best,
-mallard
Resubmission Updates
This AIP empowers the DAO to vote on a final mission statement from 8 different community submitted and selected options. I simplified the proposal removing the Smithsonian Workshop facilitation and have updated the process to include feedback received during the months we spent workshopping the mission statement in WG0.
Abstract
A good mission statement should clearly define the purpose and goals of an organization, providing a sense of direction and helping to unify the members of the organization around a common set of objectives.
This AIP will engage our community to complete the months of work the DAO spent workshopping a mission statement in WG0 and on Twitter Spaces. We will finalize a mission statement that will serve as a northstar for the DAO.
Author Description
Name: Badteeth | Josh Friedberg
Life-long skateboarder. Three decades building at the intersection of art, sport, and technology. Down the NFT rabbit hole in January 2021. Minted apes. Full-time Web3 since May 2022. Co-founder of THE 288 https://twitter.com/288gang and Rara Avis https://twitter.com/raraavisapp. Lead-author AIP-196, served as elected ApeCoin DAO WG0 Steward.
Motivation
With the talent, brainpower, and treasury available to our ecosystem, there is literally no limit to what ApeCoin DAO can accomplish if we can align around a common purpose. This common purpose, defined by our mission statement will:
- Streamline the AIP process by creating clarity for contributors around what the DAO is looking to accomplish
- Attract creators and developers in the space aligned with our mission
- Actively reinforce our founder’s vision to position APE as a token that, “will serve as a decentralized protocol layer for community-led initiatives that drive culture forward into the metaverse.”
- Clarify what exactly it is ApeCoin DAO exists to do
Rationale
It’s tough to align with a mission when we have yet to define a mission – but defining our mission is exactly what this AIP aims to do. This process has been one of persistence, one of our five guiding values.
Key Terms
Mission Statement: A good mission statement should clearly define the purpose and goals of an organization, providing a sense of direction and helping to unify the members of the organization around a common set of objectives.
Vision Statement: Mission statements are rooted in the moment. Vision statements, on the other hand, look to the future. These statements focus on what the company aspires to be once it achieves its mission. The vision statement as presented on apecoin.com is:
“Culture has found new expression in web3 through art, gaming, entertainment, and events. The possibilities for blockchain’s impact on culture are so endless that they can’t possibly all be predicted yet. APE is a token made to support what’s next, controlled and built on by the community. It will serve as a decentralized protocol layer for community-led initiatives that drive culture forward into the metaverse.”
Guiding Values: The ApeCoin guiding values as presented in AIP-1 are:
- Boldness: We don’t shy away from the weird, the hard, or the new.
- Equality: One APE equals one APE.
- Transparency: Processes and decisions are shared openly with the community.
- Collective Responsibility: We leave everything better than we found it.
- Persistence: Success is an ouroboros, not a straight line.
Specifications
- @ApeCoin Twitter
- WG0 Discord
- Google Forms
Steps to Implement
- Schedule three mission statement workshops over three weeks open to all DAO members in order to finalize the mission statement
- Workshop 1 - @apecoin Twitter Space - review process thus far, review survey info, call for mission statement submissions* from community to be submitted in a Discourse General Post
- Workshop 2 - WG0 Discord - review submissions and narrow down to top 8 options through a week of emoji voting. We’ll chose different reactions for each submission and as is typical in most Discord polls and those with the most reactions will win. Since the WG0 Discord is token-gated with a 1 $APE requirement I don’t believe we’ll have a bot issue.
- Workshop 3 - @apecoin Twitter Space - announce 8 finalists and have them share their mission statement prior to sending to DAO-wide vote in which voters will select their preferred mission statement
- Socialize the mission statement finalists including native-speaker translations in Mandarin, Hindi, Spanish, French – both written and on video where possible. To further increase accessibility we will include as many native speaker translations into as many languages as possible.
- Send the Mission Statements finalists to DAO-wide vote for approval and finalize the ApeCoin DAO Mission Statement based on the results of said vote. As an approved part of this AIP, this vote will go up in a format similar to the final phase of the Special Council elections where voters will have the opportunity to vote for one option out of the 8 finalists or choose, “none of the above.”
*Mission statement submissions must represent the vision and guiding values of the Ape Foundation. As with everything else in the DAO, the mission statement will be subject to the AIP process and can be changed at any time after the first three months following initial approval by the DAO.
Timeline
- Three consecutive weeks of workshops as outlined in the Steps to Implement section will be scheduled within one week of this AIP passing
- On the week following the last workshop, the mission statement finalists will go up for a DAO-wide vote
- Upon selection of a mission statement by DAO voters, the Ape Foundation, Governance Working Group, or other responsible parties will:
- Update the apecoin.com website to include the mission statement on the “About” and “Governance” pages
- Update the Snapshot profile to include the mission statement
- Add the mission statement under “Motivation” in AIP-1
- Add the mission statement where relevant on the WG0 Discord and Discourse
- Add the mission statement to all ApeCoin DAO social media accounts
- Promote the new mission statement with a post on all social media accounts
Overall Cost
1 $APE
gg 
