AIP-317: ApeCoin DAO Governance and Operations Budget

[bigbull]

@Amplify

Key Result 2: By October 1st, implement a revolving seat mechanism, ensuring that at least 50% of the committee’s seats rotate every two months, promoting diverse representation and perspectives from more global constituents and delegations.

Generally excellent work. I have one question or concern. With these rotating so regularly will this lead to very short term directives as anything long term they are likely to be already out of the seat. Also how to pick which rotate? By schedule or by a vote? If a vote then a vote by who?

[ssp1111]

Thanks for the visuals Buuvei.

Staying tuned for Edit 2.

SSP

[ssp1111]

Second time reading through and just a few questions:

• So we’re changing the fonts and colours for the ApeCoin brand from ApeCoin Blue to Light Purple? I kinda like it, but it seems like this would be a Marketing & Communications Working Group deliverable, so just intrigued to better understand how far and wide GovtWG mandate runs.

@Amplify

is nearing the completion of all four OKRs from AIP-239

• Still awaiting this OKR before August Funding (or is this now cancelled?):

@Amplify

Ratify the formation of the Ape Assembly.

(cont)

@Amplify

Professional Service Providers: Engaging professional service providers in areas like legal, accounting, consulting, and insurance is essential for structuring ourselves properly.

We were planning for RFP transparency when engaging professional service providers in the MarComms WG, will you be doing same? Not that I care either way, but others may.

@Amplify

Community Committees: Establishing committees is vital for ApeCoin DAO to achieve further decentralization and empower community members to effect meaningful change.

So are these committees replacing the Assembly? If so, what purpose will the Assembly serve if any?

@Amplify

establish a formidable Global Community Committee, engineered with a dynamic seven-seat structure per meeting

So just to understand better, we weren’t happy that 30-40 members spoke for the DAO, but we’re okay with 7? Or is this just another layer of committees, meetings, minutes, etc?

Misc:

• What’s the breakdown for the $24k for Discord Mods?

• $3k a month for communications? Isn’t this part of the Stewards responsibilities anyway?

• $5k a month for reserve and additional comms - is that communications or committees?

• Is the GovtWG still administering the elections (no mention of this)?

• Please confirm if these are correct:
  – elections for 4 positions beginning September (MarComms & Metaverse)
  – elections for 3 positions beginning November (SC)
  – elections for 2 positions beginning December (MarComms & Metaverse)

• Do you foresee any more?

Finally, with this budget for Governance we’re going from an annual budget of $1.8m for our previous admin to an annual expense of $2.27m – what’s the justification of increasing our Governance spend?

Sure, our ops have improved and our AIPs are processing faster, yet it seems to me that would be down to the 3 facilitators expediting matters and our 5 Special Council members working 20-40 hours per week as compared to their predecessors supposedly spending 3 hours per week/month = just more hours spent on the workloads.

(Also, improved communications thanks to Vulkan, ApeComms, SC, et al)

I’m not sure many members realize this comparative increase, and I imagine there are nuances, but it would be worth letting the community know.

Thanks

SSP

[ssp1111]

As a follow-up:

April 13 - Working Group AIPs 245 & 246 published
Jun 7 - Metaverse WG approved
July 19 - Marketing & Communications WG approved

Sept/Oct - Expected Elections for WG Stewards

[AllCityBAYC]

@dyorjdr

As usual, very clear, proud of our actual Governance Working Group Stewards and other officials.

Can’t wait to see next steps !
(Marketing is important)

Thank you dyorjdr! And for sending over the French translation!!

We actually had five ready to go but caught an error on one that kept popping up every time we reran it so didn’t want to risk anything in case there were more in others.

Should have that posted up today!

@leyota

Are these typically things that would usually involve an AIP, but it could be fast tracked under this program? So I assume it would be things like reorganizing forum etc?

Hey Leyota! Great questions!! Moving into the legal structure that we’re transitioning into, committees won’t require an AIP unless we determine a specific ability to task them with that would transcend a previous AIP, or look to establish them as something which would require a future AIP to change.

But we do want to budget for them accordingly

@leyota

I feel like forcing a random “insight” out of every meeting might not be practical. What about just asking them to discuss current AIPs, gathering their viewpoints on the AIPs, and also requesting information of what type of AIPs they’d like to see? So this can also automatically turn into an ideas lab for others to work off of.

This is a great catch… Putting this in our notes now to adjust. I’m with you 100% after rereading it. Thanks for the insights!!

AC

[AllCityBAYC]

These are great questions BigBull, and definitely on an evolving item… The positives of having terms would be to establish some longer-term thinking, but we don’t want it to feel gate-kept either, so the thinking was to provide more opportunities; albeit even if those term concepts aren’t right where they need to be just yet.

Any suggestions? Would love to get your take on this…

[ApeForLife]

I’ve just noted the LLC. This concerns me a bit. Why would anyone set up any structure related to crypto in the US, one of the most crypto unfriendly nations in the world, especially when the Ape Foundation itself rather set up in the Cayman Islands and the DAO operates globally? Or are you just using the US description, although not necessarily planned for the US?

[bigbull]

I asked this question when asked about the draft AIP. Seems Marshall Islands also use the term LLC or this case DAO LLC.

Exploring The Marshall Islands DAO LLC: A Revolutionary DAO Legal Structure - Marine/ Shipping - Marshall Islands.

[ApeForLife]

Ok, looks like correct term for company there is then actually just ‘Ltd’., but I was looking for the country, so Marshall Islands it is then. But the DAO there strangely also uses the US company term of LLC at the end thereof. Thanks for the link.

[JustFred]

Great work on providing clarity & transparency in this budget. The level of detail effectively demonstrates how the budget line items will lead to qualitative results.

As the general AIPs serve to support the Web3 ecosystem at large, the Working Groups have a signficant role of serving the ApeCoin DAO itself. I’m excited to see this budget jumpstart that process.

[apboatt]

@Amplify

I absolutely love the UI design of the mobile app and the redesigned ApeCoin website as well. The visuals are captivating and I can’t wait to see it come to life. LFG !!

[apboatt]

I’m excited to see such strategic planning in action. This proposal seems to be a major step towards creating a more efficient, transparent, and inclusive DAO environment. Definitely keeping a track on this. I look forward to the positive impact that this AIP could bring to the DAO.

[AllCityBAYC]

@apboatt

I’m excited to see such strategic planning in action. This proposal seems to be a major step towards creating a more efficient, transparent, and inclusive DAO environment. Definitely keeping a track on this. I look forward to the positive impact that this AIP could bring to the DAO.

Thank you apboatt!! And as for the website and mobile app development, these were created strictly so that we could show the community what a fresh feel could look like, and the vibes those could evoke

@JustFred

Great work on providing clarity & transparency in this budget. The level of detail effectively demonstrates how the budget line items will lead to qualitative results.

As the general AIPs serve to support the Web3 ecosystem at large, the Working Groups have a signficant role of serving the ApeCoin DAO itself. I’m excited to see this budget jumpstart that process.

Thank you Justin!! Means a lot!!!

AC

[AllCityBAYC]

Update on the polls!!

[Amplify]

GM Everyone!

We’re making some updates to the proposal based off community feedback, then I will address all the open questions in the forum. I don’t want anyone to think they’re being ignored!

-Amplify

[Zack74eth]

@Amplify

Website and Mobile App Development: Create a mobile app that can send push notifications to alert users about new AIPs going live, effectively driving more traffic to Discourse and increase community participation. The app will be available for download on all major app stores, providing easy access and fostering greater engagement with ApeCoin DAO’s governance processes. Additionally, we aim to enhance the user experience of the existing ApeCoin website to offer a more engaging interface where users can feel welcomed, select their language of choice and feel encouraged to explore and learn more about the platform.

The priority should be to enhance the website by improving its use cases and structure before we begin developing the phone apps. The website currently requires significant improvements. Launching an app with the website’s current framework would not only be a waste of resources but would also necessitate a larger budget for subsequent modifications.

I would be glad to help with this.

quick sample I made a few months ago
that highlight few potential features and reason for people to use our site and bookmark it even!

[adventurousape]

Overall, great job on the proposal! I love the graphics and chart for the budget. It’s very clean and easy to read.

I’m looking forward to your response to @SmartAPE and @ssp1111. They asked some great questions. And @Halina.eth did as well. I do have some questions/comments also. Sorry there’s a lot, but there’s a lot in this proposal. And I see that you are going to be updating the proposal, so if some of my questions are no longer relevant, please ignore.

@Amplify

5. Building the Working Group Blueprint: As the first Working Group to be established and newly assembled, we want to take no chances moving forward in building a safe, compliant organizational structure with the right professional service providers and advisors mentoring our every step. Our goal is simple: to become the gold standard of all Working Groups and build out the framework for others to follow.

I very much appreciate you striving towards towards being the gold standard! Thank you for blazing the trail! I know it’s not easy!

• How do you plan to make the process transparent?
• How will you be deciding which 3rd parties to use, especially in regards to the “right professional service providers and advisors” who mentor you?

@Amplify

Our focus now is on the proper formalization of the Ape Assembly’s legal structure

• Could you please clarify your plans for the Ape Assembly, how it will operate, and it’s structure since it seems as that is no longer being decided by the AA members and the Governance Stewards have put forth Enable DAO-Wide Voting to Elect Working Group Stewards which would take away most of it’s mandate?
• How would the Ape Assembly improvement fund be utilized?

@Amplify

OKR1: Publish Technical & Governance Documentation

@Amplify

OKR2: Governance & Community Participation Dashboard

@Amplify

OKR3: Community Governance Improvement Program

Love these!

@Amplify

OKR4: Economic Sustainability & Compliance Study

While this is something I personally think the DAO should pursue, this seems like something a Treasury Working Group would do.

• What is the reasoning for having this go through the Governance Working Group?

@Amplify

OKR5: IP Empowerment Study

• While this is an interesting idea, could you explain why this would fall under the Governance Working Group to do? It seems like it should be it’s own AIP or fall under Marketing/Comms.
• Could there end up being preferential treatment to NFT holders of certain collections? One Ape = One Ape

@Amplify

OKR6: Website and Mobile App Development

• How is this different from what recently voted down AIP-247 was looking to do?

• How does the Marketing & Communications Working Group fit into this? While I love the look of your example, it does seem, like @ssp1111 mentioned, that it would be a Marketing/Comms deliverable, especially since they will be handling branding.

@Amplify

Key Result 3: Witness an 80% increase in combined traffic to the website and Discourse within six months of the mobile app’s introduction, capitalizing on the synergy between the two platforms to attract and retain community members.

• How would you distinguish between an increase in traffic due to the mobile app vs. other activities? Especially since the Marketing/Comms Working Group should be up an running before the OKR is measured, and other initiatives and community members also drive traffic there.

@Amplify

OKR7: Global Community Committee

• What types of actionable insights will this group be putting forth?
• How will it be decided who is in these seats?
• How will it be decided who’s seats are going to be rotated? Rotation of at least 50% of the seats every two months seems too fast and that it’ll be hard for that group to have productive conversations or get anything accomplished with that high of turnover so frequently

Thanks for all your hard work on this! I look forward to your reply.

[buuvei]

Thanks for taking a look. Made update with Edit 2.

Edit 3 will have to be after the proposal update like Amplify wrote above.

[AllCityBAYC]

Hi AA!

On mobile right now so tricky to go through everything point by point, and would like to give Amplify the opportunity to reply.

But that being said, from a personal perspective, we have the opportunity to get the ball rolling — now. The DAO has been in a perpetual motion of waiting for others to execute things that they may or may not do. We’re here to get things moving, and not waste time as tomorrow is never guaranteed, like the Treasury Working Group vote showed. There are also no guarantees that the anticipated Marketing and Communications budget will pass, which is still months away from even being proposed; or who those Stewards will even be.

Overall, we want to provide support for these groups and push the DAO forward in bold, meaningful ways. And the time is now.

Hope that helps from a top-view perspective! And as always I appreciate and value your voice!!

AC

[Amplify]

Hey SSP! Just reaching out to say, a lot of these points and feedback are being taken into account and will reflect in the final draft of the proposal, so it wouldn’t serve to clarify much if I answered all of them.

@ssp1111

Still awaiting this OKR

• The Assembly hasn’t been ratified yet, correct. Until we have our entity established.

@ssp1111

We were planning for RFP transparency

• We planned for an RFP process for producing the Sustainability study, but it’s not likely we will be publicly running RFPs for all our service providers.

@ssp1111

So are these committees replacing the Assembly

• The Assembly is still a larger think tank of highly active governance contributors. There’s a fairly long list I sent early in the Assembly channel of things that we can and should still be doing.

Recognizing the proposal will be edited and comments closed, I’m looking forward to answering any additional questions you may have about the updated one in the Discord or on ApeComms Monday spaces!

-Amplify