Implementation Update | AIP-408: Q2/Q3 2024 Governance Working Group Budget

[12GAUGE.Admin]

AIP Name: AIP-408: Q2/Q3 2024 Governance Working Group Budget

Implementation Status: Pending

Implementation Date: N/A

Author: @AllCityBAYC

Abstract Summary:

French: Here
Spanish: Here
Japanese: Here
Simplified Chinese: Here

On February 28th, the ApeCoin DAO Governance Working Group (GWG) successfully concluded its Q4-2023/Q1-2024 budget cycle, delivering key initiatives outlined in AIP-317.

Highlights include establishing an independent legal structure, website and governance dashboard development, community reward programs, election facilitation, and the completion of a 47-page treasury and economic sustainability study. AIP processing times were reduced to an average of 16.5 days in the final draft stage, and we came in significantly under budget which allowed us to extend what was initially planned as a 6-month budget to 7 months or more. In addition, we were able to allocate legal startup costs for both new Working Groups.

The primary objective of that cycle was to increase output and develop programs that would provide significantly more value to the ApeCoin community than what was written into our original charter — a goal accomplished. Now, we’re looking to strengthen the DAO from the ground up.

Starting in Q2 2024, the Governance Working Group will roll out three new pillars of what we’re referring to as GWGV3: Education and training resources for AIP authors and leadership teams, cross-community on-chain grants programs, and a delegate accelerator initiative being developed to increase voting participation.

Following extensive preparation and careful consideration, the Governance Working Group is excited to introduce a comprehensive, long-term strategy to empower the ApeCoin ecosystem by providing training and development solutions aimed at strengthening candidates going through our AIP process and, in turn, our proposal implementation success rate. This framework involves the launch of 14 education-based initiatives over the next 12 months, tailored specifically for the ApeCoin DAO. These initiatives will be developed and overseen by OpenCampus in collaboration with core members of NewCampus — a cutting-edge growth and leadership school serving some of the world’s fastest-growing organizations, boasting a client base of over 500 entities. Additionally, ForbesWeb3 will be joining us as a media and community growth partner to help put this program on the map and make ApeCoin DAO a premium destination for builders in Web3.

You can view the full APE_U program specifications here.

The Governance Working Group has also partnered with UMA to integrate their oSnap protocol for an initiative looking to explore cross-community small grant programs with the objective of extending our ecosystem into non-traditional communities. Additionally, the program will provide support for our current market, covering in-person events, NFT intellectual property propagation, professional service provider costs for ApeCoin-funded ventures, developers looking to build on ApeChain, and seed funding for early ideas.

This initiative aims to broaden ApeCoin DAO governance participation by incentivizing the formation of smaller voting delegations, matching funds of up to 50,000 APE through GWG-delegated wallets. We will also pair the initiative with the GWG x UMA On-Chain Small Grants Program and, in some cases, provide access in smaller amounts without requiring communities to match funds, allowing them to sample how our governance processes work with the objective of them joining on their own after access to our program ends. An educational program will be established to cover ApeCoin and ApeCoin DAO fundamentals, and delegated voting rights will cycle every two months to different communities. It is important to reinforce that at no point will these funds leave the GWG’s possession.

Overall Cost: $1,271,900.00 denominated in APE

Related AIPs:

Timeline Updates:

Interview Q&A:

[AllCityBAYC]

ApeCoin DAO,

I finished this overview earlier tonight for another purpose, but I thought it might be effective to start utilizing these AIP implementation threads a lot more, so that other AIP authors can see the value as well.

Therefore, I’ve decided to share a progress update with you regarding one of our most exciting initiatives from AIP-408, the GWG x UMA On-Chain Small Grants Program, which has significant internal attention as we enter the final stretch of development.

Our efforts also involve assistance from two prominent ApeCoin community members, @MocaChief and @jarisjames, who are working closely with myself and BojangleGuy. We anticipate that they will be staying with the initiative as Program Coordinators, where they would be working with external communities to develop our bespoke programs.

It should also be noted that MocaChief and Jaris are joining us through the Community Governance Improvement Program (link to Discord channel), another GWG initiative from our previous financial plan, AIP-317. This program empowers ApeCoin DAO community members to make meaningful differences within our ecosystem, which we encourage you to participate in if you haven’t already.

GWG x UMA ON-CHAIN SMALL GRANTS OVERVIEW

The recent approval of AIP-408, the Q2/Q3 2024 Governance Working Group Budget, empowers the GWG to collaborate with the UMA team on a small and micro grant initiative. This will introduce on-chain treasury management and grant distribution, a first for both the DAO and the overall Working Group structure.

Beyond these advancements, our primary goals are:

• To provide the ApeCoin ecosystem with universal access to streamlined small grant opportunities
• To offer unique onboarding experiences for entire communities through two-month bespoke grant programs tailored to their needs, enabling them to vote on initiative proposals using their native token or NFTs
• To pair these opportunities with our Delegate Accelerator program (also approved in AIP-408), allowing communities to participate in ApeCoin governance by delegating up to 50,000 APE of allocated GWG funding as governance tokens – without any APE ever leaving our Gnosis wallets

Our core objective with the bespoke programs are to onboard and integrate non-traditional communities into ApeCoin, where education about our ecosystem will become an essential requirement for qualification. We will also collaborate with these communities to draft an AIP as a critical element of the programs.

Additionally, we will explore ways to align the program with other GWG initiatives such as APE_U.

EXAMPLE ENGAGEMENT PROCESS

Month One

• GWG engages with [Community] representatives to determine their most beneficial needs
• GWG establishes program completion standards for [Community], including social media visibility and workshop participation
• GWG program coordinators collaborate with [Community] leads to develop a two-month small grant program (up to 8,500 APE) that empowers their holders while promoting ApeCoin and ApeCoin DAO
• GWG determines and delegates up to 50,000 APE (based on specific criteria, with most communities likely receiving less) to a community-controlled wallet
• GWG hosts one orientation and two biweekly workshops to educate on ApeCoin and ApeCoin DAO, discuss AIPs up for voting, and brainstorm proposals for [Community] and the broader ApeCoin ecosystem

Month Two

• [Community] finalizes their AIP concept
• [Community] continues voting on ApeCoin proposals
• GWG continues biweekly workshops
• GWG adds an additional “flex” workshop focused solely on AIP writing, with the expectation that [Community] will have a draft AIP ready for the final program workshop
• GWG holds a final call and reviews the [Community] proposal

QUALIFYING CRITERIA & SUCCESS METRICS

Alignment with ApeCoin’s ethos and meaningful contributions to our ecosystem are crucial for qualification in our bespoke programs. We will evaluate metrics such as:

• Twitter following and engagement
• Influence of Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs)
• Discord community size and daily engagement
• Trading volume on OpenSea (for NFT-focused projects and communities)
• Ownership of ApeCoin in their treasury
• Existence of a native token or plans to launch one (where combining funds could yield more meaningful impacts)

We will also consider factors such as the long-term objectives of project founders and potential compatibility with ApeChain.

To gauge success, we’ll monitor metrics such as:

• New follower counts and Twitter impressions with specific hashtags
• New user signups and engagement on the ApeCoin Discourse forum
• Workshop attendance and participation
• AIP voting activity
• Completion of the AIP proposal process (drafting, posting to Discourse, Snapshot voting)
• Ultimately, whether or not communities purchase APE to continue participating in ApeCoin governance

EXPECTED LAUNCH DATE

The Q2/Q3 2024 budget and ongoing dialogue with the UMA team (dating back months) can be considered the program’s initiation stage, where our primary objectives, scope, and feasibility were conceived.

We are currently around 80% complete, transitioning into a late-planning stage where Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) are being written and communities are being assessed. While few core infrastructure decisions remain, their impacts are significant. These elements include finalizing how future communities will be selected post-launch, determining voting mechanisms and whether custom Snapshot strategies will be required.

Anticipated official program launch: Early to mid-June.