Shaping Success: Building a Stronger Future with new Governance Working Group Pay

[Moonlyght]

Shaping Success: Building a Stronger Future with new Governance Working Group Pay

Category: Process

Author: @Moonlyght

ABSTRACT:

This AIP proposes the re-evaluation of the Governance Working Group pay outlined in AIP-239 and AIP-240 with a salary adjustment for Governance members (Stewards, Secretary and Facilitators), by providing a number of possible payment options for the community to choose from.

This modification will be applicable to forthcoming terms, as delineated in AIP-239, AIP-240, AIP-137 and AIP-138. It will exclusively impact Governance members (Stewards, Secretary and Facilitators) elected in the future or those renewing their contracts after the implementation of this proposal, including current members opting for contract renewal.

MOTIVATION:

When the Governance Working Group was established in April 2023, the criteria for determining salaries were initially derived from the Special Council. On November 2nd, the compensation structure for the Special Council was changed to align with the community vision, resulting in a 50% reduction. In light of these recent adjustments, it seems only right to give the community a chance to share their thoughts on the current Governance Working Group salaries by providing a number of possible payment options to choose from.

These payment options could include payment paid partially in $APE, with the $APE amounts being calculated based on the price of $APE on the first day of the Governance member’s term, and vesting on the 1-year anniversary of such term if any.

SPECIFICATIONS:

Proposed Option 3 (Current Salary Structure):

Proposed Option 1:

Proposed Option 2:

BENEFIT TO APECOIN ECOSYSTEM:

This proposal directly benefits the ApeCoin ecosystem by building a stronger future with focused alignment between the expectations of community members and the payment of ApeCoin Governance Working Group members.

STEPS TO IMPLEMENT & TIMELINE:

Proposed new Governance Working Group member annual pay options:

Option 1: 348k USD: Stewards 54k USD, Facilitators 48k USD, Secretary 42k USD (considering we have 3x Stewards, 3x Facilitators and 1x Secretary).

Option 2: 348k USD + 57,6k USD in $APE*: Stewards 54k USD + 21,6k USD in $APE*, Facilitators 48k USD + 19,2k USD in $APE*, Secretary 42k USD + 16,8k USD in $APE* (considering we have 3x Stewards, 3x Facilitators and 1x Secretary).

*(calculated using $APE price on first day of Governance term and vesting on the annual anniversary of such term if any)

Option 3: None of the above (leave Governance Working Group pay as is)

All base pay is paid monthly over the one-year term if any.

The new Governance Working Group payment structure will apply to any Governance member elected in the future or those renewing their contracts after the implementation of this proposal, including current members opting for contract renewal.

OVERALL COST:

Varies by option chosen.

[AllCityBAYC]

Been waiting for the opportunity to pull the curtain back on what goes into some of our positions on a day-to-day basis.

But first, a couple of points:

1. Putting this proposal up in the middle of Governance Steward elections is not the way. The people who have chosen to run and take on these responsibilities did so based on a certain salary expectation.

2. Although I encourage the community to hold elected positions accountable for the work they put in and the results the DAO gets out of it, suggesting outright pay cuts by as much as 50% before looking to establish more transparency from these individuals is also, not the way.

3. I’m also curious about what your thinking is when suggesting uniform blanket reductions for Stewards, Facilitators, and the DAO Secretary without having (or requesting) any sort of insight into what these people are actually doing.

Just because you may not agree with the salary given to one title within the Governance Working Group does not mean you should be blindly slashing another.

Now I’ll get into things on a personal level, as a Governance Working Group Steward, because I can’t wait to share how my hours and responsibilities far exceed any standard 9-5 punch-in-punch-out full-time role, and a workload that gets spread across the day between 6am to as late as 11pm because of common sporadic Web3 schedules and the DAO’s global participation and regional partners, where not only implementing, but possessing the ability to deliver effective strategic thinking is not only paramount to my job, but also to the ApeCoinDAO as a whole.

I take, and initiate, calls, from oftentimes, multiple community members each day when asked, or as I see needed. We do constant service and product reviews with providers each week all looking to offer their products to the DAO that we then need to project potential effectiveness of.

We plan, develop and facilitate community-driven initiatives like the recently launched Community Governance Improvement Program where we are providing $APE rewards for actionable governance improvement ideas. Or our Global Community Committee gathering representatives from the DAOs delegations to help find some common ground and align with one another a little more to understand each others perspectives. We’re in the middle of election season and facilitating everything that goes into that, including around-the-clock Twitter Spaces — with people like our lead Facilitator @Lost who on top of hosting three ApeComms Twitter Spaces per week is doing as many as three or four per day right now to make sure that our candidates and community can be provided with the best possible platforms we can to make informed decisions and/or get their messages across.

Right now, we are currently working on an on-chain micro and small grants program with an accompanying AIP proposal. A long-term onboarding assistance partnership with one of the top brands in the industry that is going to be an absolute game changer for the DAO; all while looking into a variety of options to reduce administrative overhead and monthly costs to the community to implement before the end of February when our next budget will be up for vote, which will have significant surplus leftover from this budget because of the moves we’ve made to free up funds.

We’re also responsible for the onboarding of four new Stewards for our Marketing and communications and Metaverse Working Groups set to kick off in January. Currently, I’m pulling myself away from drafting a legal contract between the Governance Working Group and a popular content creator from our ecosystem in an effort to better deliver news to the DAO in funner, more digestible ways that we anticipate will grow the community’s participation and overall understanding of ApeCoinDAO. I’m also planning out a no-cost mentorship program to help people write better AIPs that I am not seeking any additional funding for.

And the last thing I’m going to let you chew on is this, at an absolute minimum of 8 hours per day, 6 days per week (can’t actually remember the last time I’ve taken a full day off but happy to round this down a bit for you) with my salary of 9k/month — I am sitting at $46.87/hr. And you wanna cut that in half?

These proposals with little-to-no understanding of the work many of us are actually putting in are going to decimate the talent this DAO will be able to find and kill the pride we put into our work.

AC

[Moonlyght]

Hey AC, thanks for the quick response. I’m impressed by the amount of work that goes on behind the scenes with the whole Governance Working Group. Even then, I’ve had different community members reaching out, questioning the pay structure and expressing concerns about it being overpaid. If that’s the case, ask yourself, have you done enough for the community to feel that the pay is justified? If so, they will likely vote for Option 3, which I’m not against. The main goal here is to empower the community to decide; it doesn’t matter what I or anyone else believes is right. I’m committed to standing by any choice the community makes, whether it’s to cut salaries or not.

Please don’t take this proposal as if I’m diminishing or not recognizing the value in the work that goes on behind the scenes because that’s not the case. Ask yourself, what else can the Governance Working Group do to establish more confidence within the community so that everyone sees the value, and let’s execute on that. Pay is directly proportional to the value one provides, and all the Governance Working Group members are indeed valuable.

Moonlyght

[AllCityBAYC]

@Moonlyght

If that’s the case, ask yourself, have you done enough for the community to feel that the pay is justified? If so, they will likely vote for Option 3, which I’m not against.

At around 200hrs/mo at about $45/hr I’m not sure I could do any more.

Good luck with your proposal.

[mattborchert]

Just a note that some of your proposed salaries here are not only under, but well under a living wage for some US cities where it’s a single person with no children (giving the maximum benefit of doubt to your proposed numbers.)

As a result, the roles should be defined as part-time if you were to attempt to push this forward.

[Moonlyght]

Hey matt, I believe that there’s no explicit mention of specific working hours or a designated time commitment for Working Groups. It seems to follow a task-oriented and results-focused approach, allowing the Working Groups to determine their schedules and working hours based on the needs of the DAO.

[Moonlyght]

It’s not about the time one invests; rather, it’s about the value and results one brings — something I believe you consistently deliver. You made (and are making) great contributions, and I personally appreciate the dedication and impact you bring to the DAO.

[Evil]

Good proposal man, very well structure but can we for once, let the people in position work ?
Just proposing AIPs to straight deduct salaries by 50% everytime is not the way. Stewardship is an under rated and under appreciated position. Unlike Special Council that comes and discuss once a week, stewards are on job 24/7 all around the month.

[mattborchert]

This conceptually makes sense.

So how did you calculate the value each of these positions brings to the DAO in order to influence the amounts you’re proposing in your AIP?

[Moonlyght]

The value at the time was calculated taking into account the Special Council Pay. Here, Options 1 & 2 take a similar approach to what the SC proposed with AIP 350.

[Moonlyght]

Hey Evil, I’m with you. The goal of this AIP is to give a chance to the broader community to make a decision on the value that’s been delivered since its inception. In no way is it aiming to prevent people from working. It’s about giving power to the community on the perceived value, and if they see the value, for sure, Option 3 will be voted.

[mattborchert]

And how did you ensure that you fairly compensated these roles against the special council pay? Can you articulate what each of these roles does to me, and how you determined how much value they provide to the DAO?

If you can’t, then it seems like you arbitrarily cut each role’s pay in half without understanding what they actually do, or the impact they actually have. We need to hold ourselves to a high standard when making decisions like this, and to show respect to the people who have been dedicating themselves to these roles.

Also I do hope that people realize that the amount these roles are getting paid has basically zero impact on the price of $APE. There was $66 million in volume in the past 24 hours. A couple hundred thousand, in total per year across all of these roles, isn’t putting downward pressure on price.

[Moonlyght]

The goal with this AIP is to give the community a chance to contribute their input and vision. We can only speculate on what’s fair or not. The roles are described in AIPs 239 and 240. This has nothing to do with ApeCoin price. Also, the AIP is not suggesting a 50% cut, but 3 different options to choose from (options provided took inspiration from AIP-350, as Working Group pay was based off SC compensation at the time).

[mattborchert]

This statement directly conflicts with what you said here:

@Moonlyght

The value at the time was calculated taking into account the Special Council Pay. Here, Options 1 & 2 take a similar approach to what the SC proposed with AIP 350.

So it’s fair to say that you actually don’t have a point of view supported by data in any way. You also aren’t able to define how these roles actually compare in terms of impact compared to the SC. Correct? Can you provide proof that the working group pay was based off SC compensation? Where are you pulling that from?

And if this isn’t an attempt to boost $APE price, what are you hoping to accomplish by slashing the pay? The end result is you’re likely to lose out on future candidates who would have been interested, but can no longer justify the amount of time they’d spend vs. the pay being provided. Real talent knows that time is their greatest asset and will expect to be comped as such.

Also we don’t need to only speculate on what’s fair or not. That’s why you spend the time to deeply understand the roles, their responsibilities, and the impact they do or do not have on the DAO. You then comp that against comparable roles elsewhere to determine fair market pay. I think I’ve heard you say that you own a business, right? This is the basis of how free market economics work. Let’s do things right.

[Moonlyght]

I believe we’re going in circles here. Could you please read the AIP and the above responses? All the information is available. Whether my opinion aligns with what you think is right or not is immaterial. What truly matters is that the community has the option to vote on what they consider fair compensation for the Governance Working Group. Hence, 3 options have been presented.

[mattborchert]

We’re not going in circles because the information isn’t available. I strongly encourage you to not move forward with this until you or someone else can:

• Clearly define the value these roles provides to the DAO.
• Explain how the presented salary options for people to vote on maps to the value these roles provide.

When you start with low quality input, you’re going to get low quality output. The DAO is controlled entirely by two or three entities at this point, we need to be super careful about what we put up for vote.

[Moonlyght]

Appreciate the feedback

[Lost.Admin]

Hi @Moonlyght,

The community feedback period for your proposal would be ending in less than 24 hours.

• If you’re content with the feedback received, your next steps are to finalize your proposal using the AIP Draft Template.

• A moderator will reach out to the author to finalize the AIP Draft. Upon receipt of the final Draft, we will review and provide instructions on the next steps.

• Are you ready to proceed to the next phase or do you wish to extend community discussion for another 7 days?

We look forward to hearing from you.

-@Facilitators

[Moonlyght]

Hey Lost! Would love to move forward.

[dar]

Please consider adding the description of Option 3: None of the above (leave Governance Working Group pay as is) to the Specification section.

Option 3 is explained in the Timeline section, but at first glance isn’t apparent that it will be an option when brought to vote as you read the specification section.