EVMavericks

Summary

• Financial stewards are five elected DAO members who oversee a discretionary budget from the treasury.
• Quarterly Snapshot votes elect stewards and determine the overall treasury allocation.
• This proposal will expire after a one-quarter trial period, unless reapproved by majority vote.
• Stewards oversee public treasury records, direct discretionary spending, pursue funding, submit budget proposals, and organize treasury-related votes.
• Quarterly budget proposals account for the entire treasury allocation and may consist of reserve assets, investments, discretionary funds, compensation to stewards, and formal guidance.
• Stewards only have indirect custody of the discretionary budget, through the existing 7/11 multisig.
• Stewards may allocate funds to donations, grants, bounties, and retroactive funding.
• Steward terms last two quarters, and are staggered.
• Stewards can be unseated by Snapshot vote at any time.

Introduction

This is a proposal for ManeNet DAO’s treasury and budget management structure. The intent is to provide an initial framework allowing the DAO to more easily put its treasury to use in service of its goals, as currently no such framework exists. This may be superseded as the DAO continues to grow. This proposal introduces two concepts: financial stewards and financial periods:

Financial stewards (or simply stewards) are a group of five DAO members elected by the DAO to oversee its finances. Notably, stewards are delegated authority from the DAO to jointly manage its the discretionary budget, directing the existing 7/11 multisig to fund smaller expenses without need for separate Snapshot votes.

Financial periods are three months long (quarterly); in each financial period the DAO holds a Snapshot vote to determine both the allocation of assets in its treasury and the discretionary budget allocated to the financial stewards.

The Snapshot vote for this proposal, and all Snapshot votes described in this document, will require a quorum of 300 EVMs voted in order to be considered. This particular proposal will be approved with a simple majority (>50%) voting in favor.

Trial Period

This proposal details an indefinitely recurring series of financial periods and stewardships. However, the first financial period will act as a trial of the larger system. If approved, this proposal will automatically expire at the end of the first financial period. In order to continue as described, it must be reapproved (possibly with modifications) once by a majority (>50%) in an additional basic for/against Snapshot vote concluding no later than 3 weeks before the end of the first financial period.

Financial Stewards

In total, the DAO will elect and maintain a group of five financial stewards. Stewards serve for a term covering two financial periods, but may apply and be elected for additional terms. Immediately following the approval of this proposal, elections will be held for all five seats, with one week to collect applications on Discord and one week for an approval vote on Snapshot. At the end of the first financial period, the stewards will agree on 2-3 members who will step down, with their seats opening for reelection for terms beginning with the second financial period. Thus, terms are staggered, with 2-3 seats requiring reelections each financial period (detailed below).

The responsibilities of the financial stewards are as follows:

• Oversee the DAO’s finances, keeping up-to-date records on income, expenses, and treasury status, making this information accessible to DAO members;
• Collectively direct the DAO’s discretionary budget, with authority delegated from the DAO to manage smaller expenses on its behalf (i.e. without a Snapshot vote);
• Actively seek out potential funding opportunities that align with the DAO’s goals;
• Provide official recommendations regarding the DAO’s finances to the broader ManeNet community; and
• Organize the Snapshot votes for steward elections and treasury/budget allocations prior to each financial period.

The stewards do not have direct custody of DAO funds. Stewards are expected to identify funding opportunities within their budget, confer with the community and amongst themselves, and pass any funding decisions on to the multisig signers, who then execute the transactions. The stewards and multisig may negotiate on when and how transactions are executed. The multisig is expected to generally respect the wishes of the stewards (as they are acting on behalf of the DAO), but act as a check in case of a corrupt or compromised set of stewards.

Stewards’ funding decisions include, but are not limited to: donations, grants, bounties, and retroactive funding. This proposal places few requirements on how the stewards carry out their responsibilities. Funding decisions must pass through the multisig as described above. Additionally, discussion between stewards should primarily occur in spaces readable by general DAO members (e.g. permissioned Discord channels). Aside from these restrictions, stewards may organize as they see fit.

If the DAO finds that a steward is not fulfilling their responsibilities, any DAO member may submit a Snapshot vote calling for the removal of that steward. The vote will be conducted as a basic for/against vote, requiring a 2/3 majority in favor to pass. If the vote passes, the steward should be immediately removed from their position, and an election held to fill the vacancy should be held immediately (one week for nominations, one week for voting via approval vote). The replacement steward serves only for the remainder of the removed steward’s term.

Financial Periods

Financial periods are three months long, beginning on the 1st of January, April, July, and October. The first financial period may be an exception: after election of the first five financial stewards, the stewards are expected to collect proposals for one week and hold a one-week-long vote after that, with the first financial period beginning immediately after the vote. In case the date is not one of the usual period start dates, the stewards may decide whether or not to skip the following period start date.

Each financial period, a Snapshot vote determines what should be done with the DAO’s treasury funds. The stewards are expected to produce a report on the DAO’s finances, along with their recommendations for how to proceed. They then solicit and aggregate financial period proposals from the community and create a ranked-choice Snapshot vote, with the winning proposal being adopted for its financial period. A financial period proposal consists of:

• Asset allocation for the entire treasury, may allocate to illiquid options such as RP minipools;
• A discretionary budget to be assigned to the financial stewards;
• Flat monetary compensation to the stewards themselves; and
• Any additional guidance for the stewards or multisig signers.

Asset allocation and budget may be static (e.g. X ETH) or dynamic (e.g. rebalancing percentages, dependent on revenue, or conditional on future events). Snapshot votes may be submitted during a quarter to alter a previously-approved by a financial period proposal, and should be held as a basic for/against vote with a 2/3 majority in approval in order to pass. Stewards’ monetary compensation should be disbursed at the end of the period evenly between the stewards, and in the event a steward was replaced during the period, both the original and the replacement will be compensated pro rata.

The end of each financial period involves a series of steps to prepare for the following financial period:

• Four weeks prior to the end of the period, stewards should begin collecting applications for the steward seats requiring reelection.
• Three weeks out, stewards should initiate a week-long Snapshot approval-vote to elect replacement stewards.
• Two weeks out, stewards should begin collecting financial period proposals from the community and creating their own.
• One week out, stewards should initiate a week-long Snapshot ranked-choice vote to select the financial period proposal to put into effect.
• On the date the new financial period begins, the multisig executes any actions indicated by the selected financial period proposal, and stewardship is passed from those whose terms are expiring to those who had been newly elected.