Friends With Benefits

2023 Q1 Operating Budget Proposal

This proposal covers accrued expenses for January as well as a proposed budget through March 2023. A detailed breakout of request approvals/expenses may be found here: Q1 Operating Budget.

Additionally, a summary of community approved Snapshot proposals and their corresponding payouts for Q1 may be found here: Q1 Approved Snapshots Budget.

Expense Categories

• Recurring: contributor payments to staff and contributor teams including staff, product, marketing, editorial, treasury, membership and events.

• Non-Recurring: payments to individuals internal or external to the community for ad hoc projects related to marketing, membership, and product.

• Operational Spend: Overhead and administrative expenses tied to operating events and the DAO as well as technology expenses such as Airtable, Zoom and Gmail.

Q1 2023 Proposed Operating Budget Summary

Month	USD/USDC/FWB
January	$225,083
February	$197,265
March	$183,955
Total	$606,304

Q1 2023 Category Breakout (Averaged Monthly)

Category	USD/USDC/FWB
Recurring Contributors	$175,604
Non-recurring Contributors	$10,483
Operational Spend	$16,014
Total	$201,101

Q4 2022 Revenue

Type of Revenue	Amount ($)
Partnerships	$194,227
Merchandise	$3,748
Total	$197,975

Fiscal Year 2022 Revenue

Type of Revenue	Amount ($)
Partnerships	$724,228
FWB Fest Tickets	$363,362
Merchandise	$34,546
Events	$9,000
Miscellaneous	$3,555
NFT Sales	$1,029
Currency Translation	$972
Total	$1,136,692

Key Takeaways

The core team made a number of changes to the DAO over the last few months within the context of our mission to make FWB more decentralized and sustainable over time. Below is a summary of those changes along with details on other initiatives that will be rolled out in the coming weeks and months.

1. Progressive Decentralization: With the ultimate goal of making FWB truly decentralized, the core team began transitioning its payroll strategy from full time / part time employees into more proposal based. To accomplish this, FWB engaged in deep cuts across payroll and other costs. Our average monthly spend in Season 7 was $305,460, while our average monthly spend in Season 8 will be $196,951, which translates to a 35% reduction in costs. This results in a lower monthly burn, but also hands over more decision making power from individuals back to the community.

2. Revenue: The core team’s primary focus in 2023 will be solidifying and amplifying our existing revenue streams. We anticipate revenue from multiple sources, including partnerships, Fest and entry fees from the implementation of the new membership model. In 2022, FWB generated approximately $1.13m in revenue.

3. Runway: If we are able to meet our conservative goal of $800,000 in revenue in 2023, across partnerships, membership and Fest, then our model suggests we have an estimated 17 months of runway. Our restructuring and reductions in costs has positioned us well as we progress into 2023 and look to become even more financially sustainable in 2024.

4. Labs: An important future reduction in cost that will occur in Q2, 2023 will be the transition of the product team from recurring payroll into its own entity, to be determined via a proposal.

Conclusion

The proposed Season 8 Operating Budget totals approximately $202,101 in expenditures per month. Additionally, the Snapshot proposals budget previously approved by the FWB community averages approximately $28,938 in expenditures per month. Additional discussion may be found here in the Governance channel in the FWB Discord.