Nouns DAO

TLDR

Let’s start Nouns Season 3 off right by bringing back the builders and the good vibes with available, reliable, discretionary funding for passionate Nounish builders.

Note on proposal revision from V1 (Prop 364): We had not anticipated that the Garden Proposal from Seneca and Noun 40 would come so soon and that there was also 60 ETH in PH budget yet to be dispersed via this new program. In the spirit of positive sum collaboration, we did not want to propose a total amount of PH funding that would be difficult to allocate to builders without diminishing returns. We also received some feedback recommending a reduced time scope to prove out MVP, and have taken this to heart as well. Ultimately, we do think there is room and need for some passionate parallel efforts when it comes to finding and funding good ideas in Season 3 of Nouns.

THE PROBLEM

Nouns historically has used small grants and Prop House rounds to complement onchain proposals. The Small Grants Committee (later known as NSFW) and Prop House rounds had fueled considerable community contributions, propelling the protocol’s momentum. But during the latter half of Nouns Season 2, obtaining small grants grew challenging.

We want to help patch this bug in the protocol, and bring back the Builder-forward Nounish Vibes that brought many of us here in the first place.

We are a trusted group of contributors in the ecosystem who are willing to collectively take on the challenge of running a dynamic and transparent Small Grants Allocation Pod, as well as coordinating and championing a series of exciting biweekly Prop House Rounds over the next 3 months of Nouns Season 3.

THE PLAN

1. Coordinate with the Prop House team to set up two new “Season 3 Grants” Infinite Rounds, where anyone in the ecosystem can apply for retroactive funding up to a maximum of 5 ETH or proactive funding up to a maximum of 1 ETH. (Infinite Rounds are a newer piece of Prop House infra that allows orgs to deploy small grants funding in an organized and transparent way. See Rug Radio Small Grants example here.) Our team will review grant applications on a rolling week-by-week basis, with a goal to allocate ~17 ETH per month, depending on submission quality.

2. Coordinate and trial a series of 3 monthly Themed Prop House Rounds with specific focuses such as “Visual Arts”, “Keep Nouns Weird”, “Gaming/Esports”, “CC0 Music”, “Public Goods,” “Media and Content" (Final themes to be Voted on by the DAO.) We plan to explore various token-voting methods, engaging the wider nounish community in some cases with a strong consideration for maintaining as much sybil protection as possible.

3. Maintain a Public-facing Discord and consistent messaging in the Farcaster Nouns channel, for community members to ask questions and receive feedback on their applications, while also using Prop House’s built-in comment functionality to provide ongoing transparent, public feedback on builder ideas as well.

4. Publish a public summary of funds deployed for full transparency and accountability.

THE PEOPLE

For an important program like this, it is essential to have a team that is 1) Known and Trusted, 2) Knowledgeable and Experienced About the Ecosystem and 3) Reliable at Execution.

The proposing team has all been active and trusted contributors to Nouns for 1+ years minimum, have an intimate knowledge of the Nouniverse, and have all delivered on past projects.

Core Team Will Include:

• Al409
• BradQ
• Benbodhi
• ChrisCoCreated
• Joshua Fisher
• Maty
• Prof Werder
• Sasquatch
• SuperTightWoody
• Tha Swami and his daughter Lil Purple Blueberry
• Toady Hawk

Team will only be compensated based on individual participation via Coordinape rounds every month allocated by participating team members and will rotate through responsibilities. Funds will be managed in a 3/6 Multisig.

All decisions on funding will be made by committee vote with a reasonable quorum and never at any one team member’s sole discretion. We will seek input from Nouners on Discord and Farcaster early and often. If there are not enough good applications via Infinite Rounds to warrant the budgeted ETH, we will be mindful to stretch the funding beyond the 3 month mandate, or will return excess to the DAO. Members of the team will not be eligible for funding from either the Infinite Rounds or the S3G Prop House Rounds.

THE PRICE

• Season 3 Small Grants Infinite Rounds: 50 ETH
• Trial of 3 Monthly Themed Prop House Rounds: 30 ETH
• Admin: 25 ETH
  • (Admin Expense Ratio: 23%)

Total Program Cost: 105 ETH

THE PAYOFF

It has been quite some time since we have seen the Nouns ecosystem buzzing with the energy of artists and creatives, the insights of talented developers and the vibes of passionate proliferators.

We will put our reputations on the line and bring our considerable skills and dedication to bear to allocate these DAO funds as effectively and transparently as possible to the most passionate and deserving builders, coders and creatives in the Nouniverse.

Recent Prop House campaigns run by BASE and ThankApe have shown that there are still thousands of builders in the ecosystem, who are hungry for opportunities.

We don’t want Nouns to miss out on capturing that creative energy in Season 3 and want to be a collaborative part of the solution.