Author: @Guzman_MassAdoption
Label: #ampleforth-governance
Reference: Proposal - Hourglass Grant ,FGP: FORTH Community Grants Program
Abstract
Hourglass’s recent grant proposal has raised the necessary, and pertinent, topic of forming a community-operated FORTH Grants program. Continuing to use HourGlass’s proposal as precedent, all ideas - in the form of a formal proposal - should be submitted by FORTH’s community and further deliberated upon by the encompassing community members.
FGP Rationale
Update (May 19, 2022):
Current FORTH DAO Treasury Market Value: $22.036m (24.251m AMPL)
At the time of writing (April 5th, 2022), the FORTHClaim contract holds ~3,558,156 $FORTH (current USD market value: $27,682,460.06). Upon April 16th, these unclaimed $FORTH tokens will be repossessed and transferred to the FORTH DAO treasury. Taking this into consideration concurrently with Brandon’s proposal to execute first FORTH mint (which would further fund the FORTH DAO treasury with 300,000 FORTH tokens - worth $2,334,000 at today’s market value) the FORTH DAO would kick off operations with a healthy treasury worth 3,858,156 FORTH ($30,016,453.68)!
Proposal
Updated (May 19, 2022):
Inspired by precedent-settings forerunning initiatives such as Compound, Uniswap, and Aave Grants Program it is imperative that FORTH DAO follows suit to incentivize, reward, and often interrogate current Ampleforth mechanisms/systems/features that would largely improve the experience for all community participants.
As an experimental phase, it is proposed to initiate & monitor a pilot program that will run for 2 fiscal quarters (6 months total). A max grants budget of $1.5M (433,526.0116 FORTH) is requested - relative to the size of the FORTH DAO treasury we believe this is a reasonable amount to initiate an MVP product (program). Upon the completion of this experimental phase, a subsequent proposal will be submitted to gauge community sentiment regarding the continuation of the program.
It is also proposed that a small operating committee is formed consisting of 6 members: 1 Lead and 5 Reviewers in an effort to mobilize and exhibit an efficient, transparent, and methodical application review process. For a well balanced committee, it is proposed that at least one core team member holds a reviewer role. It is intended to keep the committee to 6 members as it will enable judicious feedback loops and immediate iteration(s). The FORTH Grant Committee (FGC) will have the ability to administer grants on a discretionary basis based on the following criteria:
- Swift Grants: <$100,000
- Straightforward & Simple application process that is assessed by the FGC.
- FGC decision is to be made within 10 days after receiving the application.
- Community Grants: $100,000 - $500,000
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Applicants must post their proposal on FORTH’s governance forum.
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Based on the feedback given by the community, the committee will decide whether or not to approve these grants.
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Funds will be released based on deliverables (‘Gates’). Upon successful deployment of each Gate, % of the grant’s funding will be released to the grantee.
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At the conclusion of the final ‘Gate’, the entirety of the grant’s funds should be allocated to the grantee - based on deliverables.
It is worth noting that applicants can seek grants that exceed $500,000, however these proposals will not be reviewed by the FGC. Instead, they will need to be posted on FORTH’s governance forum, deliberated upon by the community, and approved via an on-chain vote.
Quarterly Budget:
- Maximum quarterly budget of $750,000
- Budgets and caps will be evaluated & adjusted every 6 months.
Grant Allocation Committee:
Updated (May 19, 2022):
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FGC will consist of 5 committee members:
- 1 Lead
- 5 Reviewers
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Each committee will serve 2 fiscal quarters (6 months). After which, the committee members’ positions will be put up for renewal and voted upon by the community via on-chain vote.
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FGC will operate a 4 of 5 multi-sig that will distribute the funds to grantees.
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Any excess funds remaining at the maturation of the program will be returned to the FORTH DAO Treasury.
See Multi-Sig community vote/poll here: FGP: FORTH Community Grants Program - #42 by Fiddlekins
All members of the FGC must introduce themselves using the template provided below:
- Ethereum Address (provide the one you will be using for the Multi-Sig)
- Discord Handle
- Twitter Handle (optional)
- Statement of Intention
- This includes your values, vision, and reasoning behind why you want to be a part of the FGC
- Web3 Qualifications / Skills (optional)
(Introductions can be found in the concluding 'Introductions’ section below).
Committee Members
Updated (May 19, 2022)
The rationale behind forming a small grants committee (as mentioned before), is to enable efficient feedback loops towards facilitating grant evaluation and disbursal. Ultimately, the goal of this program is to bolster, promote, and fuel the utilization and growth of the Ampleforth ecosystem in tandem with the FORTH DAO.
We suggest the grants program is managed by a single lead. Herein we propose Jeremy Guzmán, author of this proposal. Jeremy has assisted in broadening AMPL & FORTH adoption through a multitude of video tutorials, written walkthroughs, and discord discussions - some of which have served as essential reference points for new community members.
The remaining 5 committee members should be recognized as “Reviewers.” These are individuals within the FORTH community that will assist in the maintenance of the grants program by ensuring Jeremy is leading efficaciously, prudently, and, of course, coherently. It is the reviewers’ responsibility to conserve FGC accountability by means of north star, key performance indicators. By adhering to this framework, FGC members are obligated to operate with the FORTH community and Ampleforth Ecosystem in mind. Compensation for the lead and reviewer roles are discussed below.
Program Lead: @Guz_MassAdoption | Jeremy Guzmán
Reviewer 1: @richy | Richy Qiao
Reviewer 2: @Pricelessjohn
Reviewer 3: @Nestor
Reviewer 4: @Brandon | Ampleforth
Reviewer 5: @ducc
Committee Compensation
Remuneration should be done on a per proposal basis. The Lead should be compensated $750/proposal with a rate limit of 3 proposals per week. This compensation will be allocated to the FGC multisig as part of the overall funding of the program.
Reviewers will not be compensated in the FORTH Grants program.
Compensation will be distributed the first of every month throughout the 6 month term.
Areas of Focus
The following target areas will be evaluated during the grant review process:
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Community (marketing, educational, etc.)
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Ecosystem Growth (e.g. Events & Hackathon, Bounties)
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Technical (e.g. Protocol Development, Application Development, etc.)
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Governance (e.g. Committees, Sub-committees, and DAOs that assist the FORTH & Ampleforth ecosystem)
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
The success of this program will be based on, and measured by, the following criteria:
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Quantifiable criteria:
- Number of applications submitted vs. # of application approved
- Project engagement post-funding
- Number of active engagement within community forums (e.g. Governance Forum, Discord)
- Growth in AMPL (and FORTH) pools funded via grants (e.g. increased TVL, unique addresses holding $AMPL and $FORTH, increase in delegates)
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Impressionistic criteria:
- Overall community engagement & sentiment
- Improvement to Ampleforth’s brand and market positioning.
- Increase in # of holders vs. voters (delegates)
Timeline & Process
Updated (May 19, 2022)
The Grants Program will kick off with two 3-month funding rounds. Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis and any grants funded during this period will be included in the corresponding round. The first round will be for 3 months, beginning one day after the approval of the Grants Program proposal. For example, if the proposal is approved on 5/20/2022, Round 1 will begin on 5/22/2022 and close on 8/22/2022. The following round (Round 2) will commence on 8/22/2022 and close on 11/22/2022. Upon the conclusion of the Grants Program’s experimental phase, a follow-up proposal will be submitted on the FORTH Governance forum to discuss the reinstatement of the program.
Upon the approval and ratification of this proposal, the FGC will begin accepting applications on a rolling basis. Funding of these applications will be determined by the FGC on a case-by-case basis. Primarily the goal of this program is to prioritize long-term value capture for the Ampleforth community as well as for AMPL & FORTH holders.
At the end of each round, the FGC will share an application report containing all recipients and the amounts rewarded along with a description of each project. It is the FGC’s objective to operate in full transparency with the FORTH DAO community. This said, the FGC must do the following:
A. Hold all conversations via a visible channel within the Discord’s Ampleforth server.
B. Publish monthly reports mentioning: (1) Amount of funds disbursed, (2) Applications approved, (3) Description of Grantee projects, (4) KPI tracking.
C. Hold monthly twitter space events allowing grantees the opportunity to showcase their project, discuss the intentions behind applying for a FORTH Grant, and the roadmap associated with the project moving forward. These events will be recorded and shared in a dedicated #ForthDAO section within the Ampleforth discord.
Majority of the grants will have 1-2 milestones to accomplish. Based on the completion of these deliverables, the recipient will receive half of the grant upfront and the remaining portion upon the completion of all milestones associated. For larger grants, we expect to see multiple milestones (3+). To this end, payments will be divided amongst each completed deliverable.
Overall, any & all grant applications submitted will be thoroughly assessed with the overarching improvement of the Ampleforth protocol in mind.
If the FGP (Forth Grants Program) has exhausted the allotted funding amount, the FGC can propose increasing the budget to governance. The final decision will be contingent on the FORTH community to vote on whether this budget increase will transpire.
Conclusion
Updated (May 19, 2022)
If the community sentiment & feedback is positive, the FGP will escalate this proposal to a temperature check via Signal (Snapshot). If ratified, application submissions will be accepted on a rolling basis post-approval.
Our objective with this program is to act as the catalyst for Ampleforth ingenuity and innovation. We want to encourage and fully support any & all projects that want to build on top of Ampleforth Protocol which, as consequence, will translate to community growth, mass adoption, and utilization.
Lastly, it must be emphasized that we too are AMPL & FORTH holders. This being said, we are committed to seeing out the success of this program in parallel with the scaling & growth of the Ampleforth Protocol. However, we must also bear in mind that this is indeed an experiment. If for whatever reason it does not work, we must learn for any & all mistakes, reflect, iterate and improve towards more effective solutions.
We’re excited to see what the community has to say with this proposal and look forward to hearing everyone’s feedback below!
