RFC: Public Goods Guild/initiative

Champions: @Bobbay

Overview

The Developer_DAO Public Goods Guild will focus on working within the DAO and other DAOs to identify the most promising ways to support public goods to build a more decentralized and inclusive Web3.

With public goods being one of our key missions, it is about time that we have a guild that purely focuses on pushing the ecosystem forward. Not only does our own DAO have important initiatives, but many protocols out there require funding and support.

Specification

  1. Why we need a public goods guild
  2. Guild Objectives
  3. Next steps

Why we need a public goods guild

Not only is it one of our key missions of the DAO, but it is something that we haven’t actively focused on as much. Looking at how the community perceives our missions and values for the next season, we should clarify what it means for the DAO to “work” on public goods along with some specific KPIs.

In the case of the guild, I believe it would be outlining what a public good means to us. Currently, we are in a good position to focus on this, as the community perception seems to be a greater focus on education for season 1 rather than public goods. This guild can work in the shadows building a foundation during season 1 to identify our aims and objectives.

Guild Objectives

  1. Define a public good in general
  2. Define a Dev_DAO public good
  3. Identify which public goods we prioritize (Technical or non-technical)
  4. Our Mission Statement for the Public Goods Guild

These are the initial objectives for the guild, and soon after, we can move on to some of the following objectives to build out the structure for the guild.

  1. Public Goods “Core team.”
  2. How much can we deploy? (i. What currency do we use? ii. How do we vote on what to fund? iii. Who votes?)
  3. How do we want to fund public goods? (Grants, bounties, or contracts)
  4. Set up a process for applications (Website, the application process, vetting process)
  5. How do we split our focus between internal and external projects?

Or maybe we even scrap these objectives and take a different route.

Next steps

How to contribute

We will get a separate channel for this in the discord to discuss this initiative to see if it takes off. Initially, we can work on a document to focus on objectives 1-4.

Feedback

Give me yo feedback.

It would be great to see how people would see a public guild working in the DAO and what objectives people think the guild should focus on.

4 Likes

Glad to see this!
Kickoff call 3pm et Monday :slight_smile:

The major focus I have in mind for PGG is
Bringing in major funding for Public Goods, and
Granting it to D_D projects internally, and PG projects externally e.g. running a D_D round at Gitcoin Grants.

3 Likes

This is great!

One more thing we could think about is how we can provide support to the funded projects with our existing breadth of knowledge and resources at Developer DAO in terms of marketing, legal etc. (maybe even these services are funded as a public good :wink:)

I’m hopeful we’ll come up with some best practices for public good builders to make navigating funding, hiring and operating public good projects easier.

Looking forward to Monday’s call :slightly_smiling_face:

Just doing a little writing here of my vision for what D_D PGG can do and become:

The Developer DAO Public Goods Guild is a group with the goal of advancing the state of Public Goods globally and building a better future for humanity. Public Goods include Free and Open Source Software but also anything that can be enjoyed without diminishing the opportunity for others to enjoy it - like a Library, or fresh air. D_D PGG will focus on Digital Public Goods around developers to start, but it’s important to recognize the value of being embedded in the wider Public Goods discourse. Digital Public Goods alone will not be enough to build a better world, but they’re a great start, and a good focus for Public Goods work at Developer DAO.

The main pathways to achieving this goal (Building a better world with Public Goods) will be:

  • collecting large scale funding to support Public Goods projects/initiatives/teams/builders, a staff to remain sustainable in doing so, and of course for a major portion of funding to flow into the D_D endowment
  • strategically supporting Public Goods in generating opportunities and deployments that will create significant impact on human lives
  • giving significant individualized and personalized support to champions and leaders working on Public Goods (like one might expect from a top-tier accelerator)
  • collaborating with Public Goods groups already doing amazing work, like Gitcoin’s Public Goods Funding workstream, with both their funding and granting operations (Gitcoin Grants Rounds, which I hope will include a D_D round funded by PGG - maybe GR17? :slightly_smiling_face: ), as well as their media and outreach operations (Public Goods Are Good, Public Goods curricula like Notion – The all-in-one workspace for your notes, tasks, wikis, and databases. [I contributed to this on behalf of D_D already]). Other PG groups like the PG working group at ENS, other upcoming Public Goods DAOs, etc.

We will get experimental, we will get creative, and we will have a great time doing serious work building a better world together <3

I have started a #public-goods-guild channel in our D_D Discord server to host more discussion, and will be hosting regular syncs to get this flywheel spinning. Please join us! 3pm et Mondays

1 Like

This is an awesome initiative! Besides Gitcoin I recommend you also post DD as a project on Giveth (I work for them and can help make this happen). The benefits of this are:

  1. You can have an evergreen project that is always open for people to contribute to
  2. There are zero fees involved
  3. Donors to the projects on Giveth will also get GIVbacks (basically they receive a portion of their donation back up to 75% just for donating)

Of course I’m biased but as someone that is both a DD member and works for Giveth I think it’s a perfect collaboration for public goods funding!

Looking forward to working with you and Giveth!

1 Like

The PGG kickoff call today went great!

Notes and recording here: Notion – The all-in-one workspace for your notes, tasks, wikis, and databases.

1 Like

Following a successful kickoff and healthy contributor engagement interest, to avoid missing the S1 budget deadline we have posted this draft [DRAFT v1] - Public Goods Guild S1 Budget Application


Edit:
Rushing to meet a deadline for this was a mistake - PGG should have the opportunity to grow and mature a bit more naturally before formalizing into a budget in this way.

That draft can stand as a motivation for discussion, and we’ll continue the conversation as a guild and build the right framework for our future together <3

2 Likes

Hey @RyanCoordinator you know I can’t sit this out :slight_smile:
Read the minutes, I think the direction is good. Happy to get involved and help out. Have been looking for something to do with D_D (hence joining the meetup in SG 2 weeks back too).

I’ll be glad to bring in a Gitcoiner’s perspective and experience operating workstreams/ voting on budgets/ working on grant rounds.