⏫2025 Revamp
Governance Post: https://gov.gitcoin.co/t/gitcoin-25-governance-revamp/19850
Historical Context & Current State
Gitcoin’s governance journey mirrors that of many pioneering DAOs. It began with community members and evolved through various experiments in decentralized decision-making. The current “steward” model emerged organically from the early days of Gitcoin Grants, reflecting the community’s initial needs but showing signs of strain as the ecosystem has grown and matured.
New stewards were often selected through informal forum posts, with selection criteria based more on community recognition than defined qualifications. While this organic approach helped build our early community, it has led to scaling and maintaining consistent governance participation challenges.
The current model faces several key limitations:
Informal Selection Process: Community members typically self-nominate through forum posts, and there are no standardized evaluation criteria or regular renewal process. This informality has resulted in an inconsistent governance body, with some members being highly active while others have drifted away.
Unclear Responsibilities: Stewards need help understanding their role in the ecosystem, clear expectations or formal onboarding. The lack of accountability mechanisms means that participation varies widely, with some stewards actively driving decisions while others remain passive observers.
Missing Incentives: Stewards volunteer their time without compensation. Justifying deep involvement can be challenging, especially for those with professional governance expertise who could add significant value to Gitcoin’s ecosystem.
Structural Complexity: The overlap between governance bodies – stewards, community council, and other groups – has created confusion about decision-making authority and responsibilities.
Proposal Overview
This proposal represents a shift in how Gitcoin approaches governance. Rather than attempting to patch the current system, we propose rebuilding our governance structure from first principles - emphasizing professional capability, clear accountability, and strategic ecosystem building.
Key Changes from the Current Model
The transition from our current steward model to a professional delegate system represents three fundamental shifts in our approach to governance.
Moving from informal to professional governance. Instead of relying on volunteer stewards with unclear responsibilities, we’ll establish a compensated group of professional delegates with explicit duties and qualifications. This shift acknowledges that effective governance requires dedicated time and expertise.
Implementing term limits and regular reviews. Delegates will serve defined terms with quarterly self- reported performance evaluations. This change ensures the regular renewal of governance perspectives while maintaining accountability for active participation.
Expanding the scope of governance responsibilities. Rather than limiting governance to proposal review and voting, delegates will actively drive ecosystem growth through partnership development and strategic initiatives. 2025 Governance Goals & Overview
In 2025, Gitcoin DAO’s governance mission is to build a governance framework that fosters progressive decentralization, incentivizes participation, and aligns decisions with the DAO’s long-term vision.
Key Goals for 2025:
Update and ratify the DAO Constitution to solidify core principles and provide clear decision-making guidance.
Decentralize governance with 50% of proposals initiated by the community.
Launch and onboard an additional 10+ high-caliber stewards through a structured training program with clear compensation and parameters.
Publish governance updates and metrics
Collaborate with 3+ DAOs on governance experiments.
Governance Structure
The heart of our governance system will be a five-member Delegate Council, selected from three key constituencies, each serving one-year terms with semi-annual reviews conducted by the DAO Lead:
Professional DAO Delegates: Experienced governors from major DAOs who bring deep expertise in decentralized governance and can help forge strategic partnerships. These delegates should have a proven track record of active participation in at least one major DAO’s governance over the past year.
Community Leaders: Representatives from values-aligned communities who understand public goods and can help bridge different ecosystem participants. These leaders should demonstrate successful community-building experience and alignment with Gitcoin’s mission.
Ecosystem Contributors: Established participants with proven track records in both governance and public goods who understand Gitcoin’s mission and potential. These contributors should show evidence of meaningful contributions to the public goods ecosystem.
Semi-annual reviews evaluate delegate performance against key metrics, including proposal participation, partnership development, and community engagement and deliverable execution. The community or any member of Gitcoin may recommend removing and replacing underperforming delegates, subject to vote.
Selection Process
The delegate selection process prioritizes transparency and community input while maintaining high professional standards:
Nomination Phase (2 weeks)
Self-nominations via standardized form template
Detailed applications covering governance experience, vision, and partnership plans
Clear articulation of intended contributions and time commitment
Election Phase (1 week)
Community vote using GTC tokens
Top 5 candidates selected
Minimum voting threshold to ensure broad participation
Delegate Responsibilities
Our delegates will carry three primary mandates:
1. Core Governance
Active Participation: Must maintain 90% vote participation rate and provide written rationale for major decisions. Regular attendance at delegate coordination calls is required.
Governance Innovation: Share insights and suggestions for governance improvements, with a goal of contributing meaningful enhancements to our processes and documentation each quarter.
Budget Oversight: Review and approve community round budgets, providing detailed allocation rationales to ensure transparent fund management.
Strategic Planning: Facilitate quarterly governance reviews and help shape Gitcoin’s long-term vision through regular strategic input and ecosystem analysis.
Updates to the items outlined in Gitcoin’s 2025 Gov strategy
2. Lead the GG Community Rounds Decision-making
We have moved to a more decentralized future for Gitcoin Grants where we have begun to involve the community directly in vital decision-making when it comes to the community rounds that Gitcoin funds each quarter during GG rounds. The council’s responsibilities include:
Review and vote on GG community round proposals
Collaborate on GG community round retrospectives (optional)
The council will elect a ‘lead’ that will act as representative and report directly to the DAO with updates on a monthly basis.
Time Commitment:
Core governance activities: at most 1-2 hours/week
Community rounds review: 2 hours/week during GG rounds
Partnership development: flexible, outcomes focused
Total: ~3 hours/week average
Compensation and Incentives
To attract and retain high-quality delegates, we’re implementing a professional compensation structure:
Direct Compensation: $2,500 per quarter per delegate, paid in GTC
Voting Power: ~1M GTC delegated from the treasury to ensure meaningful influence across the 5 delegates
Performance Reviews: Quarterly evaluations based on participation and impact - as self-reflected in the community (i.e., they need to post their quarterly engagement report)
Total Budget: $50,000 annually (within the DAO budget)
Implementation Timeline
The first 6 months will be a trial period
Q1 2025
Launch framework and documentation
Run initial delegate election
Distribute GTC delegations
Begin council operations
Q2 2025
Establish first partnerships
Conduct the first quarterly review
We will run a full evaluation after Q2 to assess the effectiveness of the program as well as the value add. If deemed a success, we will continue for the remainder of the year.
Q3-Q4 2025
Evaluate and refine the program
Expand partnership initiatives
Adjust based on learnings
Expected Outcomes
Through this governance evolution, we expect to achieve several key outcomes:
Professional Governance: A more accountable structure with consistent, high-quality participation from dedicated delegates with the time and resources to contribute meaningfully.
Stronger Ecosystem Position: Enhanced relationships with other DAOs and communities through strategic partnerships and active collaboration, driving the adoption of Allo Protocol and Grants Lab.
Scalable System: A governance framework that can grow with Gitcoin while maintaining our commitment to decentralization and community ownership.
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