Renewal Grant Support Squad 2023H2 This proposal has been ENACTED by a DAO Committee Member (0xbef99f5f55cf7cdb3a70998c57061b7e1386a9b0) Vesting Contract Address: 0x46DEC1352A0339F0E3EBEF7DD4C5725492E8B109

@yararasita I hope you are well too! Please know that my concern is not with the worth of your work but the long-term financial sustainability of the cost for the DAO, the increased workload/costs in the future. I am surprised to see little discussion about it but I support the work of the GSS and the decision of the community. Thank you for responding and clarifying the issue of transfer of knowledge and processes. Have a great week.

Hi Everyone! Thank you so much for voting in this proposal. We are really excited to serve the Decentraland DAO for 6 more months <3 Answering to @cheddarqueso, hope you are doing good! As you might have seen in the proposal, we are working to generate an Operational Manual from the Grant Support Squad to transfer knowledge of our processes. As for the worth of the work, I think it is up for the community to decide on each renewal. Regarding the term-limit proposal and the selection for the squad, I think that is something for the people writing that proposal to ask. And as for sustainability long-term, my personal take is that the 6-month renewals mitigate and help adapt the roadmap as needed, allocating resources depending on how the program evolves. Hope you have a good rest of the week, Y

Renewal Grant Support Squad 2023H2 This proposal is now in status: PASSED. Voting Results: * Yes 92% 6,818,639 VP (110 votes) * No 1% 16,128 VP (11 votes) * Abstain 7% 534,231 VP (4 votes)

The GSS does a great job and I agree that we need oversight of the grants program. Should this cost us 200K/year? Is 10 hours/week worth a quarter of that budget? How will the proposals regarding term limits and the selection of GSS members affect the future of the squad? What is the plan for transfer of knowledge in the event these proposals pass? 4K/month for 10 or even 20 hours per week is a lot of money... We are a small community right now. I believe we should keep the GSS but I'm just having a hard time with the cost and wondering if this is sustainable long term.

If anything you guys should ask for more money. I voted no, because this is not enough money for all the work you done. The DAOs fate is in your hands and we all see how well it is doing now. Keep up the amazing work! I know ignoring those that ask you opposing questions is completely necessary in making sure you have a great DAO. Also listing random facts is also important. Decentraland was founded in 2017. Because of that fact alone, this grant is well deserved except they should get more money.

Hi @jar0d, I wanted to address the current challenge we face in measuring the success of our grants program. Evaluating the impact of our program was difficult because there was no baseline to measure how many succesful grants there were before we joined the DAO. However, we can provide some key metrics that illustrate the significant work our team has accomplished thus far. Prior to the establishment of our team (Jun 2021 to Jul 2022), the DAO approved 50 grants with a total investment of $2,610,300. We contacted all of them, and from those, 36 projects successfully demonstrated to fulfil their commitments, which accounts for a success rate of 72% based on our historical analysis. Unfortunately, 14 projects either did not respond, or failed to meet their grant commitments. However, we managed to recover funds from some of these cases, with 4 grantees returning a total of $14,916, which represents 0.2% of the funds that were provided until then. Since our team started actively operating (Ago 22 - Dec 22), the DAO has approved 94 grants (I'm talking just about the "legacy grants"), 24 are still active and 70 have finished with an investment of $3,818,369. Out of these, 57 projects have successfully completed what they set out to achieve, resulting in an 81.43% success rate. As for the remaining 13 projects that did not meet their commitments, 10 of them were paused or revoked, allowing us to recover $174,619, which accounts for 20% of the funds initially deemed "lost." Additionally, we have implemented a culture of regular project updates, ensuring transparency and accountability throughout the process. Moreover, we've developed strong relationships with the grantees in our ecosystem, fostering proximity and providing each one of them with a dedicated point of contact (Project Manager) to address any issues they may encounter. In conclusion, given the lack of strategic planning in the past and the absence of clear metrics, the only objective measure we currently have to assess the impact of our grants program is the completion of projects. However, we are actively working on creating a comprehensive matrix of successful grants to provide a more integral evaluation of the program, where we can measure not only if a grant’s commitment was achieved, but how the Decentraland Grants Program is providing a space for contributors to develop and enhance their skill sets, training future Web3 developers, and developing a world owned and developed by its users. Thanks for drawing attention to that, on Discord #strategicplanning we will share more info about it.

Hi @Shiny! [quote="Shiny, post:17, topic:19201"] How did you contribute to the 17 AMA sessions with Foundation? I thought that they are organized by Facilitation squad. [/quote] Yes! We worked with the Decentraland Foundation, based on the fact that most of the blockers were technical, and it made sense to host them to support grantees. Decentraland Foundation wanted a space to help the community for a while too. So we worked together to design the AMAs, communicating the space to the grantees whenever they had blockers and moderated the space. This past grant, we started delegating this to the Facilitation Squad, as this was a space that organically grew beyond the Grants Support, and was a good space for the DAO. So even though we were involved in the creation and moderation and outreach of this space until now, in this renewal we are fully delegating it to the Facilitation Squad. This is also why it is not part of this proposal's roadmap, milestones or impact metrics. [quote="Shiny, post:17, topic:19201"] What does “Equipment refund” mean in your financial report? I don’t see anything around equipment in the budget of your last proposal. Can you provide more details about operational expenses you had in the last period (paying subscription for some tools or what exactly)? [/quote] Equipment refund covers devices for the squad such as cameras, keyboards, microphones or computers if needed. As you might know, the DAO Grant Support Squad is running under the same non-profit foundation created for the DAO Governance Squad. This foundation provides a flexible vehicle to manage a budget with autonomy while still giving authority to the DAO to steer its direction. But everything we purchase in terms of equipment for this team is property of that non-profit. For this last period we purchased a computer for a team member, hardware wallets for security purposes, and a webcam, and you will be able to see them as expenses reflected on the 6th update of our grant, which will be posted before the 22nd of May. [quote="Shiny, post:17, topic:19201"] How exactly the Landing Page for the Grants program will be implemented? Is it going to be a separate website or just a new page in the https://governance.decentraland.org/? [/quote] This is something to be defined during these six months. We do have the contents index we’d like to include, and we envision it to be hosted as grants.decentraland.org but that is something to be discussed with partners. [quote="Shiny, post:17, topic:19201"] What is meant with “Sending Decentraland DAO branded kits of swag to welcome future grantees”? Are they going to be physical items sent to grantees? [/quote] Yes, we are planning to send physical items to grantees. [quote="Shiny, post:17, topic:19201"] Can you provide more details about how each member is contributing to the squad? In the personnel section you have given a description about each members experience, but I think the most important part is missing - what exactly are they doing in the squad and what are their responsibilities. “Advisor”, “Partnership Manager” and so on seems very vague. [/quote] To add info about what Zino mentioned above, Fifi in this next renewal has under her job description to lead the onboarding of grantees Process, be the PM of delegated grantees, host TownHalls, Testing Tuesdays and host others that might arise. She’ll lead the Testing Tuesdays Initiative, contribute to program changes, contribute as Agile Methodology Coach to improve team & grantees processes and start taking the moderation of team’s ceremonials. Zino on this next renewal has under his job description to be the PM of delegated grantees, lead of database infrastructure and tools (Notion, Drive), he’ll lead the Revocation Committee Processes and will be the grantee’s concerns analyst. He’ll also be the pull requester for needs of the grants program in the Decentraland infraestructure, and also contribute to program changes and will be coordinating with core units. Pablo will be PM of delegated grantees, lead GSS communications such as the landing page initiative, documentation of GSS processes, and outreach with the community (mailing). He’ll also lead the GSS marketing such as taking the onboarding kits (design, production and logistics), and blog Posts. He’ll continue working on GSS Financial Administration, coordinating with DCL Foundation (partners, MKT, etc) and as any other member, contribute to program changes. And in my case in this renewal, and as part of a strategy of our team to explore new spaces of leadership, will be delegating ceremonials to Fifi as she wants to explore that role, delegate the pull requests to Zino with technical training, and work on the exits of the grants program with Pablo. As an advisor, I’ll also support strategic planning by analyzing grantees feedback from the program when they finish, tabulate those answers and bringing key learnings to the team, and support the initiatives of the team that arise based on that feedback, coordinate with core units, and work on improvements for the Decentraland Grants Program based on the learnings. I’ll continue working on reporting to the community in Townhalls, write our monthly updates, the renewals, and our end of grant report, among other changes to the Grants Program that may arise. Let me know if you have others,

What kind of inefficiencies? Would this be worth the value of the grant?

You know what I find interesting, my comment is no where to be found on this and I posted it on here a few days ago. :thinking:

This is a LOT of money you all are asking for. Are you seriously requesting this much money with a straight face? SMH - LOL what a racket, who voted yes? and why?? I'd vote yes if the asking price were reasonable because I do believe you should be compensated, but jeeez come on now.

It would just be nice if they had performance metrics that could prove that. Metrics that measure the impact of the work and not just the existence of it isn't an unreasonable thing to ask. I think it is concerning how eager you are to dismiss constructive conversation, it isn't like the grant is in jeopardy of not passing based on the questions being asked.

This team pays for itself. Rejecting the renewal of their grant would easily add inefficiencies. Easy yes for me!

Hello, here are my questions for the squad: 1. How did you contribute to the 17 AMA sessions with Foundation? I thought that they are organized by Facilitation squad. 2. What does "Equipment refund" mean in your financial report? I don't see anything around equipment in the budget of your last proposal. Can you provide more details about operational expenses you had in the last period (paying subscription for some tools or what exactly)? 3. How exactly the Landing Page for the Grants program will be implemented? Is it going to be a separate website or just a new page in the https://governance.decentraland.org/? 4. What is meant with "Sending Decentraland DAO branded kits of swag to welcome future grantees"? Are they going to be physical items sent to grantees? 5. Can you provide more details about how each member is contributing to the squad? In the personnel section you have given a description about each members experience, but I think the most important part is missing - what exactly are they doing in the squad and what are their responsibilities. "Advisor", "Partnership Manager" and so on seems very vague.

[quote="yararasita, post:15, topic:19201"] There have been [these discussions in the past in Decentraland](https://daotimes.com/decentraland-dao-enacts-salaries-for-commitee-members/), [/quote] That article is about funding Committees, specifically the DAO Committee, and I do not believe particularly relevant to the compensation being requested by grant recipients. The role of the DAO Committee is to safely enact the transactions that move the treasury funds. It makes perfect sense to pay enough money to ensure that the people in those positions have the proper incentive to not be tempted to succumb to greed. While I agree there is an argument to be made for paying skilled professionals adequately for important roles, I think that the level of compensation you, and other members of the squad, are receiving is high enough that the expectation that the Milestones and Objectives are better defined with metrics that measure impact instead of effort would make sense. If you are going to be receiving high-end compensation for your work it only makes sense that you are capable of effectively demonstrating and communicating why that work warrants that compensation.

Hi! Regarding impacts, how we work about it is that we craft activities, outputs, and outcomes. What we could do is draft “expected impact” which are the long-term consequences of our work, but because of the short-term period of the grants we have in Decentraland it is really difficult to draft ecosystem responses without a Monitoring, Evaluations and Learnings process done, but we are taking notes of this as something the community is interested in exploring. About the fee per hour, I charge between 100 and 400 per hour, depending on who am I working with and for how long. 100/hr is what I charge when I am an advisorship consultant, which means I have regular duties with the teams, and work 10 hours per week. For the first term of the Grants Support Squad for example, I worked 5 hs a week, and charged $150/h. After those 6 months, within the GSS team we noticed I was needed for more hours to design processes, and then was when I started working more, and adjusted the rate per hour accordingly. There have been [these discussions in the past in Decentraland](https://daotimes.com/decentraland-dao-enacts-salaries-for-commitee-members/), and if you do a quicksearch, you will find [many](https://consultingmavericks.com/start/other/average-consulting-rates-by-industry/), [many](https://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/advisor-salary-SRCH_KO0,7.htm), [many](https://paperbell.com/blog/consulting-rates/), [many ](https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/pay-salary/consultant-hourly-rate)sources that find out this rate is a very normal rate per hour for this type of work.

[quote="yararasita, post:6, topic:19201"] [according to glassdoor](https://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/grants-manager-salary-SRCH_KO0,14.htm) a medium compensation of a grants manager is $76,403 which divided by 12 months is an average of $6366 per month [/quote] Do they work an average of 10 hours a week? I find this answer really disingenuous now that we are aware you don't work anywhere close to a full-time work week.

Are the salaries you listed in the budget for your previous grant still accurate?  Based on these numbers and the hours you are saying are actually being worked: Gia is making $100 an hour Pablo is making $50 an hour and Zino is making $40 an hour Those numbers seem pretty astronomical and no matter how fantastic a job you are doing, $100 an hour doesn't seem reasonable.

Hi @noh0mie , sure! Thank you for bringing up this topic. To ensure clarity and transparency, I would like to provide an update on the time commitment and role we play within the Grant Support Squad: **@yararasita (Gia)**: is an **Advisor** who dedicated 10 hours per week to the squad. Gia co-directs another project, and her expertise, particularly in other Grants Programs, makes them an invaluable asset to our team. **@palewin (Pablo)**: is our **Partnership Manager** who dedicated 20 hours weekly to support grantees, managing partnerships and fostering collaborations among the Community and between the Community and the Foundation. **@fifitango : (Fifí)** As the **Grant Manager**, they hold a full-time position within the squad, dedicating 30 hours per week to ensure the success of our grant projects, for example, doing tasks like leading Testing Tuesday and Onboardings. I, **Zino** **(Juan)**, serve as the **Accountability Manager**, also in a full-time position, devoting 30 hours per week to ensure accountability in the Grant Program and smooth operations within the Squad such as management tools. It's important to note that neither Fifi, Palewin nor I have additional roles or commitments outside of the Grant Support Squad that require this level of time commitment. However, we do engage in side artist projects and participate in courses to improve our skills continually. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out! Thank you, Regards

Just push it through now while Decentraland is at an extremely low participation. Keep the same up, and you will get the same. Maybe get a grant for Mark Zuckerberg to shout "Metaverse" and we will get some attention.

I appreciate you elaborating on how the success criteria will be measured, but I agree with jar0d that it is also important to know where the threshold for success lies. What numbers in each category deem the GSS successful for that area? I definitely believe the GSS is an important part of the DAO and deserves to be funded, but I also believe they should be setting the best example of how to propose a grant with measurable goals for success.

Can you clarify if these are all full-time positions of if your team members hold other working roles outside of the Grant Support Squad?

Thank you for your thoughtful reply. I ended up having a pretty long conversation with @NikkiFuego about some of my objections to the nature of metrics and how I think they could be improved. My primary issue was that they are primarily measuring the content created or the events hosted and not the impact of those events. For example, "Number of Testing Tuesdays sessions held" is a valid way to determine you are doing something, but Metrics around participation and engagement, similar to those used to measure people applying for a grant to host events, would be a better way to measure the impact. Part of these concerns was motivated by the idea that if you guys are going to be responsible for suggesting a grant should be considered for revocation, then it would be ideal if the GSS held them to the highest standard with well-defined metrics and failure states. As someone outside of the Grant Program, you really only hear about the instances where grants are revoked, and the person is upset and feels unjustly treated. Having spoken to Nikki, she has made it abundantly clear exactly all the ways the GSS has been an invaluable asset in the development of Vroomway. While Given the fact that you have worked with "more than 150 grantees," it seems that if only a few projects have had experiences that left them feeling frustrated and unheard, it seems that while my concerns may have some merit and there is room for improvement, there is no reason to believe that you guys aren't doing a fantastic job.

Oke Thank you for enlightening me @yararasita will vote yes sounds good!

As for @InJesterr questions, - About your opinion on how much an expensive deal it is to run the operations of the GSS, [according to glassdoor](https://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/grants-manager-salary-SRCH_KO0,14.htm) a medium compensation of a grants manager is $76,403 which divided by 12 months is an average of $6366 per month. And we are not managing grants with a strategy already given, but building a whole strategy from scratch, making dynamic adjustments every single month to adapt grants frameworks to what Decentraland DAO needs. So yeah, I think we are charging less than a median salary for this position regarding what we do, but hey, we enjoy it and are happy to do so: the team is awesome, the pay is decent, and we contribute to Decentraland, which is a project that we believe in. - About travel budget, we have been attending Web3 conferences such as [DevCon](https://www.notion.so/dcl-dao/Best-of-Devcon-2022-c453beab3a3a4a46a68a3fdb980657e9) on our first grant, or [Eth Denver for this period. ](https://dcl-dao.notion.site/dcl-dao/EthDenver-Takeaways-71ed43429bbb4972a1ce51cc90d47686)You can check the learnings and outcomes of how attending to those bring value to the squad in their respective links. After EthDenver for example, we have noticed a lack of awareness of Decentraland Grants Program so we have been actively working on looking for web3 ecosystem grants listings. So far we have been featured in the[ Web3 research institute](https://web3researchinstitute.org/best-web3-grants/),[ Ethereum Foundation Ecosystem Grants](https://ethereum.org/en/community/grants/),[UseWeb3 Academy](https://www.useweb3.xyz/grants), and[ Web3Native](https://www.web3native.co/grants) grants listings. There is no better way to study the Web3 Ecosystem and what is going on lately but these spaces, and it is our responsibility to be updated and apply the learnings from others, but also to share that knowledge in return to them. - Regarding revocations, this is something dynamic, and this was the status at the moment the grant has been proposed as an analysis. Revocations are not accomplishments for us, but a status update on what we are working on. As I mentioned to @jar0d the goal is that with all the other areas the GSS is working, we can build a healthy grants program where the community makes good investments and the revocations tend to zero.