Use a portion of the GSE budget to fund a workgroup whose task is to perform a financial analysis of the DAOs projects and guilds each season for the past 3 seasons. The outcome of this analysis will be combined with the BanklessDAO Constitution and Community Handbook, and the SWOT analysis (coming soon) to help guide the community’s decision-making process for improvement proposals (bDIPs). Current financial statements published by the Treasury Guild do not include guild and project specific data. This analysis will be beneficial to the GSE and the entire organization, especially when creating future bDIPs. The priority of this proposal is to cover guild and project spending, however here is an opportunity to make all financial data more accessible to the community.
An important philosophy of mine is the transparency and availability of information. This is especially important in a DAO where every decision is made by the community. DAOs are an important step forward in giving those who build the ship a say in where the ship goes. That right to be part of the decision-making process comes with great responsibility. We are all responsible for the outcome of BanklessDAO. If the DAO thrives, you are responsible. If DAO dies, you are responsible. It is the leadership’s responsibility to provide you with the information you need to be confident that every vote you make is moving this ship in the right direction.
The GSE released the BanklessDAO Constitution and Community Handbook which acts as our current operating system. It’s a summary of our structure, our processes, our mission, vision, and values. This snapshot of our organization is extremely helpful to understand our current state. However, it is only part of the picture. The next 2 pieces are a SWOT analysis (in progress) and an understanding of our cash flow (this proposal).
One of the major threats identified in the strategic survey was overspending. It’s a valid concern. If all the funds in our treasury go to 0, our DAO dies. There seems to be a consensus that the flow of funds across units needs to be reassessed. If we were to reallocate today, we would be guessing how much each unit should have. With the upcoming release of our SWOT analysis, it will be clear which units require more resources. The answer to how much will still be a mystery. With a financial analysis of guilds and projects, the GSE and anyone else who is interested will be able to make stronger recommendations based on data instead of speculation.
When creating recommendations for the reallocation of resources, profit/loss is only part of the equation. Brand recognition, community building, and others are important variables to consider. Any improvement proposal that is created as a result of the financial analysis should take these variables into account.
If it is determined that funding this workgroup is a valuable use of GSE resources, we will move forward. The workgroup will be responsible for executing this analysis. Some pieces of data I’d like to see include…
Projects
Guilds