Grant Ships A Meta-Framework for Pluralistic Grant Giving! 1289 × 579 379 KB
PROPOSAL NAME:
Grant Ships: Accelerating ApeCoin’s Ecosystem Evolution
TEAM DESCRIPTION:
Our team, the DAO Masons, is composed of seasoned Web 3 professionals dedicated to advancing decentralized ecosystems. Our collective expertise spans project management, software engineering, UI/UX design, and computer science.
We originally met as core members of DAOhaus, driven by a passion for DAOs and effective governance design.
Our mission at DAO Masons is to “help DAOs win”. Like many in our space, we are eager to onboard the next billion crypto users and ensure the infrastructure is in place to support this growth.
Name
Roles
Relevant Experience
Contact
Chris (Boiler)
Outreach, BizDev, UX Research, Documentation
Contributor and founder at DAO Masons, DAOhaus (Public HAUS), Metacartel, and Public Nouns. Much of my focus in Web 3 has centered around grants, both in writing proposals and in evaluating and guiding grantees. Extensive IRL project experience in construction.
Telegram: Contact @boilerrat
Jord
Product Manager, Engineering Lead
Lead developer and founder at DAO Masons, web 3 developer at DAOHaus, Raid Guild Member, Builder Nouns, 5 Years Web 3 Development
Telegram: Contact @Jordeth
Matt (UI 369 )
Project Manager, Game Design & UI/UX Lead, Documentation Lead
Operations manager and founder at DAO Masons & DAOhaus (Public HAUS), former organizational design partner at HolacracyOne, 11 years of professional software development experience, Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science
Telegram: Contact @ui 369
PROPOSAL DESCRIPTION:
Grant Ships: Accelerating ApeCoin Ecosystem Evolution aka “Ape Ships” is a proposed grants funding game specifically for ApeCoin DAO in support of ApeChain ecosystem development. The Grant Ships game is an “evolutionary grants meta-framework” that lets a DAO choose multiple teams of grant allocators (aka ‘Grant Ship Operators’) who compete to best allocate funds within a given domain.
This proposal is to fund 1 round of the Grant Ships game with the option to fund future rounds if the DAO likes the program. The Grant Ships platform provides a dynamic, transparent, onchain and community-driven funding initiative customized for the ApeCoin ecosystem to strategically fund sectors critical for the growth of ApeChain. This process will help ApeCoin DAO discover and empower the best allocators and the best projects aligned with their mission.
The Grant Ships game is at its heart a smart-contract-enforced governance system for grants programs. This means that the Grant Ships game has a clear ruleset and governance pathway where every in-game interaction is backed by an onchain transaction.
ApeCoin holders are involved at key junctures to ensure appropriate voter influence on outcomes without creating voter overwhelm or fatigue. DAO Voters influence funding direction primarily through Ship Operator and Game Facilitator elections and periodic TCR-gated Ship Operator portfolio reviews — the results of which determine relative Ship funding levels going forward.
Under the hood, Grant Ships uses Allo Protocol and Hats Protocol to provide reliable and flexible funding with revokable permissions — ensuring the DAO maintains control of the funds earmarked for grant allocation. All transactions and governance actions are recorded on-chain and presented publicly, fostering an environment of transparency, accountability and trust.
Additionally, the game can be played without the competitive aspect, serving as an open, transparent grant distribution protocol. Funding can be given to any group to distribute as grants using the app, ensuring all steps are open and available to DAO members.
Grant Ships: Accelerating ApeCoin’s Ecosystem Evolution aims to create a sustainable and scalable funding model that grows with ApeChain, supporting its development into a premier blockchain ecosystem.
BENEFIT TO APECOIN ECOSYSTEM:
Enhanced Community Governance:
Voter Engagement: One of the goals of Grant Ships is to identify skilled allocators and empower them with the necessary tools to make effective funding decisions. The DAO has the opportunity to elect individuals or teams they believe will excel in these roles. A DAO vote also determines relative Ship funding levels for subsequent rounds.
Candidates are encouraged to self-nominate and actively campaign for their preferred roles. The election process will be facilitated through on-chain multi-choice voting, leveraging ApeCoin. To accommodate this, the creation of an additional module may be required to enable ApeCoin’s integration into the voting mechanism. The positions available for election are Facilitators and Ship Operators. Additionally, these roles may be appointed directly by the DAO’s councils if deemed more suitable for the DAO’s needs.
Feedback: Every in-game action is recorded onchain and can be verified by any member of the DAO. This data provides the DAO with all the information needed to make informed decisions about how to run the game (e.g. ship funding and administrator elections).
Targeted Ecosystem Growth:
Focused Funding Rounds: This proposal describes a funding round description that instructs Ship Operators and Grant Applicants to support the growth of ApeChain by funding and creating projects that fall the following categories:
Infrastructure - ApeChain tools, protocols, frameworks, etc.
DeFi - Financial platforms and initiatives
Gaming - onchain game loops, NFT collections, etc.
Other - the unexpected and creative
Adaptive Domain Allocation: The DAO retains the flexibility to adjust the focus of future funding rounds based on emerging strategic needs.
Community Driven: The Grant Ships framework allows every DAO member to influence funding decisions without frequent votes or the need to gain massive context before every voting.
Competitive Excellence:
Performance-Based Funding: Our model incentivizes high performance among grant allocators by directly linking their funding to demonstrated impact of their grants. This meritocratic approach encourages each Ship to strive for excellence. The better the results they deliver relative to the other Ships, the more funding they receive. This encourages a continuous drive for improvement and innovation.
Grant allocators verify the completion of funding-related milestones through a multi-step process. Initially, projects outline their intended milestones as part of the application procedure. Game Facilitators then have the responsibility to assess and approve these milestones.
Once a grant is sanctioned and the project has successfully undergone KYC and consented to our compliance policy, they are required to submit detailed reports of their milestones through the App. The Ship Operator meticulously reviews these submissions to ascertain whether the reported milestones align with the approved plan.
Subsequent to the Ship Operator’s validation, the Game Facilitator will also validate and is authorized to release the allocated funds to the project. This systematic approach ensures that only those projects that fulfill their proposed objectives receive the funding.
The following screenshots are what a milestone report looks like in the app:
- Impact Measurement: Grant Ships does not evaluate impact directly, instead providing numerous onchain events detailing all activity within the grants program, which can be fed into external impact evaluation systems.
- Accountability Mechanisms: While encouraging excellence and freedom to run a Ship how operators choose, our system also has strong accountability mechanisms in place.
* Underperformance: In cases where a Ship repeatedly underperforms or fails to meet the community’s standards of integrity and impact, the DAO has the authority to defund them completely or revoke their ability to allocate funds. There is also a “flag” system in place which allows the game facilitator to take immediate action if a Ship’s actions are outside of compliance.
* Graduated Consequences: A yellow flag can be issued by Game Facilitators which acts as additional context to voters during TCR votes. A red flag is issued for obvious, repeated or intentional violations by a Grant Ship. A red flag suspends a Ship’s ability to distribute funding, until and only if, the DAO reinstates the Ship’s permissions through a TCR vote.
Cultural Reinforcement: By tying funding to performance and making the outcomes publicly available, we foster a culture of accountability and excellence within the DAO ecosystem. Operators are motivated not only by potential funding but also by the prestige and recognition that come from being a top-performing Ship.
Competitive and Collaborative: The competitive environment provided by the Grant Ships game will attract high-quality projects and allocators who are committed to the success of ApeChain. We also anticipate patterns of cooperation, skill-sharing and seeking of win/wins among ships and builders in the interest of creating something awesome as a community.
Sample portion of feed from the Grant Ships App from a live grant round
Documentation and Reporting: Feeds generated from smart contract data are accessible through the Grant Ships app. These feeds detail funding activities providing key metrics and insights for voters to use during decision making.
Compliance Policy and Attestation: Fund allocations must be approved by a Game Faciltator before they can be distributed by a Grant Ship. This provides the DAO with the option to implement policies and prerequisites for grant recipients (e.g. KYC compliance, AML procedures, etc.). This takes the responsibility and potential conflict of interest from the Grant Ship operators and lets them focus on making wise allocation decisions.
The duty of performing due diligence, including KYC/KYB checks, is assigned to the elected Game Facilitators. They are tasked with ensuring compliance with all ApeCoin DAO regulations. Our contracts stipulate that Ship Operators are not involved in handling grant funds; instead, a Game Facilitator is required to authorize fund transfers to grant recipients. This occurs only after verifying that all requirements have been fulfilled.
DEFINITIONS:
Allocation
The act of setting money aside for a particular recipient, before distribution. Occurs in 3 places within the game: the allocation of funds made to the game as a whole, the split allocation made to each Grant Ship and the allocations made by the Ships for individual grant recipients.
Allo Protocol
A strategic allocation tool used for managing funds within the Grant Ships framework. [Learn more about Allo Protocol](https://allo.gitcoin.co/).
Community Voting Mechanism
Grant Ships uses a Token Curated Registry for most community decisions. We currently use Stem protocol for this task and plan to integrate our own custom TCR capabilities directly within the dApp.
The voting module itself is a Solidity smart contract. We will build voting interfaces appearing as simple multiple choice forms that allow ApeCoin holders to vote - e.g. 1 vote per ApeCoin. We can also set up other mechanisms such as quadratic, ranked choice, etc. as needed.
Distribution
The process of distributing funds to projects, carried out by Ships to Grantees from their allocated resources.
Ethereum Attestation Service (EAS)
EAS allows users to make attestation on or off chain, about anything.
Facilitators
Central role within the game charged with daily oversight and operational tasks, including approving milestones by grantees and releasing funds.
Flags
A system in which a game facilitator can issue warnings to a ship or halt its activities altogether.
Grant Ship
A "subDAO" of Ship Operators, ideally comprised of ApeCoin DAO members who are most closely connected to the DAO's requirements and culture.
Grant Ships
A decentralized, competitive framework for grant distribution.
Hats Protocol
A protocol that employs NFTs for role management, enhancing security and flexibility in governance.
IPFS
Interplanetary File System is a decentralized data storage system.
KYC,>KYC, KYB, KYT
Know Your Customer, Know Your Business and Know Your Transaction refers to processes that identify individuals using official identification documents and photos, to help with anti-sybil defense and legal compliance (e.g. anti-money laundering laws, sanctions lists, tax compliance, etc).
Milestone
A system used by Grant Ships, where grant applicants must submit proposals with clearly defined development milestones. Funds are released upon completion of these milestones, adding a layer of security for the DAO.
Ship Operators
Selected teams or individuals responsible for "manning a Grant Ship" - responsibile for distributing grants to projects within the Grant Ships program.
subDAO
A sub DAO refers to a semi-soveriegn entity within a DAO charged with making decisions within their area of expertise. In Grant Ships, a Grant Ship is a subDAO, comprised of members of ApeCoin DAO charged with awarding grants.
Token Curated Registry (TCR)
A Token Curated Registry (TCR) is a mechanism that leverages token-based incentives to maintain a list of curated items or entries. In a TCR, token holders vote on a list of items and balance their votes based on preference of choice.
To participate in the Token Curated Registry (TCR) for community decisions, token holders must adhere to the following requirements:
Token Ownership: There is no minimum token ownership required. Token holders can participate and vote with any amount of tokens they possess.
Wallet Connection: Participants must connect their wallet to interact with the TCR/App.
Token Type: The tokens referred to in this context are ApeCoins. However, we can use any ERC 20 token, including the possibility of a new token on ApeChain.
Snapshot Verification: Due to the absence of the ERC 20 votes function in the ApeCoin contract, a merkle root snapshot is used. This snapshot stores the holders’ addresses and their respective balances on-chain at a specific point in time, ensuring accurate and fair representation in votes.
This process is designed to be inclusive and accessible, allowing for broad participation from the community in decision-making.
The Token Curated Registry (TCR) is primarily utilized for elections and determining the impact of Grant Ships at the conclusion of a round. Decisions regarding game parameters, such as the number of Ships, the funding amount per round, and the duration of rounds, are not subject to TCR voting at present. However, integrating these aspects into the TCR voting process may be considered for future implementation.
PLATFORMS & TECHNOLOGIES:
Grant Ships integrates Allo Protocol for fund management and Hats Protocol for dynamic role governance, alongside custom smart contracts to ensure security, transparency, and efficacy in grant allocation.
Allo Protocol
Developed by Gitcoin, Allo allows for secure fund allocation and distribution. Individual Ships are allocated funding for a particular grants season. These funds are redistributed as Grants, based on a Ship’s allocation decisions. Ship operators do not have direct access to funds after they are deposited into our custom Allo contract. When a Ship chooses to award a grant a Game Facilitator finalizes the allocation, and then Grant Ships are free to make distributions after successful completion of milestones.
Hats Protocol
Grant Ships has integrated Hats protocol into our allocation strategy contract to provide revocable, reassignable permissions to game participants in the form of an ERC 1155 NFT known as a “Hat”. This mechanism allows the DAO itself to hold something called a "Top Hat" which grants it the right to revoke or reassign all roles beneath it. Game Facilitators and Grant Ship Operators are granted permission to allocate and distribute funds by their Hats, and those Hats are in turn managed by the DAO.
We propose the creation of a multisig wallet controlled by the Special Council, with this ‘Top Hat’ token to be entrusted to this multisig, ensuring that permissions are not irrevocably tied to any single individual.
Stem Protocol
Stem Protocol, developed by DAO Masons and Public HAUS, is a modular set of contracts that enable TCR, onchain voting in any dApp. Stem enables voting directly in our app, without needing to go to another platform.
Other technologies that we have implemented and/or plan to integrate to improve the game include:
Ethereum Attestation Service (EAS)
Used to attest that Grant Ship operators agree not to fund projects aimed at avoiding legal sanctions or engaging in other criminal activities. [Learn more about EAS](https://attest.sh)
IPFS
Some vital metadata for the game is stored on IPFS. [Learn more about IPFS](https://ipfs.tech)
Impact Evaluation
Grant Ships provides numerous onchain events detailing all activity within the grants program, which can be fed into external impact evaluation programs. This is a conscious decision to not directly implement impact evaluation and instead operate as a data source for whichever evaluation mechanism the DAO chooses to use.
The Graph and Envio
We currently use the The Graph and Envio for our Data indexing services switching between them based on which is working better at the moment.
Used for data indexing services.
[Learn more about The Graph](https://thegraph.com)
[Learn more about Envio](https://envio.dev/)
Fractal ID
We use fractal provides KYC/KYB and Anti-money laundering (AML) services. This service allows us to link a wallet address to a particular individual or organization's identity and check against national sanctions lists before making payments.
How The Game Works
A game of Grant Ships begins when funds are deposited into the Grant Ships contract and a Game Facilitator initiates the round and Ship Operators begin making allocation decisions.
Ship Operators and Game Facilitators must be selected by the DAO. If the DAO does not have a standing process for holding elections or accepting volunteers, DAO Masons will host an election using our TCR voting system (aka Stem Protocol). Selected Ship Operators and Game Facilitators will be granted special permissions within the game, in particular allowing them to make grant allocation decisions and create onchain messages visible through the app.
Once the Ships and Game Facilitators are established, the game is ready to begin.We are proposing a 3 month funding round followed by a 2 week voting period (see timeline).
Project applications are received through the app, and Ship Operators determine which projects they will fund by approving a Grant Application for a specific amount. The Game Facilitator then reviews this allocation request, performing any compliance processes including KYB or KYC required by the DAO. If the Game Facilitators approve the allocation request, the Ship Operator is now free to make distributions.
Grant Ships supports milestone-based funding which requires projects to submit milestones in the Grant Ships app with a percentage of funds to be received for each milestone completed. After funds are allocated and approved by a Game Facilitator, when a project submits a completed milestone, Ship Operators have the option to accept the milestone, automatically distributing funds to the project team.
At the end of a funding season, all funding decisions and onchain activity made by the Ship Operators are placed in a portfolio report for easy evaluation by the DAO. The DAO can use the information in the portfolio to inform their vote. Ideally, voters are determining which Ships were best at supporting impactful projects for Ape Chain.
The vote is held through the app using our inhouse TCR voting tool (Stem Protocol). The results are published in real time.
As the next season begins, the DAO will have this information to determine the ratio of funding for each Ship. Thus, high-performing Ships should receive increased funding, while poor-performing Ships would receive less funding. The DAO may even consider replacing Ships at this point.
Security: Ensuring the safety of funds within the Grant Ships contract involves several layers of security and compliance measures. Although Game Facilitators have significant influence over fund allocation, they do not physically manage the funds. The DAO employs its standard procedures to transfer funds into the contract, ensuring that once deposited, no individual can distribute funds at will.
The grant distribution process is as follows:
Ship Operators propose fund allocations by signaling in the app a project has been accepted for a grant.
Game Facilitators review and either approve or reject the project and its milestones (example, if a project is out of scope for the round, they can reject the grant at this stage).
Upon completion of a grant milestone, Operators signal the completion, facilitators review the milestone and upon acceptance, funds are transferred to the grantee.
These actions are governed by Hats tokens, which symbolize permissions and can be revoked if necessary. For the implementation of the AIP, we propose a direct deposit of 450 , 000 Ape Coin into the Grant Ships contract, which is a specialized version of the Allo Protocol contract, tailored to meet our specific requirements.
docs.allo.gitcoin.co
Allo Protocol – Allo Docs
What is the Allo Protocol?
STEPS TO IMPLEMENT:
Custom App Development & Audit (Week 1 - 6 )
Details: We are working on our live beta test sponsored by Arbitrum DAO. We anticipate some needed changes to the core contracts after the test. This is also an opportunity to make minor customizations needed for the ApeCoin round and to perform a final audit before launch.
Cost: $ 40 , 000 (including $ 20 , 000 for the audit)
Personnel: Jord and Matt (development team), external auditors
Platforms: GitHub, Forge
Projected Start Date: Week 1
Projected End Date: Week 4
Community Engagement (Week 1 - 3 concurrent)
Details: Engage the community and recruit initial Ship operators. This is time spent where we really push the program out and start building buzz around the upcoming grant round. Most important at this stage is surfacing people interested in being Ship operators.
Cost: $ 10 , 000
Personnel: Chris and Matt (community managers)
Platforms: Discord, Twitter, Telegram, Community forums
Projected Start Date: Week 1
Projected End Date: Week 3
Ship Operator Voting (Week 4 - 5 )
Details: This is the first opportunity for the DAO to decide on who will fill the Ships as operators. Potential Ship operators make their applications on the Grant Ships app, for the DAO to see. The applicants will then be put up for a vote. DAO members may use their ownership of $APE to distribute the proportionate amount of votes to the applicants they feel will be best at distributing funds as grants.
Personnel: DAO Masons’ facilitators, Ape Coin DAO
Platforms: Stem Protocol
Projected Start Date: Week 4
Projected End Date: Week 5
Ship Operator Training (Week 6 )
Details: We require about 3 days to show the operator teams how to use the App and what functions they will be required to perform.
Cost: $ 5 , 000
Personnel: DAO Masons’ trainers, Ship Operators
Platforms: Grant Ships dApp, Discord for calls
Projected Start Date: Week 6
Projected End Date: Week 6
Game Facilitation (Week 6 - 20 - 15 weeks)
Details: We will operate as Game Facilitators and would like to train 1 - 2 ApeCoin members to operate as Game Facilitators, so that ApeCoin can choose to autonomously run Grant Ship rounds in the future if it chooses. It is not the intention of DAO Masons to have our involvement be a requirement to play, in fact it is our goal to create a decentralized game, able to stand on its own.
Should the ApeCoin DAO lack an established process for selecting representatives, we suggest implementing a DAO-wide nomination and voting system to elect Game Facilitators. Alternatively, the DAO may opt to assign individuals to these roles from their councils. These Game Facilitators are given a Hats token which grants them contract permissions.
Bug Fixes, Support, Quality Assurance** These activities are throughout the duration of the project.
Grantee Review This includes performing KYC/KYB checks,
Cost: $ 20 , 000
Personnel: DAO Masons’ trainers, selected ApeCoin members
Platforms: Grant Ships dApp, Discord for calls
Projected Start Date: Week 6
Projected End Date: Week 20
Game Round Begins (Week 7 - 18 - 12 weeks)
Details: After Ship Operators are selected and trained, we suggest a 3 month funding round. This round would be broken down as follows:
Week 7 : Ships marketing for the upcoming round and soliciting project applications.
Weeks 8 - 9 : Grant applications, recipient selections, and initial allocations
Week 10 - 18 : Project work, milestone submissions, and fund distributions
Week 19 : DAO Vote on relative performance of Grant Ships
Cost: $ 20 , 000 (excluding grant allocation funds)
Grant Allocation: 450 , 000 $APE distributed during this phase ( 150 , 000 $APE per Grant Ship)
Note: In previous rounds Ship operators have been paid from these funds for their services. The DAO can control the amount or percentage each ship can use to pay the operators.
Personnel: DAO Masons’ facilitators, Ship Operators
Platforms: Grant Ships app, Discord for calls, Community forums
Projected Start Date: Week 7
Projected End Date: Week 18
Program Evaluation (Week 19 - 20 - 2 weeks)
Details: Assess program impact and consider running a second round, using the DAO’s vote to determine relative funding levels of Ships.
Cost: $ 10 , 000
Personnel: DAO Masons’ evaluators
Platforms: Grant Ships app, Community forums
Projected Start Date: Week 19
Projected End Date: Week 20
Total Timeline: 20 Weeks
Start Date: Within two weeks of AIP approval.
DAO Masons High-Level Deliverables:
Custom App Development
Contract Audit (outsourced)
Priority front-end feature request and bug fix service
Game Facilitator and Operator training and onboarding
Ongoing support for 20 -week program
QA
Game Facilitator service including:
Grant Ships contract configuration & deploy
Game configuration & launch
Applicant screening w/KYB, KYC, AML, etc.
ApeCoin-specific policy compliance
We are also willing to rebrand the game as Ape Ships for the DAO, and the ApeCoin final version will be branded accordingly for ApeCoin DAO.
The Foundation would also be expected to create a multisig wallet controlled by the Special Council, with the ‘Top Hat’ token to be entrusted to this multisig, ensuring that permissions are not irrevocably tied to any single individual.
REPORTING EXPECTATIONS:
We will provide a weekly DevLog (admittedly, being human we may miss one or two but will always catch up) to share progress with the community. Within the DevLogs we will report on what part of the timeline we have worked on during this period.
In addition, we will maintain near-constant communication and support via Telegram or other social media platforms. We have allocated time in our proposal to create detailed reports. We are accustomed to posting our devlogs in forums and can continue this practice or adopt another format preferred by the DAO.
OVERALL COST:
Total amount requested from the ApeCoin Ecosystem Fund = 550 , 000 $APE.
Item
Amount
Details
Grant Allocation
450 , 000 $APE
150 , 000 $APE per Grant Ship
Program Development, Training & Management
100 , 000 $APE
Service provided by DAO Masons
:open_book: Documentation & Info
:earth_africa: Landing Page
:scroll: Rule Book
:triangular_ruler: DAO Masons
:hammer_and_wrench: Tools & Apps
:rocket: Live dApp (Arbitrum One)
:robot: Development
:desktop_computer: Github
:speaking_head: Social & Media
:bird: Twitter
:speech_balloon: Discord
:loudspeaker: Telegram
:tv: Warpcast Channel
:date: Planning
:date: Schedule a Meeting
:books: Content
:memo: Blog
:headphones: Podcast Episode - Green Pill
