Across Community Essentials Committee Formation

Title: Across Community Essentials Committee Formation Proposal

Author(s): Mide, mydefi, neondaemon, PVM, TheRealTuna

Status: Proposal

Related Discussions: https://forum.across.to/t/community-essentials-committee-description/1683

Summary: The Community Essentials Committee (CEC) will focus on growing and engaging the Across DAO community through initiatives like onboarding, events, social media, campaigns and partnerships. A dedicated, compensated committee creates accountability and incentive structures to consistently execute high-quality community building work. It will be managed transparently and be aligned with Across DAO’s goals. The CEC will foster an active, vibrant community to drive participation, campaigns, integrations and ultimately adoption for the protocol. Community support is essential for delivering on Across' ambitious vision, so investing in community management makes strategic sense.

Motivation: The motivation behind forming the CEC is to build a vibrant, engaged community within the Across DAO. As a decentralized autonomous organization, having an active community is crucial for governance, collaboration, and advancing the goals of the protocol.

This committee aims to focus on the "soft" side of community building - the human connections and experiences that turn a discord server and social channels into a thriving hub of ideas, talent and enthusiasm. By managing essential functions like onboarding, moderation, events, partnerships and social media, the CEC will help foster a welcoming and inclusive environment.

In addition, the CEC will spearhead growth initiatives to expand the DAO's reach and visibility. Through creative marketing campaigns, competitions and integration with other communities, the committee hopes to attract new members who align with Across' values and can contribute skills and perspectives.

Overall, this committee will nurture the human infrastructure that underpins the Across community. The DAO's success depends on engaged and motivated members who feel a sense of belonging. The CEC will focus on building social bonds, smoothing operations, and creating fun interactive experiences - the essential "glue" that brings a DAO to life and transforms it into a vibrant organization.

Specification & Implementation:

Purpose of the committee The Community Essentials Committee (CEC) mission is to create a seamless and engaging experience within Across DAO. It will oversee operational and social functions such as onboarding, moderation and compensation management. It will strongly align to the goals of Risk Labs (the parent organization) and Across DAO. This is encapsulated by the Across Bridge’s byline, “The bridge that Ethereum deserves” and its aim to be the fastest, cheapest and most secure bridge in the blockchain space.

The CEC is committed to fostering community growth through innovative marketing campaigns and strategic integration efforts. We aspire to create a vibrant, fun, and inclusive environment through initiatives such as competitions, quizzes and games. It will lead efforts to expand the discord server user base, amplify Across’ messaging over social media platforms and promote bridge use.

Goals Governance

• Weekly Committee Meetings
• Weekly reports by all committee members in Discord
• Monthly report
• Quarterly report to include:
  • Executive Summary
  • Achievements in the quarter
  • Metrics: Discord and Twitter growth and engagement, campaigns, integrations
  • Financial breakdown
  • Proposed goals and expenditure requirement for the next quarter

Membership & Engagement

• Increase membership and engagement on Discord**
• Increase membership and engagement on Twitter**
• Quizzes, Competitions: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Ai6-_fMmSffm46nLpEAUCP7tUfv8SoYcUPkDx8yv0Xc/edit#gid=342279433
  • Crossword/Word Search: Every 2 weeks
  • Gartic (game): After each community call
  • Poker: 2 per month

Integration/Campaigns

• Oversee select Community Integrations and Campaigns as agreed by Risk Labs and CEC

Systems & Processes

• Create an HR policy document for committees and other paid roles in the DAO. Considerations for each program will include:
  • How many members need to exist? How much is appropriate to compensate them? What are the job duties they'll need to have? What is the accountability structure? Term limits?
  • Within the umbrella of DAO-compensated roles, there should be a compensation structure. Who is in charge of that? What tool will be used? What regularity can folks expect for payments? Who does hiring vs payments vs supervision of these folks?
• Update Moderator handbook
• Investigate payment solutions for paid roles
• Create a Notion Workspace for the committee

** For Discord and Twitter this first term will set a benchmark for subsequent terms.

Scope of the committee

In Scope:

• Discord Operations
  • Moderating Comments
• DAO Community Activities/Events
  • Competitions, Quizzes
• Community Marketing
  • Amplifying Across Social Media
• Community Partnership
  • Support for Across Integrations
• Social Channels
  • Amplify Across’ social media channels
• Safety
  • Generic help/security for members
• Support
  • Act as first line of support
• Campaigns
  • Lead DAO initiatives

Out of Scope

• Treasury Management
• Technical / Dev Support
• Protocol Operations

Reporting requirements and frequency Updates will be posted weekly in a section under the committees channel. A monthly report followed by a quarterly report will be posted on the forum.

Intended lifespan of the committee The CEC is a permanent committee. Every 3 months it will provide a quarterly report of its activities that voters can assess via a snapshot vote to determine if the current composition of the committee will be given another 3 month term.

If a member resigns (or has been removed) then the committee will include their nominated replacement with a justification as well as the bio of the new person.

Composition of the committee Bios of proposed committee members can be found here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1NOBYnz1ytSy929a9DVgnir6iVCV7lo1GYPK78hsTKYE/edit

The proposed committee will comprise 5 members. They were interviewed for specific roles shown below. However, they will work as a team to meet the goals of the DAO. They are expected to spend 8 to 10 hours per week on DAO matters.

Mide: Communicator Role : Community marketing, community partnership, DAO community activities, social channels

MyDeFi: Reviewer Role: Review proposals, , community partnerships

Neondaemon: Proposer Role : Write proposals, community partnerships

PVM: Coordinator Role : Discord ops, DAO community activities , events , safety, support, campaigns , social channels

TheRealTuna: Executor Role : Execute proposals , carry out tasks , discord ops, safety, support

Compensation From https://forum.across.to/t/across-governance-operating-manual/1447

Upon approval, a committee will receive a base level of rewards in the amount of $10k equivalent in $ACX. This amount is meant to last for a 3-month period. It is up to each committee to determine the distribution of these tokens, the details of which must be included in the snapshot vote. This should include wallet addresses and amounts for each committee member.

At the end of each quarter of service, a committee will be given an additional $10k equivalent in $ACX, except in the case of a committee being removed from service by tokenholders during that quarter, in which case there will be no additional rewards. The distribution of these funds will be determined by the committee members by way of a peer review score. This is to be paid out by the Across DAO Treasury

A 3 of 5 mult-sig safe has been set-up on Optimism with each of the committee members as a signee. Payments from Across DAO will be to a holding safe address on Ethereum and then bridged over to Optimism

Ethereum safe: https://app.safe.global/home?safe=eth:0xd80075F64E0f87bD4a1b090Aacb06CB031Bde20f

Optimism Safe: https://app.safe.global/home?safe=oeth:0x51cd3e68052895238ef2C105c45064D05Bdd5E48

Monthly budget breakdown From https://forum.across.to/t/across-governance-operating-manual/1447

Committees may manage a small amount of capital to meet the needs of their operational purpose. If applicable, include information about the address that is intended to be used for operational funds. This budget does not include committee compensation. Committees will receive their budgeted funds at the start of each month from the Across DAO Treasury. Whenever possible, this amount should be limited to 1 month of operating expenses at a time.

Monthly Budget Breakdown (unless specified will be paid in ACX tokens)

• 1 Event Manager: $500
• 2 x Front Desk Operatives: $600 ($300 each )
• Duties to include, moderation, first line support, welcoming new members and directing members to resources
• Prizes / Giveaways $500
• Discord Nitro $30

Monthly Total = $1630 Quarterly Total= $4890

Brief overview of committee operations (general workflow, communication channels, expected outputs, etc.) Each CEC member is expected to spend 8-10 hours per week on DAO matters. This includes a 1-hour weekly committee meeting which is open to all in the DAO. The main communication channel will be in the committees section of Discord.

A Notion page will be created to keep track of all committee work. Notion will also act as a knowledge base where useful technical and community information will be kept. An HR policy document will be developed for CEC members and other paid roles in the DAO.

The CEC will:

• Liaise with the RL team to work towards the goals of the DAO
• Take part / lead marketing and integration campaigns
• Guide those wanting to put a proposal up on Snapshot
• Act as secondary moderators in Discord replying to questions, deleting spam etc.
• Attempt to take part in as many community calls, twitter spaces and other DAO events
• Use their personal social accounts to amplify Across’ messaging
• Write a short report at the end of each week
• Involved in community calls inc moderating

Before the first term (3 months) is up the committee will create a report of its achievement. It will include this in its committee renewal proposal to the DAO.

Rationale: Having a dedicated committee focused solely on community building is more effective than ad-hoc efforts or trying to manage it alongside other responsibilities. The CEC can give this crucial work the attention and priority it deserves.

A committee structure creates accountability and oversight through regular reporting and renewal votes. This ensures community building initiatives stay on track and deliver tangible results. The diverse skills and perspectives of a committee are better equipped to handle the complex and nuanced work of community management versus one or two individuals.

Compensating committee members creates an incentive structure for doing high-quality community work consistently over an extended period of time. Relying solely on volunteer efforts can be unpredictable. The CEC can develop expertise in community operations and institute best practices, policies and knowledge bases to smooth operations long-term. Without a dedicated team, this institutional knowledge is easily lost.

A committee with a mix of backgrounds and roles (marketing, partnerships, moderation, events, etc.) will be able to execute more sophisticated campaigns and initiatives than any individual could manage alone. Overall, the CEC will be laser-focused on growing and engaging the Across community. This will drive participation and activity in the DAO, build valuable social capital, and ultimately attract more talent and contributions to the protocol. With robust community support, Across is better positioned to deliver on its ambitious technical roadmap and business objectives.

Potential Downsides Here are some potential disadvantages and risks to consider with implementing the Community Essentials Committee proposal:

• There is a cost to funding and compensating a dedicated committee. This diverts resources away from other protocol needs. The budget and scope should be carefully evaluated.

• If not managed well, the committee could take decision-making power away from the community at large. Transparency and community input are essential.

• Paying roles may incentivize politics, entrenchment of power, or attracting members looking for a paycheck rather than protocol progress. Ideal candidates must be vetted.

• Moderation powers on social channels and Discord could be abused to censor certain views or promote biased agendas. Clear moderation policies are needed.

Mitigation of risks: These potential risks have been mitigated through careful design of the committee structure. Transparency and community engagement are the cornerstones of CEC’s ethos. All members have gone through a vetting process including open interviews ensuring community oversight. The CEC goals are measurable and at the end of the quarter the DAO will have an opportunity to assess its effectiveness. Policies and processes will be developed to ensure that all in the DAO are treated equitably and are able to voice concerns/issues.