[SEP 37] [OBRA] Contribution Efficiency System (CES) Extension - Areta

Please refer to the full proposal text on the SafeDAO forum. Some parts may have been removed to fit within the character limit on Snapshot.

Title:

[SEP 37] Contribution Efficiency System (CES) Extension - Areta

Authors:

@fin_areta

Created:

2024-08-09

Abstract

Provide a brief summary of your initiative

The first iteration of the Contribution Efficiency System (CES) operated for 4 months, enabling the A-Z OBRA processes for initiatives and facilitating more efficient decision-making for Safe token holders. Within that time, the operating team from Areta designed and implemented the initial infrastructure, managed the onboarding through reporting of initiatives, and conducted feedback research and learnings culminated in this OBRA/CES Review Report.

This proposal calls for an extension of the CES to maintain continuity for new and past OBRA initiatives during this transitional period as OBRA moves towards organizational restructuring.

Aligned Strategy

Provide a brief summary of your initiative

Strategy 5: Increase governance participation

Funding Request

What resources are being requested from SafeDAO in USDC?

$35,000 USDC

Reduced pricing that reflects the decreased one-time cost for setting up the program and onboarding. It also includes compensation for the two-week funding gap between the end of the current period and the extension.

Relation to Budget

State the requested funding as a percentage of the total initiative budget and remaining (e.g. if you ask for 50k for Strategy 1: 25%)

Total Budget: 23%, Remaining Budget: 63%

Metrics and KPIs

Which metrics and KPIs will the initiative be measured against?

The KPIs for our initiative have progressed slightly from our initial proposal to emphasize the focus on optimized operations of CES. Find key KPIs below:

1. Overall CES Onboarding and MS-setting takes 30 mins [Onboarding & Milestone Setting]
2. 90% of OBRA initiatives give updates on time [Tracking]
3. Quality via Stakeholder Feedback is >8/10 across CES [Holistic Assessment]
   1. Sub-KPI: Reporting & Reviews are rated >8/10 by delegates and community
   2. Sub-KPI: Communication & Responsiveness of CES team is rated >8/10 by delegates and community
   3. Sub-KPI: OBRA/CES Outcome report is rated >8/10 by delegates and community
4. CES meaningfully supports set-up of OBRA 2.0 [OBRA 2.0 Support]

Initiative Description

What is the initiative about?

Since the CES’s inception in January of 2024, operations over the first two full OBRA seasons until today have generated significant learnings, both for us as an initiative and more broadly for OBRA.

Throughout the past ~4 months, the CES team worked closely with the Safe Governance team to ensure the seamless initiation of the program, and our facilitation of OBRAs goals through our operations. While not perfect and largely driven by manual operation this resulted in enabling the OBRA initiatives to perform at their best while providing tracking capabilities and an accountability layer to the Safe DAO. CES has received positive feedback from Guardians, OBRA initiatives, and Safe Governance team alike and thus was requested to continue its operation for a short-term to bridge the gap to a larger OBRA revamp.

In summary, through this proposal the CES aims to continue operations to:

• Maintain support for the entire life cycle of OBRA initiatives
• Organize and lead token-holder interaction points
• Provide quality comprehensive reporting on OBRA initiatives to the DAO
• Initiative OBRA troubleshooting and program support
• Maintain OBRA and initiative updates via CES Notion Hub
• Further improvement of the next generation of OBRA

Current Status:

Does the offering (product/service) already exist or is the funding used to create it?

The Contribution Efficiency System was initially voted upon and funded as an OBRA proposal in January 2024. Since then the CES has helped onboard and align 12 OBRA initiatives, including offboarding 3 completed initiatives. As a layer in the OBRA process, we have become intimately familiar with the OBRA process, including the different requirements of each set of OBRA stakeholders. With this proposal, we hope to continue our support for these OBRA initiatives, and more broadly, the Safe ecosystem, while enabling the DAO to progress to a revised, more advanced OBRA program in the future.

Risks:

What risks does the initiative entail?

As with the first iteration of the CES, the primary risk of this initiative remains that improper execution could add an additional layer of confusion rather than facilitate the intended outcomes. However, given the existing execution without issue across similar lines and this extension proposal to continue, not add, operations to the program this risk is minimal.

Timeline & Milestones:

Provide a detailed timeline or roadmap, include key milestones

| Timeline | Focus | USDC | Deliverables | |-------------------------|-----------------------------------------|-------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3 1/2 Months (Concurrent) | Operational Management & Continuity | 25,000 | Continue executing operational onboarding, milestone-setting, tracking, and reporting outcomes for the DAO | | 3 Weeks | Feedback Gathering | 5,000 | 1. Conduct OBRA engagement analysis and stakeholder activity to properly assess and identify any key gaps in OBRA involvement, including but not limited to: - Stakeholder interviews (ie. delegate, prospective initiatives, etc.) - Targeted surveys | | 3 Weeks | CES Learnings Summary & Hand-Off Report | 5,000 | Concluding the CES with detailed insights as to key OBRA initiative insights |

Initiative Lead

Who is the accountable initiative lead? (individual or organization)

Areta Governance specializes in helping foundations and DAOs establish and grow decentralized governance structures. We develop tailored solutions in governance inception and optimization, ecosystem growth, and service provider selection. Our connected investment bank with deep strategic expertise, enables us to serve our partners holistically, rather than working in isolated governance silos. In this instance, we have had the privilege to work alongside industry leaders such as Uniswap, Arbitrum, Aave, and dYdX.

We have been very actively involved in SafeDAO’s governance, including co-authoring and contributing to significant OBRA proposals (Link, Link), shaping the last token transferability milestones (OBRA and Token Utility), had many interactions with Guardians on- and offline, and see ourselves as long-term supporters of the ecosystem.

As before, we intend to work in a team-based approach for CES2.0. For the project duration, Areta will staff a team, including a part-time manager who will oversee an execution associate. We also have the capability to pull in additional associate/research resources if needed at no extra costs to the DAO.