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  • Proposal: DAO Budget, Compensation, and Revenue Sharing Models

Authors: Roberto Talamas, Megan Murray, Ryan Harvey

Key Takeaways

  • ATX DAO’s treasury and operating accounts have a total of $116,418 in ETH, USDT and USDC. This does not include the proceeds from the most recent mint round, which is expected to bring an additional estimated 35ETH into the Treasury.
  • To bring the community together more often during the second half of the year, we propose to use $10,000 of the DAO’s treasury towards members only events for the remainder of 2022.
  • Community Management is one of the most demanding roles in the DAO in terms of recurring time commitment. As such, we propose to compensate the role with a $3,000/month salary starting September 1st, amounting to $12,000 in 2022.
  • We proposed a revenue sharing model for individuals raising funds for ATX DAO events. The team raising funds for events will be entitled to 15% of the event profits as commission.
  • The DAO’s membership application review process requires roughly 30 hrs to complete. We proposed to pay an hourly income of $30/hr to the DAO members involved in the review process of each minting round.
  • After all expenses, we estimate to have a remaining treasury balance of at least $90,000 for 2022 (not including the additional 35ETH from mint revenue).

ATX DAO Budget

Below is a snapshot of the DAO’s current financial balances (not including funds from the most recent membership mint).

budget

Based on the figures above, this proposal outlines the following for the remaining of 2022:

1) Events Budget
2) Compensation Packages
3) Revenue Sharing Models

Events Budget

For clarity, let's define the three types of events ATX DAO organizes:

1) Community Events: Events organized to bring together all crypto communities in Austin. Free for anyone to join.
2) Member-only Events: Event organized for official ATX DAO NFT holders. Free for members and ticketed for everyone else.
3) Main Events: Events organized around big social events (SXSW, Consensus, F1). Free for NFT holders, ticketed for everyone else.

The events budget in this proposal is for the planning and execution of member-only events.

Events are the bread and butter of ATX DAO. They are the most efficient way to build relationships, encourage networking and bring together the community IRL. Therefore, we believe it is important to allocate a portion of the DAO’s annual budget to curated experiences for our members.

We propose to allocate $10,000 of the DAO’s treasury toward two member-only Events (ticketed for non-members) for the remainder of 2022. The Event and DAO Relations committees will be able to use the money at their discretion to curate experiences for the ATX DAO community.

Compensation

As the DAO grows the need for continual day-to-day work from specific areas of the organization has skyrocketed. Such areas include community management, operations, and marketing. Below we propose a compensation plan for community management and marketing/event planning matching what we have done previously with the Operations Committee.

Community Manager

Community Management is one of the most demanding roles in the DAO in terms of recurring time commitment. From coordinating the DAO’s event calendar, planning IRL events and continually engaging members in Discord, the role requires a consistent amount of daily attention. The Community Manager is tasked with:

1) Managing the events calendar:

  • Posting and updating events calendar
  • Event promotion
  • Arrangements with venues
  • Attending/running the event

2) Managing the Discord:

  • Engaging #introduce-yourself channel
  • Prompting conversations and building a community experience through Discussions on the discord
  • Hosting discord voice chats.
  • Improving the discord with bots

Since the organization’s identity is directly tied to the quality and cohesiveness of our community, we propose to compensate the Community Manager role with an income of $3,000/month starting September 1st, 2022, amounting to a total of $12,000 in 2022.

Member-Event Planning

Member-only events will become a focal point for the DAO in the second half of 2022. Historically, planning member-only events requires the following tasks:

1) Brainstorming and implementing event concepts and themes
2) Researching and booking venues
3) Organizing suppliers, caterers, staff and entertainers
4) Managing set-up, tear-down, and clean-up operations
5) Anticipating attendee needs and making preparations against potential problems.

Given the DAO’s emphasis on creating a strong network of NFT holders and the work associated with event planning, we propose to pay event planners a flat fee of $1,500 per event organized. This payment ONLY applies to member-only events not including community or main events.

Profit / Revenue Sharing Models

Currently, the DAO’s primary sources of revenue include sponsored events and mint revenue. Both tasks require a tremendous amount of work from groups of individual members. Given the sporadic nature of these activities, we proposed a revenue sharing model for the teams carrying out the work.

Sponsored Events

Sponsored events such as SXSW or Consensus generate revenue from company sponsorships. As is commonly the case for this revenue model, after all event expenses are cleared, the DAO keeps the remaining cash as payment for organizing the event. The Partnerships and DAO relations committee heads are tasked with:

1) Contacting potential sponsors to establish rapport and arrange meetings.
2) Research organizations and individuals to find new sponsorship opportunities
3) Develop quotes and proposals for potential sponsors
4) Negotiate sponsorship packages and pricing

Given the amount of work required to carry out the above, we propose a commissions based revenue sharing model for this workflow. The Partnerships and DAO Relations committee will receive 15% of the funds raised after all event expenses are paid. This model aligns the incentives of the organization with the individuals directly involved in raising funds for ATX DAO branded events.

Membership

The membership team (or membership pod) is responsible for carrying out the end-to-end application process for new minting rounds. During a new minting round, a team of members assembles to do the following tasks:

1) Asses the qualities the community is looking for in the next group of members
2) Review all new member applications
3) Grade and filter our applications for top candidates
4) Interview the top candidates of each new miting round
5) Onboard new members into ATX DAO

In total, it takes an estimated 30 hour commitment for the membership pod to carry out the steps above for each minting round. Given the amount of time required and the importance of the tasks, we propose an income of $30/hr for the members involved in the membership application process. The membership team will be capped at 6 individuals to keep the team small and nimble. The Head of Membership will be in charge of assembling the team during each minting round.

Additional Notes

Any compensation will be considered reported income. Any individual receiving income in excess of $600 (whether as salary, commission, or bonus) can expect to receive a 1099 tax form reflecting their compensation received for the calendar year. ATX DAO will not be withholding taxes and individuals will be expected to ensure their own tax liabilities are met.

    Given the amount of work required to carry out the above, we propose a commissions based revenue sharing model for this workflow. The Partnerships and DAO Relations committee will receive 15% of the funds raised after all event expenses are paid. This model aligns the incentives of the organization with the individuals directly involved in raising funds for ATX DAO branded events.

    I propose we use direct incentives for the individual(s) who bring in sponsorships to 20% of funds raised net of expenses rather than splitting it. I would suggest an additional 10% of funds net of expenses be allocated by the committee organizing the event to be split to support personnel or others working on the event in various capacities.

    Might I suggest the community manager role be two people rather than just one individual, and pay each individual $1500 a month?

      I think this is a very positive step towards making the operations of the DAO more sustainable and recognizing the work that is being done by some of our key members.

      I agree, in principle, with Clifton's statement about direct incentives for sponsorships. In my opinion it would be advantageous to cast a wide net and leverage the connections of our 100+ members. I think that this creates a strong incentive for individuals throughout the DAO, not just on the partnerships and DAO relations committee, to tap their network and generate partnerships. I see this model supporting the work of those two committees by decentralizing lead generation, at least to an extent - though it may also increase their workload as they are now handling more potential partnerships. As members of these committees will still most likely be responsible for closing the deals, arranging payment, etc. I do believe it is still important they receive a rev share / commission on the deal, so as long as that is still accounted for, I think we would do well to compensate lead generation and biz-dev work done by individual members (that results in real partnerships).

      I also agree with Clifton's proposal about compensating personnel working the event. This could mean a lot of things, so perhaps Dework could be a good tool to assign specific tasks before the fact.

      Overall, I think that this is a very positive step and appreciate all of the work that went into generating this proposal.

      Great job team!

      Event planning budget of 10K and paying 30% (2 x 1.5k) for planning is on the high end in my opinion. Now it the original idea was a 20K budget for the same thing - and time has already been invested before the budget pulled, that may be more realistic. Perhap I am missing context?

      Profit Sharing / Compensation should be revisited each year, as the needs of the DAO will change. If we can set that expectation that would be great. Given that - there will need to be some clarification / tracking on things like sponsorship leads so a sponsor found on this year's compensation plan, but lands next year has some clarity on expectations. (Better to figure out a system now as opposed to awkward retrofits.) Also if the sponsor funds have any limitations/vesting/ lock on funds, there should be some clarification what that means to the compensation.

      Sponsorship 15% - This seems high, but I would say the goal is to aggressively grow in the next 12 months. So 'high' is in alignment with the goal. In future year we should probably tier this.

        Jake there’s a lot of stress associated with this role and it’d be very easy to get burned out as just one individual. That’s a lot of people talk to and a lot of events to go to, what happens when you fall sick, or you get busy with real life.

          Jake I'll let Ryan chime in here. He is the one that understands the scope of the job better than anyone else.

          RobertoTalamas I grabbed these lines, perhaps out of context:

          • We propose to allocate $10,000 of the DAO’s treasury toward two member-only Events
          • we propose to pay event planners a flat fee of $1,500 per event organized

          I was reading these snippets as a 10K budget for two events costing $1500 each to organize and manage, (no manual labor, no materials.) That leaves $7K for the events themselves. Am I correct?

            bobwith2bees that's my assumption as well, that the $1500 x 2 comes out of the $10k allocated toward the member-only events.

            bobwith2bees The logic behind this is about compensating people for non-sponsored events. There's still value in organizing lower scale private member-only events without sponsorship, so the intent here was not to disincentive non-sponsored events. Hope that makes sense!

            Lots of talk here about the Community Manager income being part of a broader committee. To be fair though, I haven't really seen any other members consistently stepping up to lead and organize Community events. I do like the idea of the $3k/mo becoming part of a standing budget that the CM has the authority to divvy out based on contribution. Outside of the bigger events, I just haven't seen anyone other than Ryan stepping up to take initiative.

              bobwith2bees good point. The intention is to allocate $10K entirely for events and $3K for the event planners. In total it would cost the DAO $13K. Happy to make amends if the community feels strongly about either one of those numbers.

                RobertoTalamas
                Thanks this helps significantly (the compensation percentage went from 30% -> 23%.) I am just pointing out this is above market rate for an external event planner if you Google 'event planner percentage.'

                It's close enough for me now. Events are core to the business, and we need exceptional execution on events to differentiate ATX DAO. Let's do this.

                MeganKay This is the direction that I am leaning as well. We have someone currently working hard at this position and I, personally, feel they deserve to be compensated well considering the amount of work they have already put in, and will continue to put in. If Ryan feels that current commitments are unsustainable, it would make sense to consider broadening the team but if that is not the case then the case to split the pay is less strong in my opinion.

                  Love this proposal and it's very exciting to see ATX DAO mature into a real-deal operation. Thank you Roberto, Megan, and Ryan - I know that this was a lot of work and took a lot of brain power.

                  Want to call out the potential need to hire a social media manager in the event that we don't have DAO members willing to handle that responsibility.

                  brennanmulligan Jake

                  i agree that the Community Manager role is one that can be a lot of work and lead to burnout. As a method to distribute that workload, we should consider a structure where the Community Manager gets a monthly stipend (based on hourly workload estimate) but Community Committee is also given a monthly monetary budget which is paid out to folks who organize/run these smaller weekly micro-events, manage the discord, etc.

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