Grants Council platform request

[Gonna.eth]

Intro

As we approach Season 5, the Grants Council (GC) is tasked with selecting a platform that aligns seamlessly with our operational requirements. In the absence of a budget in Season 4, extensive research led us to choose Charmverse. The rationale for this decision has been detailed here.

How will this platform help accomplish the Grant Council’s mandate?

The Grants Council places great emphasis on minimizing friction across various platforms (Discord, forums, website, Telegram, email, etc.). A unified platform streamlines communication, enhances the application process, and facilitates data migration for efficient project management. This scalability is crucial, given the increased volume of proposals witnessed in Season 4.

Platform requests:

1. Public Communication

• Provision of an editable website for hosting and publishing relevant information. Example:
  
• Effective communication channels among proposers, council members, and the public, with a robust notification system

2. Project Management

• Enable GC to create and manage proposal templates.
• Database integration for seamless storage and retrieval of proposal details. Ej: Proposal link, Author, Email, Grant size, Milestones, Proposal date, Category, Cycle, Yes/No answers, Others.
• Private databases with customizable properties for enhanced security.
• Private workspace dashboards for reviewers for focused task management.Ej: Assigned reviewer (Person property), Proposal status (Multi-select option “Todo/Done”), Proposal stage (Multi-select option “Intake, Prelim, Final”), Yes/No properties for multiple uses
• Cross-Referencing Properties: Each property (e.g., Assigned reviewer, Proposal status, Proposal stage) must be cross-referenced.
• Poll System:
  • Implementation of a robust poll system to register every council decision made by a majority vote.
  • Only project management has the authority to set up and initiate polls.
  • Exclusive voting rights for reviewers.
  • Voting categorized by committee property (Builders, Experiments, Milestone, and Metrics).
  • Inclusion of start and end dates for each poll.
  • Option to publish poll results on the website for transparency and public awareness.
• Database Management Features:
  • The ability to select multiple rows in a database and change a property on each selected row simultaneously.
  • Capability to sum numbers in a database column with a designated “number property.”

3. Proposals

• Allow users to post proposals by logging in with either their email or a sign-up address.
• Include a public comment section at the end of proposals for feedback and official communications from the Grants Council (GC).
• Streamline proposal creation:
  • Select the committee with links to respective websites or short descriptions.
  • Choose from user-friendly templates tailored to different proposal types.
  • Optionally verify that every template question has been answered.
• Notify authors within the platform when someone comments on or likes their proposal.
• Send email notifications to authors for added communication.

4. Milestones

• Integration of critical and benchmark milestones into a dedicated database:
  • Project name
  • Milestone type
  • MIlestone description
  • Source or truth
  • Deadline
• Export functionality for milestones as a .csv file.

5. Security

• Implementation of Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) for enhanced security or wallet log in.
• Role-based access system distinguishing Admins, Reviewers, and Proposers.
• Private workspaces for reviewers and secure databases for the Operations Manager.

Budget

The proposed platform is designed to meet the specific needs of 2000 users, and the budget is suggested at 10,000 OP for Season 5. Furthermore, the platform will actively participate in RetroPGF 4, aiming to showcase its impact.

Request open for 2 weeks to start platform evaluation and adoption on December 8th, 2023.

Conclusion:

The chosen platform aims to optimize efficiency, enhance communication, and ensure the Grants Council operates with the highest professional standards. We look forward to receiving applications from dedicated individuals and organizations committed to our mission.

[CryptoReuMD]

I love it
I’m imagining like a social platform for governance. I mean imagine something like Push Protocol, with calls, announcement, notifications and encrypted message between users. Its a great initiative. Congratz Gonna.

[jackanorak]

full endorsement of this. gonna’s spent a lot of time thinking about how to make everyone’s lives here easier, and I can say firsthand that he’s been exceptional at wrangling a process together

[alexpoon_hk]

CharmVerse is a community operations platform designed from the ground up for web3 organizations. Combining modern collaboration features with the unique power of the blockchain, it provides superior user experiences for grant applicants and the Grants Council. CharmVerse is a recipient of Optimism’s Cycle 11 Builder Grant. Its open-source code is released under the terms of the GNU Affero General Public License, version 3 - a free, copyleft license for software.

The CharmVerse platform fulfills 100% of the requirements outlined in the Grants Council’s platform request.

1. Public Communication

• CharmVerse provides a highly configurable website with a flexible, multi-column layout. It can add elements, including images, videos, callouts, and emojis.
  

  

• Proposers, council members, and the public can comment and suggest changes to individual grant applications. Council members have complete control over whether these async communications happen publicly or privately. In addition to in-app notifications, users also receive email notifications when someone [at] mentions them or suggests changes or when status changes on their applications.
  

  

2. Project Management

• The CharmVerse database(s) can be viewed as a Kanban board, gallery, table, and calendar. It can be filtered and sorted across various system properties (e.g., Create By, Authors) and custom properties defined by the project management team (e.g., Cycle, Grant Type)

• Council members can create unlimited templates, leveraging the modern CharmVerse text editor incorporating various layouts and elements such as images, videos, tables, code, etc.

• With a few clicks, all grant applications can be ingested into a CharmVerse database, which auto-populates elements like Proposal link, Author, Email, Grant size, Milestones, Proposal date, Category, Cycle, Yes/No answers, and Others.
  

  

• CharmVerse database access is controlled by role-based access control, which can easily make any database private. Customizable properties with various element types are available.

• CharmVerse databases fully support the need for private workspace dashboards for task management. It can be configured to support all the OP requested items, including Assigned reviewer (Person property), Proposal status (Multi-select option “Todo/Done”), Proposal stage (Multi-select option “Intake, Prelim, Final”), Yes/No properties for multiple uses.
  

  

• Each property (e.g., Assigned reviewer, Proposal status, Proposal stage) is cross-referenced.

• Poll System

  • CharmVerse’s Proposal Builder provides configurable, multi-stage reviews with decision rubrics. The rubrics record each application’s grants council decisions, scores, and comments.
  • Role-based access control enforces that only project management can set up and initiate polls.
  • Role-based access control enforces exclusive voting rights for reviewers
  • Votes can be configured with multiple preset categories, including committee property requested by the council (Builders, Experiments, Milestone, and Metrics).
  • Each poll comes with start and end dates.
  • Project management can “publish to web” any or all poll results.
  • Besides the proposal workflow above, ad hoc polls can be conducted publicly or privately for quick decisions.

• Users can select multiple rows in a database and change the property on each selected row simultaneously.

• A database column can be summed with a designated “number property.”

3. Proposals

• Users can log into CharmVerse with their emails, Google Accounts, Discord, or wallets.

• All proposals include a public comment section at the end of proposals for feedback and official communications from the Grants Council (GC)

• Streamline proposal creation

• Custom properties enable users to select the committee with links to respective websites or short descriptions.

• Users can choose from user-friendly templates tailored to different proposal types.

• For template questions added as custom properties, CharmVerse can verify that every template question has been answered.

• Users will receive in-app and email notifications when someone comments on or likes their proposal.

• Email notifications can be sent to the authors.

4. Milestones

• Milestones, including OP critical and benchmark milestones, can be pulled into the CharmVerse Rewards system for milestone tracking and payout. All properties OP requested are supported: Project name, Milestone type, MIlestone description, Source or truth, and deadline.
• These milestones can also be imported into a CharmVerse database, where milestones can be exported as a .csv file.

5. Security

• Most popular wallet logins (including MetaMask, Coinbase, and Wallet Connect) are supported
• Optional Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) with a one-time code will be supported by mid-December.

6. Scalability

• CharmVerse will support the anticipated 2000 users, though we can support 10x the load in moments’ notice.

[Gonna.eth]

Hey Alex thanks for applying! I want to know if you agree with the sugested budget. I’m realizing I should have created a template for applicants.

[alexpoon_hk]

Yes, we agree with the suggested budget.

[Srijith]

Questbook is an open-sourced, on-chain grant management platform that empowers ecosystems to run community first and community led grants. Questbook has successfully led Compound Grants Program 2.0 through Delegated Domain Capital Allocation model. In addition to this, Questbook was the Program Manager of Polygon Grants Program, where they facilitated the allocation and disbursement of approximately $1 million in grants, and in addition Questbook is running a Domain Delegated based $1M grant program for Arbitrum currently. Questbook is used by reputed ecosystems such as Compound, Polygon, Celo, Solana, TON, and Arbitrum to drive community participation and run their grants program in a transparent manner.

We have an active organic traffic of 50k+ builders visiting our site each month, and have facilitated the disbursement of $2.5 M in grants in less than a year. Questbook team is well-versed with the demands and needs that contribute to the success of a grants program. Our team has spoken to more than 200 builders and teams over the last 6-8 months and understands what it takes to make a grants program successful.

Based on the platform requests posted, Questbook covers all the needed requirements.

1. Public Communication

• All details about the Grants program, the council details, RFP information can be added and published on the Quesbtook Platform, and edited at any time.
• Effective communication with all the grant applicants will be maintained, with quick support systems to solve any queries or issues.

2. Project Management

• Proposal templates can be created and managed by the council anytime as shown here:
• All the requested database integrations are available on the platform, with them being enabled in a private and customizable manner with easy cross referencing. In the admin system, the properties can be edited, added, with dedicated “number” properties to sum the numbers in terms of funds allocated, disbursed, or milestone based funding sums across different projects.
• A Poll System implemented by the admin to only allow the reviewers from the council to vote on the projects selected with the start, end dates and results are available, with the ability to make the polling results public.
  • Each Poll comes with the ability to role based access, start and end dates, and with the option to publish the votes public. The voting results come with the rubrics that have been decided by the GC with each reviewers commens on them.

3. Proposals

• All the requirements for the proposals are as mentioned on the platform, from email and wallet signups, to template filling with notifications embedded onto the platform.
• When creating a program, the requested details can be modified on the form as needed.

4. Milestones

• The Milestone database is available to track by the GC at all times, with the project name, the type, description, a source of truth and a deadline mentioned.
• The milestone status, payouts, reviews can all be seen easily by the GC at anytime, and if needed exported as a CSV.

5. Security

• 2FA is already enabled on the platform for web2 logins
• Role-based access systems are accessible for the GC admins managing the overall program
• Private Workspaces are available for the operations manager

Budget

Questbook accepts the 10,000 OP budget for Season 5 for the grants tooling.

The proposed platform is designed to meet the specific needs of 2000 users, and the budget is suggested at 10,000 OP for Season 5. Furthermore, the platform will actively participate in RetroPGF 4, aiming to showcase its impact.

[Gonna.eth]

Dear @Srijith,

I trust this message finds you well. I am reaching out to you with a few inquiries regarding the functionality and features of the Questbook Platform.

In reference to your earlier statement, wherein you mentioned that “All details about the Grants program, the council details, and RFP information can be added and published on the Questbook Platform, and edited at any time,” I recently visited the platform at https://www.questbook.app/ to explore its capabilities.

Upon initiating the process by clicking on “Start a Program,” I found myself directly engaged in the creation of a grant proposal. However, I am uncertain about the platform’s provisions for hosting essential information that proposers require before initiating the application process.

Additionally, I would like to draw attention to a specific concern related to the platform’s functionality, as depicted in the attached image

It appears that the option to select the currency for grants is non-negotiable, implying that grants will be considered in USD, even if they are eventually distributed in OP a practice that diverges from the collective consensus. Furthermore, the platform sets the token price at the moment of transfer, which may present challenges.

Given the intricate internal process of the grants council, involving three stages—intake, preliminary, and final—we find it imperative to have a robust database to monitor the reviewers assigned to each proposal meticulously. This database is crucial for maintaining a comprehensive record of every proposal as it navigates through the various stages.

While Questbook serves as a commendable and user-friendly solution for numerous governance processes, I must acknowledge that, in more complex projects, it appears to lack certain features. Although I have recommended Questbook in instances where simplicity is paramount, for initiatives with greater complexity, it seems to fall short.

It is not my intention to assert that Charmverse is flawless. However, at present, it aligns more closely with the specific requirements of the grants council. Consequently, Season 5 will continue to utilize Charmverse.

I appreciate your time and assistance as we strive to optimize our grant application and evaluation processes.

[alexpoon_hk]

The OP Collective has been tremendously generous to us. In return, we have decided to waive the 10,000 OP fee for season 5. The Grants Council can use the platform completely free of charge. Excited to continue our partnership with Optimism Grants.

CharmVerse