Governance Councils
What are Councils?
At the heart of the YAM Re-Org is the idea that the DAO uses grants as a tool for funding projects that further the vision and goals of the members of the DAO. These grants, which are contracts between the contributors who are performing work and token holders who are paying them for it, improve accountability for all parties.
In order to do this effectively the DAO must find and vet contributors, and then confirm that work done meets the standards agreed upon. This work is coordinated via the governance process, which is the mechanism by which grants approved. As a DAO, the decisions made in this process are open to anyone who owns tokens to participate. Token holders should be able to vet, approve, and disperse grants on their own, but past experience has shown that most DAOs need assistance in this area and can’t rely on token-holders to do this all on their own.
To bridge this gap, we propose the Governance Council Structure. Based on other DeFi governance structures like those used by Synthetix and Element Finance, Governance Councils are vested with powers delegated by token holders. Councils are separate structures from silos and grants which operate to assist the day to day running of the governance process. Unlike grants, the work that councils do does not have a defined duration because the governance process itself is an ongoing one. Councils are tools that the DAO can use not to make decisions for them, but to help them make decisions.
Why Do We Need Councils?
The grants process relies on the proper and timely functioning of the YAM governance process to be successful. This includes taking a grant proposal from idea to execution, vetting that grant, evaluating the work done, and finally writing the code to pay contributors. Councils are charged with helping all parties navigate this process and assure that it runs smoothly.
In an ideal world the DAO wouldn’t need councils. As the system we are building develops and evolves we may also be able to adjust and change the roles and responsibilities of councils, or even remove them. But in the mean time, we believe that a facilitating body to make sure that the DAO runs smoothly is valuable and we should design one that is as neutral as possible with the ability to guide the process but not dictate it.
How is a Council Different from a Core Team?
The main difference between a council and a core team is the scope of their power. Through the grants model, we have already removed the requirement for work on the DAO to be done by a core team. It is now done via contract work. We expect most work to be done this way. But there are actions and processes that can be streamlined if everyone knows that there is someone whose job it is to do it. These people are on a council to do this job and can be evaluated accordingly. But these jobs should not have the ability to greatly influence the decision making of the system, and if they do, they should be able to be over-ruled by the majority.
An example of this is the writing and execution of on-chain proposals to pay grant recipients. Having someone who will pay attention to governance and the grants process and execute the actions of snapshot votes via on-chain votes is a significant convenience to YAM governance. If that person refuses to write the code, or includes other code in the proposal then token holders can deploy proposals themselves and/or veto unacceptable proposals.
Councils are convenience mechanisms and all parts of the DAO should be able to function even if the council members all stopped working.