[IMPACT]

he Catalyst Circle represents Cardano’s first experiment in community governance and is designed to explore mechanisms and processes to support the transition of decision making authority from IOG to the community. Given the central role played by the Circle, we are requesting that the community fund the operation, administration, and management of the Catalyst Circle, specifically the supporting entities that are vital to its success: the CC Admin Team, CC Treasury Team, and CC Mentors, for a three (3) month period from April 2022 to June 2022.

Description of each entity comprising the Catalyst Circle.

The Catalyst Circle is a community body composed of elected and appointed representatives from each of the key stakeholder groups. The elected seats include: Community Advisors, General ADA Holders, Funded Proposers, Toolmakers and Maintainers, and Stakepool Operators; while the appointed seats represent: Input-Output Global (IOG) and the Cardano Foundation.

Currently, in its third iteration, the Circle has made significant headway in identifying Catalyst-wide and sector-specific problems, working across the diverse set of communities to find solutions, and implementing these solutions through an iterative learning process. For reference, all Circle activities, including meetings, discussions, and action points can be found here: <https://github.com/Catalyst-Circle>. The Circle continues to be highlighted by both IOG and the community as an invaluable mechanism for bringing stakeholder groups together as we work towards achieving our mutual objectives for community governance. As the Circle continues to provide value to the entire Catalyst ecosystem, it is vital that the community continue to support the circle, and associated entities, to ensure its success.

I propose a rate of 3000 USD per month per circle member. This is a retroactive amount from February to April

This proposal addresses the following challenge through creating a network of core governance entities that will be vital for the transition and control of the Catalyst treasury. Each component entity, individually as well as all in totality, are focused on the following key directions as outlined in the challenge brief:

• Education for development in the Cardano & Catalyst ecosystem
• Developing common tools, frameworks, core infrastructures, or proof of concepts
• Common audited repositories & overviews of existing solutions
• Organizing events to bring the development ecosystem together
• Collaboration to improve interoperability within the ecosystem

Education for development in the Cardano & Catalyst ecosystem

The proposal will address education for development in the Cardano and Catalyst ecosystems by building the capacity of each of the Catalyst stakeholder groups represented by the Circle in identifying, developing, and testing out governance solutions. Through this iterative process, the Circle will directly engage large sections of the community to better understand their challenges while gathering their ideas for how to address them. This will help ensure that the entire community becomes active in the creation and operationalization of solutions, thereby raising the overall education and expertise levels of the community. Interested community members can expect updates from the Circle during weekly town halls and various Catalyst-related events.

This proposal addresses the following challenge through creating a network of core governance entities that will be vital for the transition and control of the Catalyst treasury. Each component entity, individually as well as all in totality, are focused on the following key directions as outlined in the challenge brief:

• Education for development in the Cardano & Catalyst ecosystem
• Developing common tools, frameworks, core infrastructures, or proof of concepts
• Common audited repositories & overviews of existing solutions
• Organizing events to bring the development ecosystem together
• Collaboration to improve interoperability within the ecosystem

Education for development in the Cardano & Catalyst ecosystem

The proposal will address education for development in the Cardano and Catalyst ecosystems by building the capacity of each of the Catalyst stakeholder groups represented by the Circle in identifying, developing, and testing out governance solutions. Through this iterative process, the Circle will directly engage large sections of the community to better understand their challenges while gathering their ideas for how to address them. This will help ensure that the entire community becomes active in the creation and operationalization of solutions, thereby raising the overall education and expertise levels of the community. Interested community members can expect updates from the Circle during weekly town halls and various Catalyst-related events.

[FEASIBILITY]

Since this is a proposal for retroactive funding and by the time it comes through you would have seen what work the Circle members have done.

• Please provide a detailed plan and timeline for delivering the solution.

This proposal is requesting funding for a three (3) month period starting in April 2022. However, the community governance initiatives of Catalyst are ongoing and will continue to be needed until the Voltaire era arrives and the majority of the processes are automated. Until that point, the Catalyst Circle, CC Admin Teams, and CC Treasurers will continue to fulfill their duties and functions on a weekly basis. Here is a breakdown of our 3 month timeline:

April 2022

• Catalyst Circle members participate in bi-weekly meetings as a cohort, supported by the CC Admin Team.
• This is a core component of participation for both CC and CC Admin Team members and requires almost the maximum 10hrs/week in preparation, meeting, and follow up.
• Catalyst Circle members continue ongoing engagement activities with the broader community through existing venues (After Town Halls, Swarm Sessions etc) and identify new collaboration methods.
• Circle members experiment with alternative community engagement methods, such as sub-circles and community workshops.
• Continue to update and maximize use of the Catalyst Circle Website
• Catalyst Circle members will have role-specific emails linked to the website that they can use to support community engagement and feedback.
• The CC Admin Team is responsible for the integration of new members onto the website and for supporting their participation needs.
• Receive final decision for this proposal in Fund 8

May 2022

• Continue the development of an open-source governance playbook outlining activities and operations of Catalyst Circle, CC Admin Team, and CC Treasurers.
• Engage directly with the Catalyst Circle, Governance Oversight, IOG, CF and Emurgo to set up and experiment with the new bi-cameral governance strategy presented by IOG in the last fund.
• The CC Admin Team will take on the duties to support the development and implementation of the bi-cameral model, following the same process as is currently in place for the Circle.
• As necessary, recruit additional secretaries, facilitators, and treasurers to ensure consistency in service and accountability to the community.
• Catalyst Circle representatives participate in bi-weekly meetings as a cohort, supported by the CC Admin Team.
• This is a core component of participation for both CC and CC Admin Team members and requires almost the maximum 10hrs/week in preparation, meeting, and follow up.

June 2022

• Submit a complete draft of the open-source governance playbook to the community for additional review and potential implementation across other groups.
• Organize, run, and finalize election for Catalyst Circle version 4
• Maintain ongoing service to Catalyst Circle, and support their expansion where appropriate.
• Once the bicameral model is ready to be engaged, the CC Admin Team will on-board new secretaries and facilitators to support this new governance body

5 Circle Reps

Each rep to earn 3000 USD per month

So total is 15000 USD per month

3 month period from February to April 2022 45000 USD

Governance

First off, we plan to increase the funding for Catalyst Circle members from $1k USD per person for a 3 month term, to $3k USD per person per month of their term. This is essential as there is a significant amount of work required to participate as a Circle member. While the minimum expectation of participation is 10hrs per week, in actuality Circle members put in much more than that, which until now has not been remunerated. As noted in the problem statement, sustained funding at an appropriate level is necessary for the resilience and durability of this group. During Fund7, it was decided that the three (3) month term was too short and seen as a barrier to implementing identified solutions. Therefore, it was agreed that each Circle member’s term would be extended to 6 months, so, this funding will cover the second half of the current Circle’s 6 month term.

• Please provide details of your team members required to complete the project

The members of the Catalyst Circle are elected by the community and therefore face community scrutiny and are subject to an open and fair election prior to holding the position. The current sitting CCv3 representatives are:

Community Advisors: Nadia Hopkins

General ADA Holders: Dimitri Fernando

Funded Proposers: Mercy A

Toolmakers & Maintainers: Joey Chessher

Stakepool Operators: Rhys Morgan

Each of the candidate’s platform statements can be found at the following link: <https://quality-assurance-dao.gitbook.io/catalyst-circle-oversight-v3/governance-day-ccv3-12th-feb-2022/nominations-for-ccv3>

[AUDITABILITY]

• Please describe how you will measure the progress and development of the project.

External Oversight

One way that the community can have confidence in the operations and functions of the Catalyst Circle, CC Admin Team, and CC Treasurers is through the management and maintenance of the open source gitbooks. These gitbooks are important repositories as they include all meeting agendas, recordings, notes, transcriptions, and decision points. These tools are available to the community 24/7 for reference. We commit to continue working with our friends at Quality-Assurance DAO and the Community Governance Oversight initiative (<https://cardano.ideascale.com/c/idea/383517>) to ensure these gitbooks are up to date and reflect the most accurate information available.

Internal reporting

Another way we will measure the success of this proposal is through the engagement activities of all entities, such as:

• Onboard all CCv3 members - completed
• Host initial CCv3 rep and CC Mentors meeting - completed
• Number (#) of Circle meetings attended by Circle members.
• Number (#) of Circle meetings attended by CC Admin Team members.
• Number (#) of CC Admin Team/Treasurer meetings attended.
• Number (#) of community onboarding events organized and run by the CC Admin Team.

Deliverables :

Completed

• Onboarding for CCv3 members - completed - <https://quality-assurance-dao.gitbook.io/catalyst-circle-oversight-v3/ccv3-meetings/onboarding-session-17th-feb-2022>
• Initial CCv3 rep and CC Mentors meeting
• Catalyst Circle Meetings attended by CC reps and CC Admin Team - <https://quality-assurance-dao.gitbook.io/catalyst-circle-oversight-v3/>
• CC Admin Team meetings attended by CC Admin Team and Treasurers - <https://github.com/Catalyst-Circle/Catalyst-Circle-Admin-Coordination>

In Progress

• Catalyst Circle Meetings attended by CC reps and CC Admin Team - <https://quality-assurance-dao.gitbook.io/catalyst-circle-oversight-v3/>
• CC Admin Team meetings attended by CC Admin Team and Treasurers - <https://github.com/Catalyst-Circle/Catalyst-Circle-Admin-Coordination>
• CC Admin Playbook - <https://github.com/Catalyst-Circle/Circle-Admin-Playbook>
• Develop and implement new election system for CCv4 members.

Pending

• Catalyst Circle Meetings attended by CC reps and CC Admin Team - <https://quality-assurance-dao.gitbook.io/catalyst-circle-oversight-v3/>
• CC Admin Team meetings attended by CC Admin Team and Treasurers - <https://github.com/Catalyst-Circle/Catalyst-Circle-Admin-Coordination>
• CC Admin Playbook - <https://github.com/Catalyst-Circle/Circle-Admin-Playbook>
• CC Admin Team-developed blind-submission process to confirm mentorship provided by CC Mentors.

Qualitative measures of success

For the Catalyst Circle itself, success will look like collaboration among all members to identify community problems and address them from a Catalyst-wide holistic perspective. This cross-pollination of efforts among these groups will help reach solutions that are well thought out, broader in nature, and attempt to address several overlapping issues - many of which affect multiple communities simultaneously and would not be as effective if addressed in stakeholder silos.

Another way we will know we are successful in this proposal is in the development of the necessary infrastructure that will be required to prepare the community to assume decision making authority once transitioned from IOG. By the end of this proposal, the Catalyst Circle will have completed its third iteration and be well on its way to developing solutions to the prioritized problems highlighted by the community. Laying the groundwork to facilitate the transition of decision making authority to the Community is unlikely to be linear but rather will require constant iterations and experimentation.

In addition to the Catalyst Circle itself, the CC Admin Team will consider this proposal a success if all activities and discussions among and between Circle members are well documented and available for public consumption. This is a core feature of the CC Admin Team’s role and remains primary to its function in support of the Circle. In addition, the completion of the open source playbook mentioned above will be a major deliverable of this proposal, and an indicator of the team’s success.

Another way we will measure the success of the proposal is through the completion of the CC Admin Team Playbook. Over the term of this proposal (by end of June 2022), the CC Admin Team and CC Treasurers will present to the community for input, a playbook that captures the necessary information, processes, and procedures in a concise and coherent manner. The development of this playbook will not only provide benefit to the CC Admin Team’s activities but will be designed so that other groups looking to organize their own forms of community governance can take the playbook and adapt it to their particular settings.

Quantitative measures of success

Success will be measured by what this proposal delivers for the voter ..

List of success indicators by deliverable here

1. Minimum 90% attendance by all members => Catalyst Circle Meetings attended by CC reps and CC Admin Team
2. Minimum 90% attendance by all members => CC Admin Team meetings attended by CC Admin Team and Treasurers
3. Complete draft => CC Admin Playbook by June 2022
4. MVP => CC Admin Team-developed blind-submission mentorship tool by May 31, 2022
5. New electoral process for CCv4 => Circle (supported by CC Admin Team) completes the development of a new electoral method of Circle Reps for the next iteration CCv4.

This proposal is an expansion of the proposal from previous funds:

F7:

CCv3: Sustaining the Circle: <https://cardano.ideascale.com/c/idea/384250>