Grant Program Evaluation for Arbitrum DAO
Arbitrum DAO is dedicated to building Web3 technology through grants. In 2023 Arbitrum grant more than $70M to more than 4 dozen different projects using a variety of methodologies. Working with partner Plurality Labs, Arbitrum needed a way to assess these various granting programs and determine their alignment with the core strategic values of the organization.
18
Grant programs subject to evaluation
250
DAO members involved in assessing programs
Arbitrum DAO is a decentralized community of digital citizens that governs the Arbitrum network, a layer-2 scaling solution for the Ethereum cryptocurrency. Arbitrum enables faster and cheaper financial transactions by offloading computation and data storage from the Ethereum mainnet.
Arbitrum DAO is controlled by its members, who can vote using the ARB token on governance proposals and direct the future of the network. Arbitrum DAO oversees a multi-billion-dollar treasury and funds projects through grant programs to enhance the ecosystem’s growth and liquidity, fostering decentralized finance (DeFi) and other Web3 innovations
Overview
Ethelo partnered with Plurality Labs to evaluate the alignment of grant programs with Arbitrum DAO’s strategic priorities. This engagement aimed to assess community perceptions and ensure that grant funding decisions reflect community values and priorities.
The primary challenges included ensuring broad participation, preventing sybil (hacker) attacks, and accurately evaluating a diverse range of grant programs.
A layer-2 scaling solution for Ethereum is a technology designed to help Ethereum process more transactions faster and cheaper. Ethereum, being a popular blockchain, can get slow and expensive when many people use it. Layer-2 solutions, like Arbitrum, sit on top of Ethereum (hence “layer-2”) and handle most of the work (like processing transactions) off the main Ethereum network. After processing, they send a summary back to Ethereum, which keeps everything secure. This reduces the load on Ethereum, making transactions quicker and less costly for users.
solution
Ethelo’s platform facilitated a participatory evaluation process. Community members assessed the alignment of each grant program with the DAO’s strategic priorities using Ethelo’s multi-attribute decision-making engine, which analyzes millions of scenarios to present consensus outcomes.
- High Participation: Engaged over 250 community members in the evaluation process, providing more than 2,000 comments
- Positive Perceptions: Overall, participants perceived grant programs to be well-aligned with strategic priorities, with an 87.5% support rating across all grant programs.
- Specific Program Insights: Granting programs like ‘Arbitrum Co-Lab by RN DAO’ and ‘Short Term Incentive Program (STIP)’ received the highest alignment ratings (89%).
- Justification of Funding: Average score of 6.12 out of 7, indicating strong community agreement on the appropriateness of fund allocation.
- Confidence in Achieving Goals: Average score of 6.11 out of 7, showing high confidence in the programs’ potential to achieve their objectives.
- Familiarity with Objectives: Average score of 6.08 out of 7, reflecting good awareness of program goals and activities.
- Increased Knowledge & Awareness: Average score of 6.15 out of 7, indicating that the evaluation process enhanced community understanding of grant programs.
Impact
The work by Plurality and Ethelo provided Arbitrum DAO with actionable insights into the alignment and perceived value of their grant programs. The process not only increased awareness of grant activities but also highlighted areas for improvement and future focus.
Ethelo’s successful engagement with Arbitrum DAO underscores its capability to manage complex grant evaluations and deliver valuable community insights. The participatory evaluation process ensured that funding decisions will be aligned with community priorities and strategic objectives.
Industry: Web3
Location: Online
Project type: Web3 Governance, Evaluations
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