OpenGov is now live on Polkadot, a milestone we’ve reached thanks to the concerted efforts of our community. As we embrace this new era of governance, it’s crucial that we take into account the experiences and learnings from our sister network, Kusama.
Lessons from Kusama’s OpenGov Experience
Kusama’s foray into OpenGov highlighted some important issues. Notably, proposals that requested substantial funds often faced difficulties in gaining approval. After extensive community discussions, a common conclusion emerged: Full funding amounts were allocated and spent completely upfront, without a clear mechanism for tracking the progress or milestones of the proposals.
That sounds insane right?
Inviting Solutions to Funding Challenges
I believe that we need to address these issues to ensure that transformative proposals requiring substantial funding can succeed on Polkadot. In light of this, I’m inviting all members of our community to put forth their ideas on how we might refine and improve this process.
A Potential Solution: Hybrid of Referendums and Bounties
To kickstart this conversation, I’d like to propose a potential solution: a modification of the treasury module to create a hybrid model that combines the elements of referendums and bounties. Here’s how it might work:
- A referendum would be created for each spending proposal, similar to our current system.
- Instead of allocating the entire funding upfront, funds would be released as project milestones get approved by a curator.
- The curator would be also assigned as part of the proposal
- Curators could be sought for example from the ever-growing Auditor community
This approach allows us to keep the democratic approval process of referendums, while introducing the structured, milestone-based delivery of bounties. By tying funding to project milestones, we can ensure ongoing progress before the full funding is disbursed.
Invitation for Community Input
I believe that this hybrid model could provide a more effective way of handling substantial funding proposals. However, this is just one potential solution among many. The strength of our community lies in the diversity of our ideas and perspectives. I’m eager to hear your thoughts, suggestions, and feedback.
Let’s engage in this important conversation. How can we enhance our funding process to increase the success rate of proposals and ensure the efficient utilization of treasury funds?
Looking forward to a constructive and inspiring discussion!
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