Updates from Elected Oversight:
Team Meetings:
07/04: Team BiWeekly
07/05: Strat/Comm Weekly
One-on-one meetings will not be included in updates to maintain focus on community-relevant information.
In Conversation:
“In conversation” means approaches and solutions are being discussed. Nothing has been finalized as a matter of policy or procedure. But denotes team awareness and expression of priority in addressing an existing or potential issue.
Inter-organizational Communication:
- Exploring ways for the Grants subDAO to improve coordination/comms with other funding bodies and or funding programs (e.g., ICF, DoraHacks’ Quadratic Funding)
- Goal: Prevent duplicate funding or unwarranted supplementary funding
- Status: Team is aware; proactive discussions are underway
Unsuccessful Grant Applicant Feedback Process:
- Focusing on enhancing feedback provided to unsuccessful grant applicants
- Any finalized changes will be announced in this month’s Transparency Report
I’l be taking the lead in authoring the forthcoming Transparency Report #7, projected delivery date is the third week of July.
Other
Yesterday, AADAO published “Navigating Growth: An In-Depth Retrospective on 2023 Grants”, a comprehensive retrospective analysis of 40 grants issued since the commencement of its grant making activities in 2023.
I applaud the reviewers and the greater team for the initiative – 44 pages!
Grant-making in an innovative and niche environment is challenging. The job is not to be perfect, rather to adapt quickly. For a new team operating in a pilot year, one can say the AADAO’s grant completion rate appears to be relatively high. If anyone has industry references for commensurate DAOs and grant completion rates, please share!
AADAO 2023 Grant Program Analysis: Key Insights
Here’s a summary of key takeaways:
1. Grant Overview
- Total grants awarded: 40
- Completion status:
• Completed: 24 (60%)
• In Progress: 11 (27.5%)
• Discontinued: 5 (12.5%) - Overall completion rate (counting Completed and In Progress): 87.5%
2. Grant Sizes and Completion Rates
- Range: $9,600 (smallest) to $250,000 (largest)
- Average grant size: $92,847
- 62.5% of grants fell between $50,000 and $200,000
- Completion rates:
• Smaller grants (under $100,000): 75%
• Larger grants (over $100,000): 50% - Negative correlation observed between grant size and completion likelihood
3. Financial Analysis by Grant Status
- Completed grants:
• Average approved amount: $76,562
• Average paid amount: $75,645 (99.2% of approved) - In-progress grants:
• Average approved amount: $128,538
• Average paid amount: $61,280 (47.7% of approved) - Discontinued grants:
• Average approved amount: $119,978
• Average paid amount: $66,295 (55.3% of approved)
4. Key Themes in Grant Descriptions
- Most frequent terms:
• “ATOM” (51 mentions)
• “AEZ” or “ATOM Economic Zone” (25 mentions)
5. Grant Rationale Analysis (“Why did we give the grant?”)
- Top reasons:
- ATOM/AEZ/Cosmos Hub (38 mentions)
- Ecosystem development (15 mentions)
- General development (14 mentions)
- Community support (12 mentions)
6. Lessons Learned Analysis (“What did we learn?”)
- Key learnings:
- Go-to-market (GTM) strategy improvement (12 mentions)
- Enhanced communication (9 mentions)
- Better KPIs/Milestones (8 mentions)
- Improved marketing (7 mentions)
- Community engagement (6 mentions)
7. Strategic Insights
- Strong focus on ecosystem development (37.5% of grant reasons)
- Emphasis on core Cosmos elements (95% of reasons mentioned ATOM, AEZ, or Cosmos Hub)
- Community-centric approach (30% of reasons, 15% of learnings)
- Shift from pure development to strategic considerations
- Go-to-market strategy emerged as a critical area for improvement (30% of grants)
- Project management practices need enhancement (42.5% mentioned communication or KPI improvements)
- Emerging focus on operational improvements and inter-team collaboration
- Time management identified as an area for improvement
Please also see AADAO’s Cosmos Hub Forum Post
Happy Independence to all who celebrate.
Cheers,
Grace