SIP-364: Reconfigure Grants Council

Author	Mike
Status	Draft
Type	Governance
Network	Ethereum
Implementor	TBD
Release	TBD

Simple Summary

Reconfigure the Grants Council to make it more efficient and effective for the current and future state of the protocol.

Abstract

The Grants Council has been active for four years and has not been meaningfully modified or updated in the time since its creation. This SIP proposes to reduce the number of grants counselors from 5 to 1 technical project manager who will onboard two additional signing seats for a 2/3 multisig. This Grants Lead will be appointed rather than voted on by SNX debt share weighting. Further, this SIP proposes to redefine the mandate of the grants initiative, to provide greater focus moving forward.

Motivation

The Synthetix Protocol has evolved since the creation of the Grants Council (SIP 39) and its formalized responsibilities (SIP 141). With Synthetix on several chains and planning for further expansion in the coming years, the grants council, or a similar body, needs to be reactive and efficient to the needs of the community, the protocol, and the governing bodies.

The existing composition of the GC would be appropriate if there was a consistent volume of high quality grant applications to decide upon. Given that few inbound grant applications have been approved since its inception, it's fair to say the quality of grant applications is not meeting the standard.

There is an opportunity for the GC to focus on the proactive initiatives, which have proven successful in narrow ways like the bridge UI, the SIP submission tool, Perps Watcher, and more. The diffuse accountability and shifting members each epoch has hampered the existing GC from more actively pursuing initiatives and moving with urgency on more pressing issues.

Specification

Overview

The Grants Council will be led by a single technical PM that will be appointed by the Spartan Council for 4 month terms in line with ongoing governance epochs. The Grant Lead may petition for further support as needed on a short term basis but will be responsible for the responsibilities outlined below and for updating the scope of the role on an ongoing basis to meet the needs of the community. The Grants Lead will coordinate closely with the Treasury Council on setting a budget for each epoch and funding grants that go beyond the existing funds in the Grants multisig.

Appointing the Grants Lead

At the start of each epoch the Spartan Council will choose a single member to lead the Grants Initiative. The Grant Lead will be appointed on 4 month epochs beginning on the standard election cycle. The Spartan Council can solicit candidates for the Grants Lead in a manner they deem most effective. The Grants Lead will coordinate with the SC to fill two additional seats on the Grants multisig for each epoch.

Responsibilities

The Grants Lead will be responsible for:

Maintaining and setting an appropriate budget for ongoing and one off projects
Coordinating and publishing a summary of open grant requests required by the CCs, SC, TC, and/or community and defining the outputs for these requests.
Proposing a budget to the Treasury Council to cover ongoing and new Grant requests.
Conducting due diligence on grant proposals and the work of contractors
Establishing criteria for retroactive grant funding across various categories and sharing these criteria regularly to ensure wide visibility by potential recipients
Proactively identifying appropriate opportunities that can be addressed by grants
Product managing the scoping, development and delivery of valuable initiatives
Establishing regular communication with the Spartan Council, including briefs, memos, reports, and voice calls.

Additional Multisig Signers

The budget of the Grants body will continue to be managed out of the existing multisig and will be updated to a 2 of 3 signing threshold. Each epoch, two additional signers will be onboarded, or maintained from the previous epoch, to provide support in funding grant recipients. The process for this selection and onboarding may be determined by the Spartan Council and the first Grant Lead selected.

Interim Period

If approved mid-epoch, it is encouraged that the Spartan Council solicit Grant Lead candidates and select the incoming Grant Lead before the end of March. This will allow the new lead to coordiante with existing Grants Council members for up to a month to transition existing contacts, projects, account access, and procedures. The Existing Grants Council will work through the remainder of the current governance epoch to ensure a smooth handoff is completed.