ENS DAO Steward Compensation

🗳️ Meta-Governance
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ENS DAO Steward Compensation

Authors: @Katherine.eth, @nick.eth, @5pence.eth

Summary

The ENS DAO Working Group Rules place the responsibility for steward compensation on the Metagov working group.

11 Compensation for Stewards and Lead Stewards

11.1 Stewards are eligible to receive fair compensation for their work as a Steward or Lead Steward in the DAO.
11.2 All requests for Steward or Lead Steward compensation must be detailed in a Collective Proposal for working group funds submitted to the DAO in accordance with rule 10.1 above.
11.3 Stewards may not receive compensation for their role as a Steward or Lead Steward outside of that compensation expressly provided for in a Collective Proposal submitted to the DAO in accordance with rule 10.1 above.

[EP0.4] [Social] Proposal: Creation of Foundational Working Groups and Working Group Rules
[EP12][Social] Working Group Rules

After the recent passing of EP4.2.2, the Metagov working group formulated a recommended compensation structure for stewards that is fair, transparent and representative of the contributions they make.

This post outlines that recommendation in detail.

Details

The working group model of the ENS DAO has evolved across the first three terms since inception. The number of working groups, the number of stewards per group, and the stewards’ responsibilities have all undergone changes. This has resulted in inconsistent and unequal compensation across terms and among stewards.

The Metagov WG’s recent funding request [EP 4.4.2] contained an additional amount tagged as “Steward and Secretary Compensation”. This inclusion is intended to allow the Metagov WG to explore ways to add consistency, equalize the comp payments, and right-size the payments for each role. It should be stressed that this level of compensation review this was not standardized in previous terms. The current Metagov stewards initiated discussions in August and have since developed this agreed-upon structure that addresses past inconsistencies and fairly compensates our stewards.

We have taken into consideration the community’s feedback on disclosing detailed compensation, but also note that we do not expect this to be binding precedent for future working groups and stewards. This should, at best, serve as a general guideline given the information available to us today.

It is the recommendation of the Metagov working group that the following table should be used for ENS DAO Steward and supporting role compensation:

Role Quantity Per Steward Per Month Per Steward Per Term Total per Term
Steward 6 $3,000 $18,000 $108,000
Lead 3 $4,500 $13,500 $81,000
Discretionary (Determined by WG majority) 3 $3,000 $9,000 $54,000
Secretary 1 $5,500 $33,000 $33,000
Scribe 1 $3,000 $18,000 $18,000
Total $294,000
  • An additional important note is that we feel all stewards and supporting roles should be asked to receive the stipend for their roles. While the stewards are free to redirect that payment at their discretion (including back to the DAO treasury), we recommend that no stewards fully forgo the payment.

Go Forward Plans

The structured pay table above will be used in two ways:

  1. This structure is what the current Metagov stewards recommend to the DAO as the formal compensation table for ENS DAO stewards. At a minimum, it can be used as a guide for the DAO and future nominees to understand the compensation for the various positions.
  2. This structure is what the Metagov working group plans to use for the remaining two months of the current term. Changes will not be backdated.

We thank everyone for your patience as we’ve worked through this.

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Codifying Recommended $ENS Governance Distribution to Stewards

Background

The Metagovernance Working Group is tasked with distributing ENS DAO governance through the $ENS token. Traditionally, these distributions to ecosystem partners, developers, DAO contributors, and elected stewards have been executed in a sporadic and inconsistent manner, lacking thorough documentation.

This term’s Metagovernance stewards are committed to reviewing and formalizing this process. While much of this work will continue into the next term, establishing and communicating the distribution process for elected stewards is imperative before the upcoming election cycle.

Historically, elected stewards have received $ENS tokens at the end of their term as acknowledgment of their contributions to the DAO and the significant decision-making responsibility delegated to them through the election process. However, the distribution amounts have varied from term to term and steward to steward, with no standarization.

Suggested Approach

The current Metagovernance Working Group is not equipped to evaluate and quantify each individual steward’s contributions retroactively. We also suggest that future groups avoid individual evaluations unless a formal evaluation matrix is established and communicated at the start of their term. Thus, we propose a uniform distribution amount for each elected steward to be disbursed after every 6-months of service.

To determine the appropriate token amount, we referenced the existing requirements for initiating a social vote on Snapshot. We concluded that an elected steward should acquire sufficient governance power to launch a social vote on Snapshot after a year of service. This leads to our recommended metric of 10,000 $ENS per year, awarded in six-month increments.

Suggested Governance Distribution for Elected Stewards

Quantity $ENS per 6 Months per Steward
Elected Steward 9 5,000

The Current Term

Ideally, to avoid ethical conflicts, all Metagovernance Working Groups should set steward compensation and governance distributions for upcoming terms and not their own. However, this term is an exception as the processes have not been previously codified. Like the standardized Steward compensation suggested last month, these new governance distribution guidelines will replace the previous process for this term.

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Please note that when the table was written, steward terms were six months long.

Closing this topic due to its age (131 days) and to prevent further confusion. This post is being used as a reference in more recent discussions.