[TEMP CHECK] - Grant $5000 to DAO Times for the Commission of Unbiased Reporting on ENS DAO - 50 Articles Over One Year

Abstract:

We are applying for $5,000 funding to compensate a reporter who will deeply research the ENS DAO community. This reporter will report for DAO Times on all major ENS DAO events, proposals, grants, and discussions over the course of one year. In total, he will publish 50 articles on the ENS DAO.

Each article will contain a prominently displayed note that it was funded by ENS DAO with a link. We will also include these notes in our tweets, mentioning ENS Twitter account.

Motivation:

We believe in the potential of DAOs to transform the world, and we’re committed to exploring this potential through our reporting. Our selfish goal is to delve deep into DAOs, to study them and to describe our observations transparently. However, to maintain our comprehensive coverage, we need to compensate our reporters adequately, which we currently can’t do due to our non-profit status. You won’t see a single banner ad or pop-up that will prevent the audience from reading the content.

I personally committed almost all my savings to building DAO Times. Even my family and friends call me a fool, but I believe in what I do. I believe that initiatives like DAO Times are making the world a better place. So I am asking you to help us with a grant donation to pay the reporter for a year of work. We guarantee that he will deeply research the ENS DAO and publish 50 unbiased articles about the DAO.

Why might you want to do this? Because it’s important for a DAO to get the press to write about it regularly. That way the DAO gets more exposure, influence and attracts new contributors.

The size of this grant is very small compared to any similar proposal. Because the team is not looking for profit here.

Importantly, receiving this grant won’t compromise our editorial independence. Our coverage will remain objective and uninfluenced by the source of funding.

To summarize, we see this as a win-win opportunity for both of us, and for the DAO community. We get to do what we love while diving deeper into learning about the DAO industry. We attract new builders to the DAO niche and promote decentralization in general which is our mission. You get more publicity, which in any case certainly benefits your whole community. You also get an independent perspective on your DAO, which will help you take a bird’s eye view and become a better DAO.

Our proposal is about more than just funding — it’s about fostering a healthy, transparent, and diverse discourse around DAOs.

We hope you’ll consider supporting our initiative.

Specifications:

Stats:
An average article on the website gets around 100 views with the top one reaching almost 4000 views. Our Twitter has 4100 followers and an average article gets around 500 impressions, with the top one reaching almost 30000 impressions. Our newsletter has 380 subscribers, with 79% of them engaged in the last 30 days. These are not big numbers, but we are growing, and our audience consists solely of DAO builders.

Personnel:
Founder - Makoto Takahiro
News Reporter - Saudu Clement
Technical Writer - Jyotirmoy Barman
DAO Advisor - Edward Moon
Communications Consultant - BoredInvesting

Platforms:
https://daotimes.com
https://twitter.com/dao_times

Steps to Implement:

  • Develop an editorial calendar outlining the topics and timeline for the 50 articles.
  • The reporter begins researching and writing the articles.
  • Review, edit, and publish the articles on DAO Times.
  • Promote each article on DAO Times’ Twitter profile.
  • Encourage community members to provide suggestions for improvements or ideas for future reporting.

Timeline:

The project will commence immediately upon receiving approval and funding, and will run for a period of one year.

Overall Cost:

$5,000 to compensate the reporter.


Why we created DAO Times:

DAO Times is a response to the growing need for an inclusive platform within the decentralized organizations landscape. In the existing crypto media, sensationalist news often obscures significant developments in the DAO ecosystem, while smaller outlets mostly recycle content from larger platforms. This lack of original and insightful coverage undervalues the efforts of dedicated DAO builders, stifling innovation and growth.

Our broader objective is to challenge the status quo and inspire people to embrace decentralization, thus creating democratic and collaborative communities, ultimately contributing to a more conscious and compassionate world.

Here are some testimonials from DAO builders and decentralization enthusiasts:

  • “I believe you’re bringing great value to your community members, educating and informing them about DAOs.” (Libertas Finance)
  • “I am very impressed. Your coverage of the DAO ecosystem is thorough, timely, well-researched, and fair.” (Frisson)
  • “Good job with this website you’re running. Keep the good work, and thanks for spending your time this way” (mazafaka.eth)
  • “We commend the work you are doing to push the Web3 industry forward. Keep up the great work” (Cindicator)
  • “Fascinated with the quality of content and every story around DAO shared” (Subham Surana)
  • The best content around DAOs that I’ve seen (Utkarsh|Schrodingrrr.eth)
  • “Your work in this space is already fantastic! Thank you for what you do” (Jawna.ETH)
  • “Love that you’re reporting what’s going on in various DAOs!”(Adventurous Ape)
  • “DAO times is one of my favorite media in the DAO ecosystem” (Kiyoaki)
  • “Love the work you are doing to build cool things in web3” (Accelchain)
  • “The concept of DAO Times looks really amazing!” (Nihar Thummar)
  • “I enjoy their coverage of DAO-related topics thus far.” (Stn)
  • “This a great work that you’re doing” (Gino Cingolani)
2 Likes

This is presented more as a proposal. Whereas a temp check should be generalized non-specific oriented that; if the next step, the proposal phase any persons could submit their plan to complete the required work. In this case, it does not make sense to move this to a proposal because the work requested is only specified and intended for one parties to be involved.

Either re-write this so that if it were to move forward to a proposal, anyone would be able to submit their proposed work for a bid decided either by a vote or choice by WG stewards. I would suggest applying for ENS Public Goods or Ecosystem Small Grants rather than going with the proposal route.

Thanks for taking the time putting this together. It is a good informational piece either way.

1 Like

5000 is within range of a small grants payout. Have you considered going through ensgrants.xyz?

4 Likes

Thank you for the direction! Will do that.

1 Like

I think this proposal is needed and would support it. :love_you_gesture:

1 Like

Thank you!

We have submitted our proposal via ENS Small Grants, so you can vote for us.

1 Like

Moved this from the DAO-Wide category to Meta-Governance. This request would go to the Meta-Governance Working Group for funding. You can submit a Meta-Governance WG funding request through this Deform.

Generally, funding requests that are less than ~$100k USD should be directed to the appropriate Working Group to fund in the first instance. Details on WG meetings can be found here.

1 Like