+1 @James on the proposal.
Regarding moving current MGWG ops into the Foundation, I’m actually in favor of this — there’s been, to a large extent, confusion about what the responsibilities of the MG stewards are. Let me go on record and say they are not formally responsible for gating and/or staging proposals, but often involved in coordination.
For that reason, I believe the Governance Liaison role that @katherine.eth suggested would be better suited to take this on, as they’d have backing from the board and could serve as an interlocutor between delegates and broader ENS operations, while also helping shape the governance process.
That said, I think we could eventually automate much of this through better UI and governance design — once we have foundational processes and supporting documentation in place.
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I notice there is no explicit mention of Steward term length. Here, I propose revising the term from yearly to quarterly elections. That may seem like an excessive ask for delegates, but it keeps them involved and stewards in check.
We should also define the expected level of effort and explicit responsibilities for stewards. That way, stewards can come in with clear expectations around workload, and the DAO has something concrete to measure performance against.
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Regarding grants, I do not think stewards should create this mandate. It should be prescribed by the Board as a scoped call for proposals that clearly articulates what ENS is looking for, in accordance with its broader strategy and operational focus.
This way, incoming stewards have a concrete understanding of which projects should be funded, how to assess project selection quality, and can be held accountable for funding projects that fall outside the prescribed scope.
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A final note: the Ecosystem Working Group has historically funded the DAO’s editorial and social media operations. If this proposal passes, I’d like to see the new Working Group assume that mandate and continue publishing timely Newsletter digests and maintaining the DAO’s voice on social media.
Full disclosure — and this should come as no surprise — I’ve maintained the Newsletter and the DAO’s social media since at least October 2023, so this is of particular interest to me.
That said, as roles evolve and the pool of competent, trusted contributors grows, I’d be keen to see fresh faces interested in taking on this role.
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Thanks FireEyes for putting this prop forward!