Election of a New Committee Member

Summary

This proposal establishes a formal process for adding DAO Committee Members. It will be implemented as a governance pathway in the Big Green DAO Governance Portal, so it can be repeated in the future.

The process includes three stages:

1. Nomination & Candidacy / Self Nomination & Promotion / 14 days
2. DAO Community Selection / Single Choice Vote / 7 days
3. DAO Committee Confirmation / ⅔ Majority Vote / 5 days

Specification

Stage One: Nomination and Candidacy Period 20 days (10 days Nomination Period + 10 Days Candidacy Period)

Candidates eligibility: All potential candidates that meet the eligibility criteria may apply for the role. Candidates will be self-nominated.

Current $GARDEN token-holder Meet current granting eligibility criteria Must be able and willing to commit 4-6 hours of time per month for DAO Committee meetings and administrative tasks; and attend quarterly leadership work sessions.

1. Nomination Period & Process: 10 days

The DAO Committee will issue an “Open Call for DAO Committee Applicants” via Discord and email. The Open Call for DAO Committee Applicants will include the following questions: What could you do to help build our culture/community? What are the key goals you have in the position? What do you know about the DAO Committee and why do you want to join? How do you think the DAO can be improved? From your current experience, what do you think is the primary challenge for the DAO? What assets would you bring to the DAO? How do you envision the DAO in five years? In your opinion, has the current DAO Fulfilled its mission?

1. Interested candidates will respond to the call by submitting a response to the Discord post, and answering questions included in the open call for applicants.
2. Candidates will receive a temporary Discord role, indicating that they are a DAO Committee Candidate.

The Candidacy Period: 10 days The Candidacy Period will immediately follow the conclusion of the self-nomination period. Big Green DAO Operators will facilitate the following activities, to support engagement and information sharing between the DAO Community and DAO Committee Candidates, ahead of the DAO Community Vote:

1. Open a DAO Committee Election-specific channel in the Big Green DAO Discord.
2. Host an AMA (“Ask Me Anything”) Town Hall Session with all the candidates and the Community, or multiple sessions so that there are no more than 5 candidates participating in each Town Hall.
3. Provide each Candidate with a standardized set of materials that they can use to promote their candidacy. Candidates are not restricted to sole use of these materials.

Stage Two: DAO Community Selection Vote

Voting Period: 7 days The voting period for Community selection of a new DAO Committee Member will be conducted via a ranked-choice voting module in the Big Green DAO Governance Portal.

The ranked-choice voting process will be conducted as follows:

1. DAO Community members will vote via the Governance Portal. Each member can rank candidates in order of preference: 1, 2, 3, etc. Votes will automatically be tallied in rounds. In the first round, only the first-choice votes are counted.
2. If a candidate receives more than 50% of first-choice votes, they are selected as the winner, and the voting process ends.
3. If no candidate receives a majority of first-choice votes, the candidate with the fewest first-choice votes is eliminated, and their votes are transferred to the next-choice candidate on each “ballot”.
4. The process continues until one candidate receives more than 50% of the votes.
5. Voters will only need to select their candidate preferences one time, as the voting module will automate the elimination and transfer of vote process.
6. The winning candidate will be moved forward to a confirmation vote by the DAO Committee.

Stage Three: DAO Committee Confirmation Vote Committee Confirmation: 5 days The DAO Committee confirmation voting period will be open for a period of 5 days, and be conducted via a single choice 2/3rd majority voting module in the Big Green DAO Governance Portal.

The single-choice DAO Committee voting process will be conducted as follows:

1. Each DAO Committee Member will make a single-choice yes/no or abstain vote to confirm the DAO Community’s selected candidate.
2. If the candidate is confirmed with a 2/3rd majority vote, they are appointed to the Committee.
3. In the event that a 2/3rd majority vote is not reached by the DAO Committee, a second round of ranked-choice voting will occur, with the same candidate list.
4. A candidate may, however, opt to withdraw from the second round of voting. The voting period of each phase in the second round will be halved.
5. In the event that a 2/3rd majority vote is once again not reached after the Community makes a selection via ranked choice vote, the vote will be postponed until after the next grantmaking cycle, and the process repeated from the beginning.

Appointment of New DAO Committee Member:

The elected representative will receive a DAO Committee role in the Big Green DAO Discord, access to DAO Committee-specific channels, and be added as a signatory and steward of the DAO’s multi-signature wallet, which is the custodian of the DAO’s core smart contracts and has administrative privileges in the DAO’s Governance Portal.

Motivation

There are six positions on the Big Green DAO Committee. Seats are held by representatives of organizations in the Big Green DAO Community, including Big Green, which as the sponsoring organization of the DAO, has a permanent seat on the committee. All other seats serve three year term periods. At the end of each term, or if a representative steps down or is removed from their position, an election must be held to fill the open position.

Eligibility Criteria Eligibility criteria were designed to be as inclusive as possible, leaving the decision to the community.

Self Nomination This allows individuals who are interested in the position to put themselves forward without requiring external endorsement. The nomination process will be conducted as follows:

Candidate Promotional Materials Providing all candidates with standardized promotional templates this will ensure all candidates have access to a base level of “PR” assets, that they can customize for their own use.

Ranked Choice Voting One of the advantages of using ranked choice voting on Snapshot for a DAO is that it promotes a more inclusive and democratic decision-making process. By allowing voters to rank their preferences, it ensures that the final proposal is one that has broad support among the members, rather than one that only a minority of members strongly prefer. Ranked choice voting can promote fair representation, encourage greater participation, and reduce strategic voting, all of which can foster a more civil and constructive political culture.

DAO Committee Confirmation A ⅔ majority vote ensures that a single committee member cannot block the appointment of a potential DAO Committee Member. The current Committee, however, operates on a consensus culture and hopes this norm will continue into the future.