Funding operator guide

A guide for funding operators that help with managing the funding process

The funding operator is responsible for ensuring the funding process is run correctly and on schedule. They will help to manage the tools and services and provide support to anyone that is participating in the funding process. Over the long term the responsibilities of the funding operator can be increasingly automated to the point where the role will likely not be needed.

Priority suggestion board setup

📅 Completion date: 12:00pm 15/06/24

The first task for the fund operator is to setup a priority suggestion board that will help with identifying whether there are enough impactful open source initiatives to work on.

1. Setup funding process chat channel - A Telegram chat needs to be setup for answering any questions about the funding process. This will be shared publicly with the community.

2. Setup priority suggestion board - A priority suggestion board needs to be created using Canny. Anyone in the community should be able to submit priority suggestions on this board at anytime.

3. Invite community participation - The community should then be invited to submit their priority suggestions about what open source initiatives could be highly impactful to work on. The community should also invited to give their feedback to any existing suggestions and to upvote the ones they believe are the most important.

4. Review suggestions - The priority suggestions will then be reviewed with the founding entities to assess whether there is a sufficient amount of impactful contribution areas to work on that justify the expense of funding some contributors to work on those areas.

Contributor proposal setup

📅 Completion date: 12:00pm 01/07/24

The fund operator now needs to setup a proposal process to let community members submit their contributor proposals.

1. Setup GitHub and GitBook - Add the funding process guides to a GitHub repository and setup a GitBook account to present this information on a website.

2. Invite community proposals - Invite the community to submit their contributor proposals to be considered as a candidate.

3. Invite community proposal feedback - Invite the community to give feedback to the proposals that have been submitted.

4. Verify and approve proposals - Verify the proposals to ensure they have the correct information included. Have a quick video call with the proposer to ensure they are a human. Once the proposal and proposer are checked and verified the proposal can be approved and merged into the repository.

5. Setup and share contributor proposal submission feedback questionnaire - Create a questionnaire to receive feedback from contributors about the proposal submission process. Share the questionnaire with the people who have approved contributor proposals.

6. Review contributor proposals - Review the contributor proposals with the founding entities to check the number and quality of the proposals submitted. The founding entities will then need to make a final decision on whether to continue the funding experiment based on the proposals submitted.

Finalise funding process

📅 Completion date: 12:00pm 08/07/24

To finish setting up the funding process the fund operator will need to finalise any decisions and parameters with the founding entities before setting up any remaining tools and services.

1. Finalise decisions & parameters - Finalise the approaches that will be used for the funding process and decide on any remaining parameter decisions with the founding entities.

2. Setup questionnaires - Create the voting feedback, contributor peer review, contributor funding process feedback and voter funding process feedback questionnaires.

3. Setup chat channels - Create the open contributor chat, internal contributor chat and contribution log chat using Telegram.

4. Finalise funding process information - Update the GitBook resource to include all the dates and timelines for the funding process.

5. Share funding process - Share the finalised funding process information with the community.

Voting

📅 Completion date: 12:00pm 12/07/24

The voting process will enable voters to select their preferred contributors that they believe could generate the most impact.

1. Setup voting submission form - Create a submission form for voters to submit their voting file.

2. Setup voting form - Create a Google Sheet voting form using the approved contributor proposals. This Google Sheet will be used as a voting template that the voters will fill in.

3. Invite voter participation - Share the voting form and the submission form with the voters along with a timeline about when they need to fill in and submit their votes by.

4. Process voting results - Once the voting submission deadline has passed the votes can be aggregated into a single file and shared with the public. The voting results should also clearly indicate who the successful contributors are.

5. Share contributor selection decision feedback questionnaire - Share the voting feedback form with the voters to fill in by a certain date. Follow up with any voters that haven’t filled this in prior to the deadline.

Contributor onboarding

📅 Completion date: 12:00pm 30/07/24

Once the contributors have been selected the next step is for the funding operator to onboard the successful contributors.

1. Invite contributors to join chat channels - Only successful contributors should be invited to the internal contributor chat and the contribution log chat. All contributors and any community members can join the open contributor chat.

2. Support setting initial contribution tasks - Collaborate with the contributors to set the initial contribution tasks they are working on. Communicate with the founding entities as necessary to ensure there is sufficient alignment and agreement around what contributors will initially be working on.

Monthly contributions

📅 Start date: 12:00pm 01/08/24, End date: 12:00pm 01/02/25

Contributors will receive support and guidance from the funding operator during each contribution month. The funding operator will be responsible to verifying contribution logs so that a contributor can receive their next payment.

1. Respond to community questions - Each month community members and contributors might want to share their concerns and opinions or ask questions about the funding process. Respond to these questions and conversations to identify any ideas that could help with improving the funding process.

2. Support prioritisation decisions - Request feedback from community members and founding entities about the current priorities and tasks that are being planned for execution. Support any issues around prioritisation if they emerge.

3. Support planning and collaboration efforts - Contributors could benefit from some support when planning their contribution efforts and collaborating with others in the ecosystem. The fund operator can help with identifying ways to increase collaboration where possible between contributors and also between existing projects and the contributors. Fund operators can also help with preventing any overlapping contribution efforts where possible.

4. Review and approve contribution logs - At the end of each contribution month a contribution log will be submitted by each contributor. The fund operator will need to review these logs to check the outputs seem fair and reasonable. If there is a concern around performance it will be discussed with the founding entities. Provide any feedback where necessary to improve the structure or information that has been provided. If everything appears reasonable and well documented then the contribution log can be approved and merged.

5. Release contributor payment - Ongoing contribution payment will rely on the approval of contribution logs. Once a contribution log is approved the contributors next payment should be released.

Funding process completion

1. Share contributor peer review questionnaire - Invite contributors and community members to give feedback to the other contributors once the funding round has been completed. 📅 Start date: 12:00pm 20/01/25, End date: 12:00pm 02/02/25
2. Share voter feedback questionnaire - Invite voters to give their feedback about the funding process. 📅 Start date: 12:00pm 02/02/25, End date: 12:00pm 09/02/25
3. Share contributor feedback questionnaire - Once peer review feedback and voter feedback is completed the contributors should then be invited to give their feedback about the funding process. 📅 Start date: 12:00pm 10/02/25, End date: 12:00pm 17/02/25
4. Analyse and present funding outcome results - Release the results from the questionnaires to the community. All of the funding and questionnaire data should be publicly accessible. Analyse the data that is available to identify any trends that are worth mentioning. Create a final report that covers the trends and statistics that emerged from that funding round, what improvements could be made in a future funding round and finally how effective the funding process was overall compared to other rounds or grants processes. 📅 Start date: 12:00pm 18/02/25, End date: 12:00pm 04/03/25