Authors:
@Arcology, @DioDionysos, @meertitan

Summary:
Start a DAO treasury funded Fei Grants Program from Batch #2 onwards, with the next Batch running for a period of 3 months.

Motivation:
Arcology, DioDionysos and meertitan have been managing the Fei Grants Program in collaboration with Sebastian from Fei Labs for the pilot Batch #1, with the scope and funding directed by Fei Labs. The Grants Committee has a developed a track record in the past Batch reviewing, approving, funding and assisting many projects, such as:

Llama DAO (providing financial reporting data for the Fei DAO) ($119,500)
Crypto Kailash substack (increasing recognition of Fei Protocol’s mechanisms) ($10,000)
CVc analysis (an analytics dashboard tracking key metrics of Fei Protocol) ($10,000)

For more details on our work on Batch #1, check out the Batch #1 retrospective 9 and our Fei Grants Program landing page 22.

As the DAO matures, decentralization is becoming a more pressing desire and the Grants program is no exception, as an important entity to both decentralize; and to seek out and retain talent within and outside of Fei Protocol’s DAO.

Given the circumstances, the Fei Grants Committee is requesting more independence in their management of the Fei Grants Program, with the intention of fully transferring control of management and Grants review within the DAO, with Fei Labs in an advisory role.

At this juncture, the Grants Committee would like to expand operations in the Batch #2. From our earlier article on the Batch #1 retrospective, we have identified that we needed to adopt a more proactive stance on seeking and recruiting talent, drawing more and better quality contributors to Build for Fei. As such, one strategy is to leverage our in-person networks and reach out to institutes of higher education and professional blockchain associations to source such talent.

Specification:
To continue with the next Batch of the Grants Program, the Committee hereby requests a working budget of 250,000 TRIBE, in line with the previous Batch #1 budget. This funding is intended to last for 3 months, the proposed duration of the next Batch.

We are also requesting an additional 10,000 TRIBE for any operational expenses from the Grants Committee, including but not limited to: gas costs, local and regional professional/enthusiast blockchain memberships, participation in universities and associated events for hunting down high value prospective Grantees and projects; web-domain upkeep costs and potential marketing endeavors. All such costs will be recorded and reported for transparency. This brings the total budget to 260,000 TRIBE.

Any funds unused at the end of the Batch will be returned to the DAO. Any budget overage during this Batch will be identified, with any consequent funding top-ups to be brought before Governance.

Approved Grants will be paid out from this budget, using a 2 out of 3 Gnosis multisig made up of the Fei Grants Committee members (arcology, DioDionysos, meertitan).

Previously approved Grants from Batch #1 will continue to be paid out by the Batch #1 budget set by Fei Labs.

Resources:
Official Fei Grants page 22
Fei Grants Twitter 5
Fei Grants Medium 3

FIP-XX: Fei Grants Program Batch #2 Budget Proposal