# Gardens Core Proposal – Gitcoin GG24 DDA

## Summary

This proposal outlines a Dedicated Domain Allocation (DDA) round hosted by the Gardens Core team for Gitcoin Grants Round 24 (GG24). It targets structural bottlenecks facing mid-sized DAOs: lack of sustainable growth models, weak capital formation strategies, and the absence of structured decentralization pathways. By running this round on Gardens v2, we align funding with governance experimentation and high-signal research.

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## 1. DAO Maturity Infrastructure Pool *(Funding Pool)*

**Purpose:**
Support mid-sized DAOs in evolving their coordination models by funding proposals that produce structured insight into governance, growth friction, and decentralization processes.

**Expectations from Grantees:**
To avoid overburdening contributors and maintain research consistency, funded DAOs commit to submitting a lightweight research-ready package, including:

- ✅ Governance Profile (roles, decision systems, voting)
- ✅ Growth Friction Report (voice memo or writeup)
- ✅ (Optional) Transition Experiment (what they tried, what happened)
- ✅ 1 Research Artifact (interview transcript, async form, or internal doc)
- ✅ Post-Round Reflection Submission

**Technical Setup (Gardens v2):**
- Pool Type: Funding
- Voting: Conviction Voting
- Disputes: Enabled
- Proposal Template: Includes “Your Contribution to Research Dataset” section

**Outcomes:**
- Cohort-wide comparative data on DAO transitions
- Emergent patterns around governance architecture and decentralization blockages
- Foundation for ecosystem-level recommendations

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## 2. Weekly Meme Funding Pool *(Funding Pool)*

**Purpose:**
Foster cultural cohesion, signal attention, and explore coordination themes through weekly micro-grants for memes and creative outputs.

**How It Works:**
- Weekly prompt announced during the Gitcoin Grants Garden community call
- Participants submit creative entries as proposals
- Voting runs with fast conviction (24–48h)
- Top 1–3 proposals receive micro-funding ($50–$100)

**Prompt Themes:**
- “Decentralization gone wrong”
- “How DAOs age: wine or milk?”
- “Who really makes the decisions here?”
- “DAO elections as high school drama”
- “My governance dashboard after a week of Conviction Voting”
- “Capital formation, but romantic”

**Value:**
These contests provide real-time reflections of coordination moods, organizational archetypes, and symbolic vocabularies emerging during GG24.

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## 3. Signaling Pools *(Governance Reflection Pools)*

**Purpose:**
Empower the Garden community and participating DAOs to propose round adaptations, surface bottlenecks, or highlight unseen priorities — without financial transfer.

**Usage:**
- Community members post non-funding proposals
- Votes signal urgency or importance
- Operators integrate key signals into mid-round reflection and iteration

**Examples of Signaling Use:**
- “More funding needed for org design experiments”
- “Pain point: governance proposals take too long to pass”
- “Emerging theme: contributor fatigue due to unclear mandates”

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## Deliverables & Success Metrics

### Deliverables:
- 🧠 Governance Profiles & Friction Reports from all funded DAOs
- 🗂️ One research artifact per grantee
- 📊 Mid- and post-round synthesis reports
- 🎨 Weekly meme contest archive
- 🗳️ Aggregated signaling pool reflections

### Metrics:
- 📈 Number of DAOs completing research package
- 🧭 Distribution and themes of friction across the cohort
- 🧪 Number of experiments run on governance or structure
- 📬 Signaling proposals submitted and voted on
- 🎭 Participation in weekly creative rituals

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## Final Note

This round treats mid-sized DAOs not as grant applicants — but as **living governance laboratories**. Their transitions, tensions, and adaptations are a source of invaluable insight. Gardens v2, by combining funding and signaling mechanisms, creates a space where capital becomes a vector for knowledge generation and long-term institutional design.

We’re not just funding coordination.

We’re documenting how coordination evolves.