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# System prepended metadata

title: What is a Trustee?

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What is a Trustee?
===

### A Trustee Onboarding Page

:::info
A **trustee** of the side-treasury ecosystem is responsible for contributing to monthly reporting to Catalyst, managing a key to the multi-sig treasury wallet, approving charters of Governing Bodies to further distribute governance alongside approving of community submissions for revisions to side-treasury governance, and facilitating communication with any governing bodies that they represent.
:::

## Accountability
Trustees show accountability by
- Updating the community via written or oral reports to the Board of Trustees on a regular basis.
  - This can be as simple as sharing the efforts and deliverables of a Working Group or Committee with other trustees in a monthly async meeting.
  - These reports are used to assemble the monthly Catalyst Coordinator report for the proposal funding that funds the side-treasury.
## Security and Alignment
Trustees are each given a key to the multisig Roundtable wallet.  Every treasury transaction that has been referred to the trustees from Working Group accountability models, or from a community vote for a claim against the treasury, requires a consensus vote by the trustees to release the funds.  This is done by
- Check the claim or funding request for evidence of following prescribed treasury processes of review and discussion.
- Check that the claim or funding request has been "approved" by the community.
- Discuss with other trustees whether the funding request or claim meets criteria described in the following sections of the Governance Framework:
  - [4.0 Purpose](/Zq6KbmZVSoSbP7iNmWoRCQ)
  - [5.0 Scope](/wHmECtv5TFqVnH8dCbkHNw)
  - [6.0 Objectives](/0H3HNj-mTGiWOMnz4VcK4w)
  - [7.0 Principles](/FTugLcJ4TuCz0z4vN4hVyg)
- Vote to establish consensus on whether all of the above thresholds have been met.
- Collaborate with the rest of the Board of Trustees to "Turn the Keys" and release funding.
:::danger
Note that the community should have already submitted one or more reviews using the **[Review Criteria](https://hackmd.io/@PA-vPATreasury/Bk-NHxPHi)** which should have addressed these points, but the final responsibility for the accuracy of that analysis rests with the Board of Trustees.
:::
Trustees also achieve Security and Alignment by considering and approving the charters of Working Groups and Committees that form under this Governance Framework.  They do this by:
- Reviewing the submitted charter and checking that it has used the proper [Charter Template](https://hackmd.io/@PA-vPATreasury/B1Eicv0Qs).
- Checking that the charter meets the requirements set forth in the [Governing Bodies Policies](/XY7-3dwHTamw3FyOCWW2Rw).
- Checking that there has been adequate discussion of the charter by the community and that any concerns raised have been addressed.
- If the above items are satisfactory, the Board of Trustees should vote to establish consensus on the approval and acceptance of the charter.
  - If accepted, the current version of the charter should be added to the [Governing Bodies](/wQm0zkflSNmmrRCwolZQsA) master list.
## Liveness
:::info
**Liveness** here refers to the treasury community providing feedback and updates to all side-treasury documentation, processes and  roles.  All side-treasury documentation exists in a format that allows for an "always on" commenting and feedback function that collects real-time suggestions from the treasury community.
:::
Trustees encourage and enable liveness in the side-treasury ecosystem by meeting regularly to  go over any suggested changes to side-treasury governance and the discussions surrounding them.  These are typically submitted as comments on documentation, feedback received via messaging channels, or via formal submissions called Treasury Improvement Proposals (TIPs, modeled on Cardano CIP_001).

To establish a path forward for any suggestion, Trustees should:
- gather information and resources to inform any decisions regarding a suggested revision.  This could be a task assigned to the community, or to a working group or committee chartered under the side-treasury.
- Present a formal version of the revision to the community for the purpose of discussion and voting.
- hold a special meeting of the Board of Trustees to gather trustee consensus on proposed revisions, and to announce when and where the revision will be applied.
- Familiarize themselves with section **[9.0 Revisions](/LuYNF9g9QEKmQ_cGywIUJg)** of the Governance Framework.

## Reciprocity
All trustees should act as liaisons between their respective working groups or committees and the Board of Trustees.  This means sharing information freely when asked, and preparing written or oral reports if requested.

In this way, all governing bodies of the side-treasury should be able to stay up-to-date on the balance of effort and funding occurring among all other bodies.

Trustees should
- encourage decisionmaking and responsibility arising from areas outside of their own groups
- submit reports when requested from other trustees
- stay up to date on all deliverables and tasks arising from their group or committee, including all task forces organized under a working group

## Guiding Principles
Trustees should familiarize themselves with the **[Qualities of Distributed Leadership](/7lEf9w6WRXeaNaT8TJnAZA)**, specifically the principles outlined within:
- **Foster Self-organization** - Each group the trustee's represent is a source of dynamic ideas and leadership.  Trustees should encourage others to develop their own processes, tasks and collaborations.
- **Promote Emergence** - Trustees should strengthen connection between themselves and others, rather than multiply connections.
  - Trustees should also ask good questions and provide space and time to listen.
  - As well, Trustees should embrace learning and adapting, from their own groups as well as other's.  Act - Learn - Fail - Do Better is the standard, not perfection.
- **Embrace Change** - Mentor others and share responsibility, and if you spot critical functions in your group, encourage others to learn and duplicate these functions. 
- **Hold Dynamic Tension** - Where there is disagreement try to adopt "and-both" thinking and empower both sides of the issue to fully present themselves for consideration.

## A Sustainable Behavior Model
Even successfully sharing the responsibilities above, there is no doubt that trustees have plenty to do to help steward successful outcomes for the side-treasury community and the larger ecosystems they participate in.

Trustees should recognize:
- That part of the responsibility to health of a community or system is *health to the individual*.  Take care of yourself first.
- That the pace of Catalyst can be unnatural and overwhelming.  Don't let these rhythms impose themselves artificially on you or others.  Take time to rest and take breaks when needed, and respect this need of others.
- That dedicated time for reflecting, revisioning and orienting is positive and should be encouraged.  Adaptive systems need rest, too.

#### Back to Board of Trustees
[⬅️](https://hackmd.io/@PA-vPATreasury/SynfeL8Xo/https%3A%2F%2Fhackmd.io%2F%40PA-vPATreasury%2FrkgLLECms)