# Merging of SHCU-001 and EVENTS-001

## Proposal

As the bear market becomes a reality it is well known that CUs must create ways to save costs to survive the winter. The following is a joint post by EVENTS-001 and SHCU-001 to do just this.

With the recent passing of both budgets for EVENTS-001 & SHCU-001, both teams have been discussing that it would be a better cost-benefit to the DAO to merge our CUs, Given that both CU are doing work for in-person conferences. Bear market or not this just makes sense and has been openly discussed/requested by various delegates/community members.

So we propose merging SHCU-001 into the EVENTS-001. Under this proposal, the approved SHCU-001 DAI and MKR budgets would be rolled into EVENTS-001 and optimized to reduce financial costs to the DAO.

SHCU would not dissolve completely, Burban would like to continue the CU the original spirit of the CU as a meme CU dedicated to memes and happiness. SHCU budget would be 0 DAI and no future MIPs would be made to increase the budget.

## Budget Optimization

One of the main advantages of integrating SHCU into Events is a reduction in spending. Here are the following ways the SHCU DAI budget can be optimized by managing under Events.

### Current SHCU DAI Budget

Item | Amount (Per Year) |
| :--- | ---: |
| **Dai Compensation** |
|Facilitator | 70,000 DAI |
|Part-Time Assistance | 60,000DAI |
|Swag | 320,000 DAI |
|Shipping | 40,000 DAI |
|Travel | 50,000 DAI |
|Ongoing Operations | 80,000 DAI |
|Restock Inventory | 50,000 DAI |
|Contingency Buffer | 100,000 DAI |
|**Total** | 770,000 DAI |

### Optimizations
#### Facilitator
This would remain the same and would be Burbans salary under the Events CU
#### Part-Time Assistance
We can leverage the capacity of the current FTEs in events to take on additional assistance SHCU would have needed. We still may need a bit of part-time help, especially with Graphics, bookkeeping and some logistics. We would aim to limit this spend to 30-35,000DAI
#### Swag
This is a very large piece of the budget. Events FTEs have extensive experience and connections in this area which we can leverage and assist in cost reduction. As a minimum, we would run swag at Maker-branded events in the events CU mandate. Using SHCUs budget estimate of 15k-25k per event this would represent 125k of the 320k budget for this item on the high side. Maybe another 75k is reserved for other non-event conferences, booths & swag drops. So we can roughly say our aim would be 200k. Any excess left over can be returned to the surplus at the end of the budget cycle.
#### Shipping
In the past, most swag has been produced locally to SHCU and then shipped. As a team, we can optimize this for in-person events and have swag made locally and picked up on-site. This should greatly reduce shipping (and also import duties) and limit the shipping costs to swag airdrops. Ideally, we can cut this to around 10k.
#### Travel
No comment here as we have not determined the number and locations of conferences to be attended. Swag would be required at Maker branded events and any conferences Maker is running a booth at. Expect this to remain the same.
#### Ongoing Operations
This is the greatest area of cost reduction by combining CUs. All admin would be taken on by Events CU. Events do not use Accountable so that would be eliminated. We expect to reduce this line item to 15-20k. What these funds would be used for is any legal and accounting expenses due to the extra funds going through the events corporation.
#### Restock inventory
No comment here, as it is just an extension of the swag line.
#### Contingency
Nothing to say regarding contingency. Unlikely to be used.

### Optimized Budget for Merged SHCU and Events

Item | Amount (Per Year) |
| :--- | ---: |
|Facilitator | 70,000 DAI |
|Part-Time Assistance | 30,000DAI |
|Swag | 200,000 DAI |
|Shipping | 10,000 DAI |
|Travel | 50,000 DAI |
|Ongoing Operations | 20,000 DAI |
|Restock Inventory | 50,000 DAI |
|Contingency Buffer | 100,000 DAI |
|**Total** | 480,000 DAI |

The result of combining the CUs results in about a 35-40 percent savings on the existing SHCUs budget right out of the gate. Further reductions are expected to be realized along the way. We will track and provide financial updates post events. *contingency has been included in this calculation, more than likely the 100k would be returned to the surplus at the end of the budget period.

### OMG the Bear Market

The optimized budget is what we can achieve and carry out business as usual. Now that the fear of the bear market is upon us. If need be we can scale to accommodate based on input from Strategic Finance. In such a case, we can scale back spending on swag & limit swage just to conferences where Maker events are being held.

### SHCU MKR Budget

As a result of the merge, the MKR portion of the SHCU budget will come under the control of EVENTS-001. It has been agreed that since we are now working as a team we are going to split the MKR vest between the 3 members of EVENTS-001. The result is the same approved vest amount and terms but would be split between 3 FTEs rather than 1.


### Swag Shop

A swag shop has been mentioned as a way of cost offset in the SHCU budget, though no funds were allocated to creating/maintaining a shop. Roughly it is thought such a shop could be around 20-30k in overhead/maintenance per year. It's not known whether there is enough demand for such to overcome the overhead but the team can attempt and keep an eye on the financials along the way to judge performance. The is an exisitng shop may be able to be modified to save cost or we may need to rebuild from the ground up.

## The Poll

### Question

Should SHCU-001 be merged into the EVENTS-001?

### Resulting Actions
#### Poll outcome is "Yes"
* Burban would join the Events CU
* To formalize this through governance the following MIPs would be raised

MIP40SPXX- Events CU Budget expansion by the same amount of approved SHCU DAI & MKR budget
MIP39SPXX- Scope change to events CU to include swag under its mandate
MIP40SPXX-Reduction of SHCU budget to 0 DAI
MIP39SPXX-Reduction of SHCU mandate to remove swag

MIPS would be batched together and voted as a set. The vote would be binary.
* All DAI & MKR streaming to the SHCU wallet would be forwarded to the Events CU wallet from the poll closing date. Any spending before this point would need to be reported by SHCU-001. Reporting of funds going forward would be by EVENTS-001.
#### Poll outcome is "No"

SHCU does not merge with Events and both CUs remain independent to carry out their original mandates.