Grant Track for Optimizing Decentralized Governance

Is My Grant Request In-Scope for This Grant Track?

This Grant Track welcomes proposals that:

• Incentivize sustained delegate participation in governance
• Develop transparent staking-linked reward systems for delegates and token holders
• Create tooling or frameworks to surface and reward governance activity
• Formalize the implementation of Obol’s grants infrastructure
• Support the execution of SQUAD-aligned grant initiatives

Proposals are in-scope if they strengthen the Obol Collective’s governance through better tools, stronger incentives, or more coordinated participation.

Grant Track Priorities & Goals

This Grant Track hosts the following Grant Requests that align with the governance roadmap:

Category A – Sustained Delegate Participation

• Goal A1: Build an Active Delegate Dashboard or “Karma Score” system

  Goal: Reward token holders delegating to consistently engaged, high-quality delegates

  Scope: Track votes, proposal participation, on-chain/off-chain commentary

• Goal A2: Design a staking reward incentive layer for active delegates

  Goal: Allow delegates to earn a portion of OBOL staking rewards for governance activity

  Scope: On-chain logic + UI + tracking

• Goal A3: Create a governance reputation system

  Goal: Assign transparent scoring or reputation based on delegate behavior

  Inspiration: Karma, Otterspace, SourceCred, Coordinape

Category B – Formalizing the Grants Program

• Goal B1: Implement a milestone-based Grants Program for the Obol Association

  Goal: Launch and manage the system that will award and track 5+ grants tied to SQUAD goals

  Scope: On-chain or hybrid tracking, payout workflows, reporting dashboards

• Goal B2: Build grant selection & feedback tooling for the Obol Collective

  Goal: Let community members review, endorse, or comment on grant proposals

  Scope: Lightweight DAO-native frontend, Quadratic voting/endorsements optional

Milestone Articulation

Proposals should include 3–5 milestones, structured around outcomes and governance impact. Strong proposals may include milestones like:

• Design specs or mockups published and shared with delegates
• MVP shipped to testnet or DAO-wide demo
• Governance module deployed or integrated
• Delegate onboarding supported with documentation or workshops
• Community endorsement or adoption (on-chain or off-chain)

🛠 Projects involving on-chain rewards, delegate dashboards, or governance contracts should include a milestone for audit or external review, prior to mainnet deployment.

What Makes a Strong Proposal?

• Problem Alignment: Addresses a real governance challenge — delegate drop-off, unclear rewards, limited visibility
• Clear Implementation Plan: The path to delivery is scoped, timed, and explained
• Community Fit: Respects and supports the Obol Collective’s values of openness and resilience
• Participation-First: Empowers active contributors, rather than reinforcing centralization
• Future-Proof: Designed for long-term utility and open-source reuse

Evaluation Rubric (0–5 points per category)

Category	Description
Team Experience	Has the team built governance tools or DAO infra before?
Impact Potential	Will this meaningfully improve delegate engagement or community alignment?
Technical Feasibility	Can this actually be delivered as scoped?
Clarity of Milestones	Are the steps to success defined and measurable?
Ecosystem Alignment	Does this proposal strengthen Obol's collective governance mission?