[RFC] Trial run a Recognised Delegate Program to improve governance participation

[jengajojo]

Summary

This proposal suggests implementing a six-month trial for a Recognised Delegates Programme(RDP) within Shutter DAO. The aim is to increase governance participation by attracting and compensating skilled delegates who can support the long-term sustainability of Shutter DAO.

Motivation

Out of the 207M+ circulating SHU tokens, governance participation remains low, with fewer than 40M tokens consistently involved in decision-making. Despite holding significant voting power, many top delegates exhibit participation rates below 50%, with some as low as 10% or even 0%. This low participation rate poses a substantial vulnerability, as an attacker would need to acquire just over 40M tokens—currently valued at less than $1M—to potentially exploit the treasury, which holds $5M in stablecoins. Declining engagement (as highlighted in the latest delegates call) in governance will further amplify this risk.

In contrast, several highly engaged delegates, who maintain high voting participation and contribute actively to Forum discussions, provide a crucial layer of protection by helping meet quorum requirements and preventing malicious proposals from passing. To strengthen governance and mitigate the risk of an attack on the treasury, we propose delegating a portion of the 500M SHU tokens held in the treasury to these active, value-aligned delegates. Empowering committed participants will foster a more secure and resilient governance system.

Below is an updated summary of the participation of delegates since the January update

Name	Address	Total Votes	Participation%
d1xia	0x39EE88e8c70f289a28892D062aB0D4EB06432Fa0	13	39.4%
DAOplomats	0x057928bc52bD08e4D7cE24bF47E01cE99E074048	25	75.8%
Jacob Czepluch	0x06c2c4dB3776D500636DE63e4F109386dCBa6Ae2	29	87.8%
Kleros Labs	0xffFA76e332cA7afaae3931cb5d513B7fd681C4CF	16	48.5%
Lanski	0xB6647e02AE6Dd74137cB80b1C24333852E4AF890	16	48.5%
Mikko Ohtamaa	0x61C2dAE896f93e5f0f10425914CE7868eE8A0e44	11	33.4%
Philippe Schommers	0xF23fd62E9566262a009851D0C0E70B3280e2EAd7	0	0
5pence.eth	0xe52C39327FF7576bAEc3DBFeF0787bd62dB6d726	29	87.8%

Shutter DAO requires efficient governance to support its evolving needs as a protocol focused on mitigating malicious MEV (Maximum Extractable Value) through encryption technologies. Governance specialisation, as seen in traditional organisations, increases productivity and effectiveness within these organisations. Shutter DAO can minimise governance inefficiencies by introducing the Recognised Delegates Programme(RDP) while enhancing strategic alignment and decision-making capacity.

Specification

What is a Recognised Delegate?

A recognised delegate is a reputable and skilled Shutter DAO member who actively contributes to governance and helps grow the DAO. These individuals will collaborate with the community and Shutter’s core team.

Eligibility Criteria:

• A minimum of 500,000 SHU voting weight

• Must have at least 50% participation rate in Snapshot voting, as measured from the three months prior to the date the proposal goes live.

Responsibilities of recognised delegates:

• Review governance proposals and offer detailed feedback.

• Vote on all governance proposals with transparency, providing justifications for votes when relevant.

• Stay informed about Shutter DAO’s key metrics and ecosystem.

• Delegates must set clear goals and KPIs for the six -month trial.

Framework for Delegate Recognition:

To apply, each delegate must create a delegate platform which includes the following items:

Delegate Application

Applicant Information:

• Name:

• Voting address, ENS:

• Twitter:

• Website:

• Delegate profile link on Boardroom:

Applicant Overview

• Brief description

• Key team members and their relevant experience

Performance & Expertise

• Experience relevant to the role’s responsibilities

• Potential conflicts of interest (if any)

Compensation:

Each recognised delegate will receive 70,000 SHU per month during the trial, contingent on the following minimum requirements:

• 70% participation in governance as measured from the start of the trial progam.

• 70% communication rate, which includes posting short summaries of the voting rationale on their delegate platform thread.

• Maintaining a voting weight of at least 500,000 SHU.

• Attending atleast 70% community calls.

Program Manager

In order to facilitate the smooth functioning of the RDP, we propose having an experienced program manager familiar with such operations in other DAOs. DAOplomats has been successfully running such a program at 1inch DAO for over 1.5 yrs and, barring any objections from the community, will steward this epoch of the RDP

Responsibilities

The program manager will oversee end to end execution of the RDP, which includes:

• Announcing the program kickstart dates.
• Verifying if applicants meet the criteria
• Processing monthly payments as well as gas reimbursements, through a Safe subDAO using decent.
• Keeping track of expenses and reporting the same to the DAO
• Communicating with the stakeholders regarding the ongoing operations of the program
• Submitting a report at the end of the program stating key achievements, learnings, and suggestions for future iterations

If successful, the program manager will receive retroactive compensation of 400,000 SHU upon posting a report of the program activities and achievements.

Gas Fee compensation

All eligible participants will receive a gas fee compensation for each vote they cast, irrespective of fulfilment of the above-mentioned criteria. Gas reimbursement will be paid in SHU tokens at a price equivalent to 30 Day Moving Average of the ETH-SHU onchain price. The gas rebate shall be paid along with the retroactive compensation for the program manager via a separate proposal

Program Timeline

• If this proposal is approved, the program manager will submit a Forum post announcing the commencement of the program and inviting applicants to create a delegate platform. Delegates with an existing platform do not need to create a new post and can update their existing thread.
• The program manager shall submit a final post with eligible delegates and request a budget from the DAO to run the program via an onchain vote.
• The budget shall include a maximum compensation for each delegate for six months.
• The program manager shall submit a monthly post outlining the compensated delegates.
• The program manager shall submit a report within one week of the final payment.

Considerations

Shutter DAO should explore building a dashboard to track delegate performance. This will allow the community to easily audit voting records and delegate contributions.

Next Steps:

Collect feedback from the community.

[Baer_DAOplomats]

By observing the latest forum engagement stats, I think we should include a form engagement as one of the criteria for the comp. Arbitrum has successfully implemented this in the past.

[zeugh]

I like the format of “I’m a delegate with x% voting power(or sufficient voting power to be above the threshold), and I support this proposal”. Makes life easier.

tbh I tried using a thread recently here on the forum and it said I couldn’t reply because the last 5 messages were mine… It’d be great to have more activity from the delegates, specially if they’re getting compensated for it.

[0xAlex]

Thank you, @jengajojo! At Kleros Labs, we believe this initiative could significantly boost participation within ShutterDAO governance and attract new delegates who hold 500k SHU but are not yet participating.

A similar program at Arbitrum DAO yielded positive outcomes, as highlighted in this final report. Do you have a comparable report for 1inchDAO that shows an increase in participation and other metrics after the RDP program?

What is the rationale behind the compensation proposed for Recognized Delegates and the Program Manager?

We agree with @Baer_DAOplomats that adding an engagement criteria could add value beyond mere participation.

[jengajojo]

Thank you for the feedback @zeugh and @0xAlex

The specifics of the 1inch program where different than the arbitrum program which was purely DAO driven. What we can say is that the program was able to retain existing professional delegates and attract new delegates to join and participate such as FranklinDAO and Curia

The Program Manager’s compensation is designed to reflect the responsibility and expertise required to oversee the Recognised Delegates Programme (RDP). The Program Manager will handle tasks like verifying delegate eligibility, processing payments, and tracking expenses. The retroactive compensation of 400,000 SHU serves as a performance-based reward, ensuring accountability and incentivizing successful program execution. The structure motivates the Program Manager to maintain clear communication, meet deadlines, and provide insights for future improvements, aligning with Shutter DAO’s goals of increasing governance participation, security, and long-term sustainability.

[5pence]

Thank you @jengajojo for initiating this important discussion about governance participation, and to @Baer_DAOplomats for your continued focus on strengthening the 0x36 DAO.

While I appreciate the intent behind this proposal, I have some fundamental concerns about its approach:

1. KPI-Driven Participation: Creating a system where delegates must hit specific KPIs (70% participation, attendance, etc.) risks incentivizing box-ticking behavior rather than thoughtful governance. Quality of participation matters more than quantity.

2. Administrative Overhead: Adding a paid program manager to track metrics, process payments, and monitor delegate compliance seems to create unnecessary bureaucracy. At this stage in our DAO’s development, we should be focusing on reducing complexity, not adding layers of administration. A quick reminder, this DAO has no revenue.

3. Alternative Approach: If our goal is to increase meaningful delegation and participation, we might consider:

   • Implementing periodic retroactive rewards for delegates who have demonstrated consistent, valuable participation
   • This would naturally reward genuine engagement without creating artificial incentives
   • It would also be simpler to administer and be more capital efficient

4. Treasury Considerations: With our current treasury, we should be particularly mindful of creating ongoing payment obligations. Retroactive rewards for demonstrated value might be more prudent than forward-looking commitments.

Rather than creating a delegate management program, what we might really need is focused governance facilitation that:

• Improves delegate tools and documentation
• Streamlines proposal processes
• Provides better information flows to delegates
• Makes it easier for token holders to make informed delegation decisions

If DAOplomats is interested in helping strengthen our governance, perhaps we could discuss a governance facilitator role that serves the DAO by focusing on these improvements rather than administering a delegate incentive program. It would be interesting to see a proposal that offers this service, with a list of bulleted obligations and deliverables.

[d0z3y]

I agree with the alternative approach suggested by @5pence. At this stage / size of the DAO I think we should limit the number of paid roles.

[jengajojo]

Thanks for taking the time to review the proposal and writing thoughtful feedback @5pence

Please check out our proposal for [RFC] Trial run a Governance Guardians Program which includes a governance faciliatator role and some of the responsibilities you have mentioned could be added to this role if you agree.

I understand your concerns about the additional administrative overhead introduced by a dedicated program manager. The intention behind the program manager role is to ensure efficiency in administering the RDP without overburdening the DAO or creating unnecessary complexity. However, I agree that simplicity is crucial, especially given that Shutter DAO does not yet have significant revenue.

In light of your feedback, one option we could consider is to reduce the scope of the program manager’s responsibilities. Rather than overseeing the entire program, this individual could simply coordinate the application and reporting processes (e.g., verifying eligibility, processing payments, providing a monthly overview) while leaving the more strategic governance tasks to the delegates themselves. This way, the program manager would act more as a facilitator than an administrator.

The alternative approach suggested sounds interesting. It would be great to identify what is valuable participation or genuine engagement, however, the classic challange with governance has always been, who decides who decides?

A similar KPI based delegate incentive structure has been adopted by Hop, AAVE, Uniswap, Optimism and Maker It is natural for such programs which incentivizes minimum participation to evolve in the DAOlandscape given the complex nature of DAO governance and the expertise it requires. While we can be idealistic of what governance should be, the reality is that there are a limited number of hobbiest who can keep the DAO going. However as we have stated in the motivation section, without incentivizeing a wide range of value aligned delegates to do the miniumums, the DAO risks being vulnerable to governance attacks by externals or be centralized to a few delegates who accumulate significant VP to effectively control the treasury while maintaining governance theatre.