RRC-40: RARI DAO Delegate Incentive Program

[Sixty]

Authors: @sixty, @bitblondy, @cr1st0f

Abstract

The RARI DAO Delegate Incentive Program intends to enhance governance participation within RARI DAO by rewarding active and engaged delegates.

By aligning incentives with governance activity, the program aims to enhance decision-making, improve voter turnout, and strengthen the DAO’s long-term sustainability and security. The goal is to create a more resilient, secure, and effective governance framework that empowers the RARI ecosystem and drives the DAO’s continued growth.

Motivation

Effective governance is vital to RARI DAO’s success. Currently, delegates who review proposals, participate in discussions, and vote on key decisions receive no direct rewards, risking disengagement, voter apathy, and over-reliance on a few committed individuals. To address this, we propose a Delegate Incentive Program that offers compensation and enhanced voting power. This program aims to encourage long-term participation, attract high-quality contributors, and align delegate interests with the RARI ecosystem.

Low participation rates and a small pool of active delegates reduce proactive contributions. An improved incentive program could attract experienced community members and skilled governance professionals, leading to better decision-making. While the Delegate Launchpad has drawn in new delegates, it does not reward ongoing engagement and forces active delegates to reapply for foundation delegations. Introducing continuous rewards will help build voting power and ensure long-term stability for the DAO.

Compensating delegates aligns with best practices seen in other DAOs (examples 1, 2, 3), and it is generally accepted that delegate incentives drive stronger engagement, higher proposal quality, and a more decentralized decision-making process. By implementing this program, RARI DAO can build a more robust governance system, ensuring that those responsible for guiding the protocol’s future are both empowered and supported.

Rationale

The RARI DAO Delegate Incentive Program directly aligns with the DAO’s mission to foster decentralized, transparent, and high-quality governance that drives sustainable ecosystem growth.

Specification

Budget ($31,500 per quarter)

• $10,000 (in RARI) monthly, split amongst all the active delegates. RARI price will be the average price at the daily close for the month in question.
• $500 (in RARI) monthly for administration. RARI price will be the average price at the daily close for the month in question.

Frequency of Payment

Quarterly

• An onchain proposal to reward delegates for their contributions will be shared at the end of each quarter.
• The reward system will be retroactive, starting January 1st, 2025, and will initially continue for 1 year when it will be reassessed.

Eligibility Criteria

• At least 2,000 veRARI delegated (38 delegates as of now)
• 60% 90-day voting participation rate
• Active Delegate Thread
• Not already paid for delegate services by Foundation

What Delegate Activities should be rewarded

Rewards will be distributed based on 3 criteria. We have chosen these criteria as we believe they fall in line with the expectations of any delegate in a DAO. For simplicity’s sake, we have chosen to go with only 3 for now, intending to expand them if the community/delegates see fit.

1. Onchain voting activity - 100 Points

Onchain voting refers to voting activity on onchain proposals on the RARI DAO Tally. Participation in all votes for that quarter will result in a delegate receiving 100 Points. 100 Points is the maximum, and if a delegate misses certain votes, their points will be equivalent to the % of votes that they voted in.

Deducting points for missing votes will create an additional incentive for delegates to participate in every onchain vote, bolstering the strength of our governance process.

2. Active delegate thread - 100 Points

Each delegate should maintain an active delegate thread on the RARI DAO governance forum. A delegate thread is a post on the governance forum where a delegate introduces themselves and explains their governance philosophy and other relevant details about the delegate. The DAOplomats delegate thread here is a perfect example.

Delegates should reply within their delegate thread after each vote with reasoning as to why they voted the way they did. If the delegate previously left a ‘comment’ on the proposal’s forum post, they can reference this comment as their voting rationale in their thread.

A delegate’s comment on their rationale thread (or linked comment left on the proposal) should include:

• Clearly state if they voted For, Against, or Abstained
• Reasons for Support / Opposition of the proposal
• If they voted Against or had concerns, suggest improvements.
• If they voted For but see areas for iteration, mention them.

We encourage delegates to be genuine in their comments, including whether they might not have properly understood the proposal so we can work on adding more avenues for collective learning. Also, we encourage delegates to give well-thought-out responses and feedback rather than submitting generic AI responses. Complaints and/or concerns should also be presented with the aim of providing constructive criticism, such as solutions or alternatives for your complaint/concerns.

Points for maintaining an active delegate thread will be distributed only for voting rationale on onchain votes (Tally). Therefore, these points will be calculated as a percentage of total onchain votes for that quarter.

Delegate threads should be completed before the end of the quarter.

3. Proposal Creation - 150 Points / 200 Points

If a proposal is passed, a single author will receive 150 additional points. If there are multiple authors, they will split 200 points amongst themselves.

Proposals that already intend rewards toward the authors (e.g., receiving a grant or setting up a paid working group) shall not be additionally rewarded.

Reward Distribution Methodology

At the end of the quarter, all points earned by delegates will be tallied up and summed together. This means all the points delegates earned will be added together. After adding all the points, we will divide the total points by the fixed reward pool for the quarter ($30,000). This will allow us to determine the price per point.

Once the price per point is determined for the quarter, rewards will be distributed in proportion to the points a delegate has earned for the quarter.

How should we keep track of rewarded activities?

Administration

daospace will handle the administration of the delegate incentive program by combining onchain and offchain data tracking to provide a clearer picture of delegate activity each month, with the aim to automate the process and provide real-time tracking.

Review Period

DAO members will review the quarterly report for any inconsistencies and inaccuracies before an onchain proposal is posted; this is to ensure that delegate payouts are accurate and fair.

KPIs

It is important to track KPIs for any incentive program. As there are two main components to the incentivization strategy, voting and passed proposals, it is proposed that these make up the KPIs for tracking the success of this proposal. The KPIs to be tracked and reported on are, therefore:

• Number of active voters.

• Average vote participation rate for active voters.

• Average $RARI voting on proposals.

• Number of proposals passed per quarter.

Proposed Timeline

1st January - 31st March, 2025 - Delegate Rewards period Q1

First Week of April, 2025 - Delegate Rewards Report Q1 is shared on the forum for feedback

Second Week of April, 2025 - Delegate Rewards Proposal Q1 is posted on Tally

Overall Cost

The cost of this proposal is $31,500 per quarter with the proposed programme running for one year at a total cost to the DAO of $126,000 per year. The dollar conversion to RARI will use the average price over any time period being considered.

[forexus]

@Sixty

At least 2,000 veRARI delegated (38 delegates as of now)

Would recommend to only do this for the 15 delegates selected in the delegate cohorts. I mean, we’re the ones actively contributing to the space.

@Sixty

Not already paid for delegate services by Foundation

With that you are referring to Stable Labs correct? They are the only delegates getting paid right now from the Foundation.

@Sixty

Rewards will be distributed based on 3 criteria. We have chosen these criteria as we believe they fall in line with the expectations of any delegate in a DAO. For simplicity’s sake, we have chosen to go with only 3 for now, intending to expand them if the community/delegates see fit.

I personaly would love to see delegate activity on X get rewarded too. A lot of times there are only 1 or 2 delegates speaking about the foundation on X, or even retweeting a post. I mean you are here to contribute to the rari ecosystem, why not help with it on X?

Besides this i’m interested so see where this proposal goes.

[cr1st0f]

@forexus

I personaly would love to see delegate activity on X get rewarded too

With this proposal we were aiming to keep it simple and tweak in the future based on feedback and how metrics respond to this.

I think for this version we should aim to draw in more delegates to stimulate activity tbh, limiting to the 15 seems to go counter to this.

And on the stablelab point - yes this was intended to mean them. It seems only fair that they don’t get paid twice for the same work, we’re keen to hear opinions on all of the above though.

[Jose_StableLab]

Thank you for putting up this proposal.

We think it is fair Rari delegates get compensated as they have been committed to the DAO for a long time, delivering great expertise. We like the mechanism, rewarding those delegates with active delegation and proven track record of activity. Additionally, the periodic reports will also serve the community as a checkup of the state of governance every quarter.

[forexus]

Thank you for the feedback my friend. All seems clear.

[jarisjames]

I’m fully in support of this proposal. It presents a thoughtful and well-designed approach to one of the core challenges in DAO governance by establishing a clear incentive system that promotes consistent participation while prioritizing the quality of contributions over volume. I especially appreciate the emphasis on rewarding thoughtful engagement through rationale threads and meaningful forum activity rather than simply counting votes. Other DAOs like Arbitrum have successfully implemented delegate incentive programs, and the added focus here on elevating the standard of discourse through high-quality forum posts makes this initiative even more compelling.

[coffee-crusher]

I do support this proposal, it’s a “carrot” incentive and the motivation of helping active governance activities, will help all delegates to be rewarded to gain voting power and therefore, more alignment to the DAO and their delegate responsibilities.

I do have a clarification question about the 100 points for the Active delegate thread. The second to last sentence states that points for active delegate thread will only be distributed for Tally votes. Does that mean that points are only awarded for ADT if the delegate both voted for that proposal and added their voting rationale /comment thread to their ADT for that same proposal?

[Jaf]

Thanks for putting together this proposal. This is a topic that’s been discussed for a while, and now that our delegates are a more mature group, it feels like the right time to get things moving.

I like that the reward criteria are clear and well thought out. Running this program for 3 months will provide valuable feedback to improve in the next quarter.

The only part I’m not fully aligned with is the retroactive reward system starting from January 1st. I’d suggest a fresh start in Q2 - a “fair launch.”

Also, as we’ve done with other strategies, it would be great to see a quick example of how the numbers might look by the end of Q1. Maybe using DAOplomats and two other delegates?

[sohobiit]

Hey guys GM

after reading this prop i have this questions:

	•	What mechanisms exist to adjust the budget if the program does not meet its objectives?
	•	How will the fluctuation in RARI’s price impact the program’s sustainability?
	•	How was the threshold of 2,000 veRARI delegated defined, and what impact will it have on the number of eligible participants?
	•	Why were these three criteria (onchain voting, active delegate thread, and proposal creation) chosen instead of other factors like participation in discussions or community education?
	•	Is there a mechanism to include new evaluation criteria if the community deems it necessary?

[bitblondy]

As I’ve contributed to the draft, I generally support the proposal, hoping it will increase the number of delegates and participation in the DAO.

There’s a couple of points I would like to emphasize:

• To limit the financial risk for the DAO, the payout needs to be approved via proposal every quarter, meaning with approving this proposal, in April we would publish a follow-up proposal with the $31,5k for the first quarter of this year. Upon establishing the program, we could change this to a longer timeframe, ensuring continuity for delegates.

• With every quarter, DAOspace will prepare a report on the mentioned KPIs, so we can monitor whether the incentive program actually drives delegate activity.

• Besides voting and being active in the forum, we’ve chosen passing proposals as a third factor and valuing it with the most points. This should ensure, that the DAO is rewarding initiative even more than (passive) participation.

@coffee-crusher Thanks for the feedback! We had a long discussion about how to measure forum activity. As we were trying to keep it simple, we decided in the end to just integrate the delegate thread, meaning for every tally vote, there should to be a voting rationale. I do think that technically counts independently, doesn’t really make sense to post a rationale without voting, though.

@Jaf About your suggestion to start with Q2. We thought it’s generally more straightforward, if we start with a full year, the rewards are retroactive in any case. The delegate thread can be completed until the end of the quarter. Happy to hear other thoughts on this, though.

@sohobiit Thanks for your questions. The quarterly approval should limit the risk for the budget and the price impact. Then is also time to rethink the evaluation criteria or adapt the program in general.

The three criteria were chosen after reviewing other delegate incentive programs and our general motto to keep it simple (analysing the quality of forum posts or interaction on social media is more challenging). DAOspace already had some ideas on that, though, that we could incorporate later.

The threshold of 2k RARI was defined to include a meaningful share of delegates (also the delegate program participants) while reflecting the necessary voting power. This is much less strict than in other DAOs, i.e. nearly all active delegates at the moment should be included there.

[CRYPTOCHILD]

So your idea of increasing the number of active delegates is to limit the incentive to the delagates cohorts already active and presumably already received incentives?

[CRYPTOCHILD]

Thanks for this proposal.

Briefly: I’m a self-funded delegate who locked my RARI for 2 years.
My motivation for locking RARI was due to my support and loyalty to Rarible coming from the spamart and trashart movements.
I’ve received zero incentives for my involvement and my participation has been minimal - but I’ve been watching and reading closely.

Why haven’t I been active?

minimal veRARI: at times it seemed pointless voting.
I plan to encourage other smaller holders to either be active or delegate.

Rari dao participation is spead out across several sites.
Also wallet log in would be simpler.

Life is busy - I forget.
Twitter has always been the life-blood of crypto. Being more active here, especially when a vote is due to close, may be helpful.

The main issue I see with this proposal is the retrospective application.
Already the first quarter is almost done which makes the motivation for the proposal redundant - $31,500 for nothing - no incentive at all. Run it for 3 quarters or begin the program from the 2nd quarter to let the incentive take effect.

I know I’ve had my RARI unlocked but still in contract since November but despite repeatedly asking, re: lock on RARI chain or ETH, I’ve received no definitive answer. So I guess I couldn’t particpate evenn if I wanted to. This is also another reason to not run the incentive program retrospectively - there are other potentially active delegates in this limbo right now.

[forexus]

None of the cohort delegates (besides Stable Labs) receive any incentives for their work

[GozmanGonzalez4]

This proposal is strongly supported by me due to its well-structured approach to enhancing DAO governance.

The implementation of a clear incentive system that prioritizes quality contributions over sheer volume is a significant step forward.

The emphasis on rewarding thoughtful engagement, particularly through rationale threads and meaningful forum activity, demonstrates a commitment to fostering a higher standard of discourse.

[addie]

@CRYPTOCHILD

Briefly: I’m a self-funded delegate who locked my RARI for 2 years.
My motivation for locking RARI was due to my support and loyalty to Rarible coming from the spamart and trashart movements.
I’ve received zero incentives for my involvement and my participation has been minimal - but I’ve been watching and reading closely.

gm @CRYPTOCHILD! Thank you for commenting on this discussion, introducing yourself, and being a long-time supporter of RARI and Rarible! I’m Addie, the community lead, for RARI and you can always come to me for questions about the DAO and RARI. My telegram and discord handles are the same - @addigator.

Responding to a few of your points below in case the details are helpful, and would be happy to meet with you sometime to learn more about your background, start with RARI/Rarible, and ways to get more involved, or just have an intro chat. Note, I will not be commenting on the proposal since that was submitted by delegates.

@CRYPTOCHILD

I plan to encourage other smaller holders to either be active or delegate.

This is great! Every vote counts. Also, the DAO is in the middle of an upgrade per RRC-30 and RRC-34 that have both been executed on Tally. These proposals cover dropping the veRARI model and simplifying the $RARI token experience (RRC-30), while enhancing the DAO via staking to improve governance participation (RRC-34). Let me know if you have any questions about these two proposals. There may be a few more proposals before the upgrade is complete and is live, particularly around staking incentives for delegators and delegates, so stay tuned!

@CRYPTOCHILD

Rari dao participation is spead out across several sites.
Also wallet log in would be simpler.

The Foundation and DAO are actively working towards streamlining the RARI DAO experience for all token holders. Until all the upgrades mentioned above are complete and live, I will list the main sites to engage with for now, plus some other DAO resources.

Sites

1. How to lock your $RARI and get veRARI: RARI Foundation. This will change after the upgrades are in place and there will be detailed instructions for all token holders so please stay tuned!
2. Vote or delegate: Once veRARI is obtained, you can choose to vote on Tally proposals with the tokens, or delegate via Tally to a RARI DAO delegate listed here: Tally | Rari DAO | Delegates. The veRARI model will be dropped eventually with the upgrades, but is still in place for now. Additional resources will be available for how to vote and/or delegate as the upgrades are closer to going live.
3. Direct voting: Should you choose to vote directly with veRARI rather than delegate, the best way to stay informed of DAO discussions is checking the forum for offchain discussions, and Tally for proposals that move to onchain voting.

Resources

1. RARI DAO Resources. This includes the sites linked above, plus some other channels and resources.
2. RARI DAO knowledge base. Your go-to guide for navigating RARI DAO. This is linked on the RARI DAO Resources page shared above.

@CRYPTOCHILD

Life is busy - I forget.
Twitter has always been the life-blood of crypto. Being more active here, especially when a vote is due to close, may be helpful.

Absolutely agree with you! Being more active on Twitter has been a focus on the Foundation for 2025.

1. Earlier this year, the Foundation introduced a monthly twitter space series dedicated to RARI Roundups to help the community stay informed. RSVP to the spaces if you can join Wednesday, March 19 @ 10am ET / 2pm UTC. Otherwise, a recording will be shared. Here is the recording from the first spaces in February.
2. The RARI Foundation account on twitter is best to keep up with RARI Foundation and DAO news. The account has been posting more governance activity since January, though always happy to take in feedback from the community! The posts are mainly roundups that cover all ongoing governance activity, rather than singling out any one proposal.
3. Check out the Keeping updated section of the RARI DAO knowledge base for how to subscribe to forum and Tally notifications to stay informed of RARI DAO happenings. There is more info on how to navigate RARI DAO in the rest of the document as well.
4. I aim to post RARI Highlights on a weekly basis, but depending on conferences or travel, they are sometimes semi-regular. These highlights cover what’s happening across the RARI ecosystem. The latest post can be found here, and you can always search “highlights” in the top right of the forum homepage search feature to see all highlight posts.
5. If you have time and are available, the Foundation hosts monthly community calls that are open for all to attend - RSVP on discord. The community call slide decks are also published in the highlights if you cannot attend the live call.

@CRYPTOCHILD

I know I’ve had my RARI unlocked but still in contract since November but despite repeatedly asking, re: lock on RARI chain or ETH, I’ve received no definitive answer. So I guess I couldn’t particpate evenn if I wanted to. This is also another reason to not run the incentive program retrospectively - there are other potentially active delegates in this limbo right now.

Right now the only place to lock RARI is on ETH here: RARI Foundation. Do you remember where you have been asking? Apologies if anything was overlooked! I searched the Foundation community discord server and telegram, but didn’t see anything. Perhaps in twitter DMs or comments? You also have my direct contact info now, so please don’t hesitate to reach out with any other questions about RARI DAO!

Also, would still love to meet with you 1x1 for intros, so please reach out with some times that work for your schedule.

Thank you for sharing your feedback, comments, and insights. Look forward to collaborating more!

[coffee-crusher]

@Sixty

3. Proposal Creation - 150 Points / 200 Points

If a proposal is passed, a single author will receive 150 additional points. If there are multiple authors, they will split 200 points amongst themselves.

Proposals that already intend rewards toward the authors (e.g., receiving a grant or setting up a paid working group) shall not be additionally rewarded.

I do support how points can be gained by passing a proposal vs. just submitting a proposal on Discourse. This will incentivize the author(s) to submit proposals that align with the DAOs and Foundations goals, and not trying to gain the system of just submitting proposal for the purpose of points farming.

I genuinely appreciate how this proposal keeps it simple on earning points, while at the same time, starting the monitoring of rewards from Q1, is a good starting point.

With it starting retroactively, you’ll get a good baseline of delegates who have been active during this period without any incentives, and also meets your KPI of mapping your number of active voters, governance discussions and proposals, which should increase in Q2, and going forward.

[coffee-crusher]

Thanks, @bitblondy, that makes total sense. I really like the simplicity of this proposal, and also, I didn’t catch it when I first read it (and you mentioned it in your comments below) that this is a quarterly renewal-able proposal.

I think this is great way do it, since it allows the team to adjust the proposal if something is not working as intended, and at the same time, it reduces the risk to the treasury with a quarterly approach.

[bitblondy]

Thanks @coffee-crusher for your positive feedback. The downside is the shorter continuity for delegates, but for the first quarters we should have the option to reiterate on the process if necessary.

@CRYPTOCHILD Thanks for your comment. Yes, for the first (retroactive) quarter, the draft favours delegates that have already been active without incentives. While this does not have an effect on previous engagement, as @coffee-crusher mentiones, it provides a baseline to measure the effects in the coming quarters. Open to hearing more thoughts on this.

[Sixty]

GM everyone, thank you for all the positive feedback on the proposal. I think we have had sufficient time to discuss and digest this proposal, and we will be working on getting it published on the RARI DAO Tally this week.

Just a couple of reminders:

1. The first version of this proposal will have no cost, and will simply act as a signaling mechanism and ratification for the first year of Delegate Incentives (distributed quarterly).

2. Any interested delegates should create their voting rationale threads by the end of this quarter (March 31st, 2025), to be eligible for Q1 incentives. Examples of Delegate Threads → (DAOplomats Delegate Thread, StableLab Delegate Thread)

[coffee-crusher]

This looks great, @Sixty and I’m looking forward to it going up on Tally. Thanks also for the reminder with the deadline for creating a delegate thread.