GM/GN,
DAOs today are largely just fundraising vehicles and incubators.
The fact is, they can be so much more. If you stick here with me, we’ll discover how that can happen and which DAOs point the way towards a brighter future, together.
Ukraine DAO: Shining a Light Towards The Future of Social Impact
If you don’t know what Ukraine DAO is by now, you should.
For its history, formation, and key milestones, head to Ukraine DAO’s Notion.
All in all, Ukraine DAO focuses on “harnessing the power of Web3 tech and community to defend Ukraine against invasion.” From February to this point, the DAO has donated over $7 million, directly to Ukraine, which includes $4 million to Come Back Alive, a foundation dedicated to supporting the Ukrainian armed forces and keeping the country free.
The fact is, however, this is only a fraction of what the DAO’s been up to. They’ve also released numerous fact-checking and media literacy reports, bringing to light a horde of misinformation, all of which can be viewed here.
Additionally, they run a major initiative called Ukraine DAO Trucks, through which humanitarian aid is delivered via 8 trucks that move in and out of the country and 22 that move to all sorts of areas within it, including the frontlines of the invasion. To me, one of the most beautiful parts of this initiative is that the DAO’s community organized the whole effort including the people who help the trucks at all of their stops along the way.
If you want to learn more about the genesis of Ukraine DAO Trucks, Alona has a wonderful post from her own newsletter(which you should sub to!).
On top of everything we’ve discussed thus far, it’s just beautiful how the DAO truly picked up speed through selling an NFT of the Ukrainian flag to the tune of $6.75 million! NFTs can and will continue to be used as lightning-fast vehicles for charities since their proceeds go directly to ETH(for the most part), which can then easily be flipped to just about any currency you can imaigne.
What I’ve Learned Working with Ukraine DAO
Shortly after Ukraine DAO started, I interviewed Alona for my MBA thesis on DAOs and began to help her compile educational resources for onboarding new contributors. From there, I’ve tried to amplify their messages and help spread the word about their efforts in every way I can.
What I’ve learned through doing so is three-fold.
First, there’s no stronger motivation to work together towards a common goal than stopping an unjust invasion.
Next, DAOs do need some structure, and the implementation of at least working groups for each major area that the collective targets are ideal. With these in place, those who join the DAO can easily find their mini-tribe within it, with people who possess similar skills and motivations.
Finally, Ukraine DAO pioneered the promise of DAOs as turbo-chargers for social impact and continues to do so. This is, as of now, the major road, towards them reaching the masses. I have never believed this more than I do today and it all comes from Ukraine DAO’s community building out so many valuable, real ways to help the Ukrainian people.
Where does all of this leave us?: MVC
"Some of y'all don't want to hear this, but need to: Minimum Viable Community is the new MVP. Web3 is here, but all of the ways it will change the way the world works is not yet fully understood.” - Alexis Ohanian
The days of the Minimum Viable Product ruling startups are gone.
Enter the age of community-first.
The mission, vision, and values are established first as they always have been for the most compelling brands. The difference, however, lies in the fact that the collective of people, often far-flung across the world, that make up the DAO, decide where to go from there.
This is not to say that the crowd rules all.
Some leadership is needed.
Take UkraineDAO, for example, and even Serotonin, as a company, both of which organize their contributors through structures inspired by the idea of a Holacracy. If you’re not familiar with what that is, check out Demetria Giles’ excellent article on the subject.
Either way, just imagine a small group of people, focused on one area of the organization’s operations, who are only responsible to each other and the why that drives the greater collective. In short, small circles of contributors focus on dedicated tasks that the DAO needs to be done.
Beyond being accountable to each other, they’re only really accountable to the DAO’s mission, vision, and values.
No longer do products rule.
The community itself does.
Through the example of Ukraine DAO, it is easy to see how DAOs can move with unprecedented speed toward being something akin to full-fledged NGOs, with far clearer and far more impactful visions from the get-go.
On the horizon
Next time, we’ll build upon all of this and dig deeper into the future of DAOs through how they organize to get things done and what the work of some of the leading thinkers in and outside of the space means for their future.
Until then, please do sub! It helps me keep going as I’m doing this in my free time and please do donate to the organizations mentioned below!
All the best to all of you and you’re always welcome to chat with me any time. It’s together that we triumph over all of the naysayers. DAOs are the future of just about everything and there are so many more DAOs and so many more topics to cover.
Read on and let’s learn together!
- Ian
Special thanks to the real ones!
You all know who you are but I’ll shout you all out here(in no particular order): Everett Muzzy, Luke Katz, Alona Shevchenko, Preston Cooper Jr., Akiraa, Raphael Schoen, JD Lasica, AngelaCMarie, Anna Dart, Sahar Afrakhan, Everyone at Serotonin HQ, Polina Kalashnikova, Jonathan Brun, Justine Massicotte, and the Lighthouse team, and my family and friends back home, outside of Web3.
Donations:
Ukraine DAO: Send ETH to this wallet address: 0x633b7218644b83D57d90e7299039ebAb19698e9C
Further Resources:
How the Influence of Crypto in the Ukrainian Resistance Goes Beyond Money
Ukraine DAO Co-Founder, Alona Shevchenko speaking at ETHBarcelona
LOVE this!! Can't wait to see what's coming.