Proposal: Grant Transparency & Fund Recovery

VeBetterDAO
1

:receipt: Grant Transparency & Fund Recovery Proposal

Summary:

This proposal introduces new requirements for all dApp grant applicants to improve transparency, ensure responsible use of treasury funds, and strengthen trust in the VeBetterDAO grant process.

Proposal:

1. Cost Breakdown Requirement:
All dApp proposals must include a clear and detailed explanation of how the requested grant amount was calculated. This should include estimates, justifications, and any relevant assumptions or references.

2. Spending Plan Disclosure:
Each proposal must outline how the grant funds will be allocated across budget categories (e.g. development, marketing, audits) and provide an estimated timeline for delivery.

3. Overfunding Prevention & Fund Recovery:
As targets for each tranche are hit, dApps are to provide an expenditure report in order to receive funds from the following tranche. The amount of unspent funds will be deducted from the following tranche to prevent overfunding.

Rationale:

This proposal ensures fair and transparent use of DAO resources, discourages overfunding, and enables voters to make more informed decisions. It reinforces the values of accountability, sustainability, and trust in the grant process.

Implementation:

These requirements will be integrated into the dApp submission interface and grant review workflow:

Proposals missing a cost breakdown or spending plan will be ineligible for voting

A standardized reporting template (below) will be required between tranches to qualify for continued funding

:clipboard: Standardized Grant Expenditure Report Template (Draft)

Project Name:
Name of the dApp/project

Grant Recipient(s):
Team name and wallet address(es)

Tranche Number:
e.g., Tranche 1 of 3

Date of Report Submission:
DD/MM/YYYY

:white_check_mark: Milestone Completion Summary

Milestone Goal:
Brief description of the objective for this tranche

Was this milestone achieved?

Yes

Partially

No

Evidence of Completion:
Links to GitHub commits, product demos, dashboards, audit reports, etc.

:money_bag: Expenditure Breakdown

Development – Smart contract work – $2,000
Marketing – Twitter campaign – $500
Audit – Security review – $1,000
Services/Tools – Hosting, APIs – $200
Other – Legal/ops – $300
Total Spent: $4,000

:coin: Unspent Funds Summary

Total received for this tranche: $5,000
Total spent: $4,000
Unspent amount: $1,000
Return method: e.g., deducted from next tranche or TX hash to treasury wallet

:speaking_head: Notes or Challenges Faced

(Optional – use this section to share blockers, learnings, or changes)

Thanks for taking the time to read this proposal. I welcome any and all criticisms/concerns that aims at encouraging overall grant transparency and preventing overspending from the DAO Treasury.

6 Likes
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I’d add detailed description of changes as it’s the new requirement for proposals (not sure if it’s active yet).

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I can definitely add that. Good shout! Thanks Morb

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I think it could be better if foundation also provide something like dashboard for dApp that requesting for funds with milestone checkpoint, and it shows publicly so every step is recorded and transparency is showed up, but keep in note, this is just my personal opinion.

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Thanks for your feedback! I think this would be a great addition looks-wise, but I just feel like it might be a bit too much for this proposal. I also don’t know how difficult that would be to implement, and this proposal is something I’d like to go live sooner rather than later.

The main thing that I’d like to tackle with this proposal is simply that grants are requested with clear estimated expenditure expectations accompanied by a plan regarding what the grant will be allocated towards.

I think dApps needing to submit a report before each tranche is unlocked would be good enough, especially since everything can be traced on the Blockchain.

It would be up to the foundation then to verify the report’s claims before the next tranche from the treasury is released.

2 Likes
6

UPDATED VERSION 16/06/2025

2 Likes
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I’ve now included an updated version of the proposal based on your suggestion. If you have anything to add I’d love to hear it!

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This level of transparency and accountability is long overdue. It’s exactly what we need to protect the treasury and elevate the quality of dApp proposals. Great proposal @Plunk I will make sure to get the word out whenever this drops!

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9

Hey Plunk,

Thanks so much for putting together a well-thought-out proposal on grant transparency. It’s clear you’ve spent time thinking through both the pain points and how we can raise the bar across the board. These are exactly the kinds of conversations we’re excited to see in the community.

We really like the spirit of your suggestions, especially the emphasis on cost breakdowns, expenditure reporting and keeping the community informed throughout the grant lifecycle. We’ll definitely take these into consideration as we continue to evaluate and refine the program.

That said, updates to the process will need to be rolled out gradually. We’re still learning what works best for VBD and want to give applicants time to adapt as expectations evolve.

On the Foundation’s end, we’ll kick things off with a basic quarterly report starting end of Q3 2025. This will include awarded grants, approved milestones, and payments made. We’re also encouraging applicants to be more transparent with budget breakdowns and to avoid over-asking. (Feel free to ask for this info directly when proposals are shared on Discourse, we’d love to see more community<>project interaction.)

For now, we’re keeping the process a bit more flexible in these early stages to lower barriers and attract more builders and founders to VBD. That said, we’re still upholding a baseline for quality. Anyone who makes it to the voting stage has shown relevant experience, community involvement, or a clear passion aligned with Vechain’s goals. The final decision and DD remain with you/our Vefam.

We love seeing proposals like yours that push us to be better. Keep them coming, and thanks again!

With love and thanks,
The Foundation Team

10

Hey Team,

I really appreciate the time you took to write a response to my proposal! It’s really important that we hear from all sides, and not just that of the community.

I completely agree with you that it’s important that updates are rolled out gradually, as the grant process is still in its very early stages. However, I don’t look to change much with this proposal. I don’t see this as a barrier to entry for dApps in any capacity. Let me explain why:

The way things currently are, dApps do not need to outline what they’re going to be spending their funds on. This leaves the doors wide open for dApps to request the maximum amount of allocation without needing to show any reasons as to why. In my opinion, this should be the very first question asked (and answered) when someone is requesting free money.

You mentioned that this could be questioned on Discourse. Leaving this all for discussion on Discourse means that the onus would be on someone from the community to copy and paste their question each week. Not everyone checks Discourse on a weekly basis - most users never use it. There’s also a good chance that these questions won’t even get answered. If a dApp is not required to declare their estimated spending, why should they? Especially if it could dampen their chances of getting their grant approved. This is exactly what my proposal is trying to achieve - to force dApps to provide this information.

If a dApp cannot provide an estimated expenditure report for any reason, or if they feel that this is too much of an ask, what does that say about the dApp as a whole? Any dApp that wishes to be successful would have a good idea as to what their business costs will be. This shouldn’t be an issue for any dApp who have their heads screwed on and their intentions in the right place.

This isn’t to say that the dApps who get through the grant process aren’t trustworthy or deserving of a grant. It’s just that, in my opinion, it’s a no-brainer that someone should have to explain what they’re going to be spending their grant money on. This would be a very big deciding factor as to whether a dApp’s grant proposal gets my vote.

I’d like to ask you what you feel is the drawback to this, specifically? I struggle to see how this could be anything but positive for everyone involved. dApps that have an estimated expenditure report would:

  • Improve their overall organisation within the business.
  • Increase transparency.
  • Increase trust within the community, who are essentially the gatekeepers to whether funds from the treasury are released.

Thanks again for your response, and I look forward to hearing your counter-arguments to my points.

1 Like