Index Coop Bounties Program
The Index Treasury Committee is invested in continually finding new ways to reward Index Coop members for contributions which meaningfully further the goals of the Index Coop. The Index Coop Bounties Program is another step in that direction.
Overview
Every month the Index Treasury Committee distributes rewards to active community members based on their contributions to the Index Coop. Contributors are categorized into three categories: Gold, Silver, and Bronze owls.
Starting immediately, Gold and Silver owls from the most recent reward distribution may allocate some quantity of INDEX-- defined at the beginning of each month-- for “bounties”. “Bounties” are any work that furthers the goals of the Index Coop. Gold & Silver owls are not obligated to create any bounties and may choose to never allocate any bounties.
What Kinds of Bounties?
When deciding to create a bounty, eligible bounty creators should ask themselves how the proposed work might help the Index Coop achieve its current goals. At the time of writing, Index Coop’s stated goals are increasing Assets Under Vault and promoting wider distribution of $INDEX tokens. Any work that is rewarded by bounty will not be considered for the monthly reward distribution (i.e. no double dipping of rewards).
A bounty is not:
- For community members to leverage rewards for work already completed.
- For frivolous work that has no link to the Coop’s stated goals.
- To be posted simply because someone has requested it.
A bounty is:
- For rewarding contributions without requiring explicit buy-in from the Treasury Committee.
- A flexible & agile reward system to enable Index Coop involvement in idiosyncratic opportunities.
- A gateway for new community members to begin contributing to the Coop with a clearer image of Index Coop’s immediate needs.
Creating a Bounty
To create a bounty a Silver or Gold Owl should do the following:
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Verify that their current standing as Silver or Gold owl in the most recent reward distribution.
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Check the amount of INDEX that they are allowed to allocate for the current month.
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Create an entry in this public document sharing the open call for work
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The entry should describe an overview of the work, the deliverables, and the reward quantity.
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Post a message in the #bounties channel, notifying users a new bounty has been posted.
Claiming a Bounty
To claim a bounty a contributor should do the following:
- Contact the bounty creator to check if any other members are currently working on the bounty. The bounty creator determines who ultimately receives the reward on the deliverable and may require additional terms for claiming a bounty.
- Once completed, contact the bounty creator directly with the bounty deliverables.
- If the bounty creator deems the work acceptable, the contributor should provide the bounty creator with an address with which to receive the bounty reward.
- Keep in mind that the reward for a contributor’s work is dependent upon the bounty creator’s satisfaction with the work.
When a bounty creator receives work from a contributor, they should:
- Review the deliverable providing feedback on revisions where necessary.
- If the work is acceptable, the bounty should promptly be marked the bounty “Claimed” in the public bounties document.
- The bounty creator should ask the contributor for an address which the bounty reward should be sent to.
Reward Distribution
At the end of the month the Index Treasury Committee will reach out to all Silver and Gold owl contributors to collate any Index bounties that should be included in the upcoming reward distribution.
Bounty creators may then list any work that was done, the bounty amount, and the reward recipient address given to them by the contributor. Once the reward distribution contract has been published, the contributor can simply call claim in the standard rewards distribution contract to receive their awarded INDEX tokens.
All paid bounties will be listed in the rewards distribution document posted at the end of the month for the community to see.
Dispute Resolution
Disputes over bounties seem inevitable. These are some disputes we are considering:
- A contribution is deemed insufficient by the bounty creator, and the contributor does not agree.
- Two contributors submit work for the same bounty. Only one can be paid.
In these cases the Index Treasury Committee will attempt to apply principles of fairness, openness, and flexibility to find resolutions that will leave all parties happy. However, in general it will be up to the bounty creator to determine who ultimately receives the reward for their bounty posting.
Bad Behavior
Bounty creators should remember that INDEX reward distribution by the Index Treasury Committee is at the discretion of the Index Treasury Committee members. The Index Treasury committee is committed to values of fairness, openness & flexibility.
All paid bounties will be published at the end of month reward distribution report. Any members found to be engaged in any self-dealing, dishonest or otherwise corrupt behavior involving bounties may have their standing as Index Reward recipients negatively impacted.
Example Bounty Lifecycle
- Alice is a Silver Owl contributor to the Index Coop. She is putting together a quarterly report on Index Coop products’ performance.
- Alice would like some infographics to present data in a more exciting way, but she is not a designer.
- Alice has been granted 30 INDEX tokens that she may allocate to bounties this month.
- Alice describes her task, the deliverables (2 infographics), and the reward size (10 INDEX) on the public bounties page. Alice also posts in the #bounties channel to let users know her bounty is up.
- Bob is a graphic designer interested in contributing to the Index Coop.
- Bob sees Alice’s bounty and gets to work designing the requested infographics.
- Bob submits the bounty to Alice, who finds the work acceptable.
- Alice marks the bounty as claimed and gets Bob’s payment address for reward payment.
- Alice still has 20 INDEX that she may allocate to Index Coop work before the end of the month.
- At the end of the month, the Index Treasury Committee reaches out to all Silver and Gold owl contributors to collate any Index bounties that should be included in the upcoming reward distribution.
- Alice recommends that Bob be allocated 10 INDEX tokens for his work on infographics.
- The Index Treasury Committee consents and Bob’s address is allocated 10 INDEX tokens in the next published reward distribution contract.
- The monthly reward distribution doc is published with a list of all bounties paid for public audit.