Part VI, Chapter 19
Community Building and Engagement

DAOs are only successful or strong as the communities within the ecosystem and it matters that they are in accord. This would require a lot of engagement amongst themselves and for all sections of the DAO to function in support of one another. However, community building and engagement within the DAO ecosystem cannot be left to chance. It can be intentional and some proven strategies exist: A clearly defined purpose/goal. Transparent communication through open channels such as discord or telegram as well as platforms for consistent feedback and the documentation of all activities and processes that take place within the DAO using tools such as Notion or Github. Inclusive governance through the use of trustworthy voting mechanisms & a credible reward system to encourage participation within the ecosystem. It is also common to leverage skill sets of members within the community to ensure that all hands are on deck for the success of the DAO. The use of project management and collaboration tools to coordinate projects/tasks and keep members on the same pace with the progress of the DAO. Project management tools such as Trello or Asana can be used to set and monitor tasks while developers for instance can use platforms like GitHub to collaborate on projects. Events for/within the community are also welcome, as this ensures that the community is engaged, actual human connections are formed - even if it is mostly online (as virtual meetings), and information and updates are properly received. These events can be educational, to help the members understand past or even most recent happenings within the DAO and shape their minds in preparation for changes that must happen within the DAO. More than anything, DAOs are keen on collective success and these strategies will help to create awareness within the communities and encourage participation and improve the stance of the DAO in all areas.

Strategies for Community Engagement

Community engagement within the DAO ecosystem will require more than a one size fits all approach. Genuine engagement amongst members can only thrive on active participation stemming from transparency, fairness and inclusivity amongst other important factors. To have a truly active community, a DAO must have its goals clearly set out and be loud about it. In regular social terms, it would be fair to expect the DAO to have a launch that involves like-minded individuals who already understand or participate in the workings of a DAO itself. If the general public is expected to buy into the idea, they have to understand it and this is a perfect way to start. However, when members troop in, these strategies will keep them as a part of the DAO community. A welcoming environment which will clearly show that diversity and inclusion are important to the DAO. In this sense, inclusion also expands to people beyond the “tech savvy” group as a DAO must make every member feel respected and encouraged to contribute ideas and participate regardless of their status in life. Contributor covenant serves as a worthy platform in this sense. As an open-source tool that can create and enforce codes of conduct within the DAO, it can help in setting security measures against bullying or downgrading of members and their efforts in any form. Transparency and accountability sits at the top as well in the process of building an engaging community. Members need to be made aware of the progresses/setbacks and be able to view past financial operations within the DAO for the purpose of building trust. There are multiple platforms to use in this process such as Etherscan - to help in the process of tracking and verifying financial operations as well as OpenZeppelin Defender Admin to ensure transparency by automating and managing the administration of smart contracts within the DAO. Inclusive governance varies within DAOs depending on their structure but majorly, decision-making must be inclusive and voting must be accessible. The use of platforms such as Snapshot for proposal voting or Aragon for the creation and management of governance and voting processes within the DAO should be considered. DAOs may be based online but its members are real people and thus, interactive platforms are a necessity in the process of building community engagement. Platforms such as Discord can be used in the process of creating forums and channels for the community. Telegram, being more socially adaptable, is typically used for updates and simple discussions while Discourse presents the opportunity for a more structured pattern of interaction. These platforms give room for transparent and live communication (as well as a backlog for members to go back to). Through these platforms, updates, questions and concerns are taken into cognizance and properly addressed. Educational resources are also needed in the DAO ecosystem. They help to ensure that almost if not all members of the DAO are at the same level of understanding with the basics (mission of the DAO) at least and they show new ways of improvement and contributions. These resources can be shared as tutorials or typical onboarding materials like slides. Workshops and live webinars are a norm as well and platforms like Zoom can be used in this process. Feedback from the community might not be capable of breaking the DAO but it certainly shows that there is need for growth or change. In line with this, regular surveys are typically used at every point of progress within the DAO. Platforms for this include Google Forms and Typeform for the purpose of creating and analyzing feedback from members of the community. DAOs must continue to improve the experience for the community and this will demand the consistent review and testing of these strategies in line with the goals of the DAO specifically as well as the readiness to embrace innovation and incorporate new strategies where necessary. Tools and Platforms for Community Management

To manage a community within the DAO ecosystem, traditional methods will need to be set aside mostly and this means that the use of multiple tools and platforms will be employed for these aspects:

Communication

Telegram - with features that include group chats, broadcast channels, bots, and end-to-end encryption for Instant messaging and interaction within the community. Discord - with features that include integration with other tools, voice and text channels. It works for discussions and by extension, community building. Discourse - with features that include notifications, tags, trust levels and integration with other tools, it works best for long-form discussions, proposal deliberation, and maintaining threaded conversations.

Governance

Snapshot - its features include integration with other blockchains, gasless voting & proposal creation. It is used as an off-chain voting platform for DAOs. Aragon - a suite of tools which offers governance modules, voting systems, finance management & token management for the creation and management of DAOs.

Collaboration

Trello - built to track tasks and manage projects, Trello’s features include boards, lists, cards and checklists. Notion - this is an all inclusive workspace for collaboration, documentation & project management with features including task lists and integration with other tools. GitHub - built to help developers create and manage their code, this collaborative software development tool has easy code hosting properties and project boards as some of its distinct features.

Transparency and Accountability

Gnosis Safe - which is most known for managing digital assets for the DAO with its multi-signature function. Etherscan - allows anyone to track transactions and verify addresses or tokens as a blockchain explorer on the ethereum platform. OpenZeppelin Defender - built for the creation and management of smart contracts. It is known to automate admin tasks & monitor transactions. These tools and platforms are just a few which can be used to ensure that communities within the DAO ecosystem are effectively managed and constantly aligned with the goals of the DAO as a whole.