Catalyst GPS and Blockchain4Good

[IMPACT] Please describe your proposed solution.

Catalyst GPS collaborative strategy framework for Blockchain4good includes:

• Clarifying the Identity: Purpose, Dream and Values.
• Setting Strategic Themes: 3-5 chosen strategic focus areas that, when combined, realize the Dream.
• Understanding and potentially re-wording Functional Perspectives that structure and harmonize our work on different levels.
• Introducing a process to set Objectives: measurable, time-bound and achievable outcomes, that are found in the crossroads of themes and perspectives.
• Brainstorming example Initiatives that could help achieve the objectives. 
• Outlining Roles and Responsibilities required to execute the strategy.
• Guides and Templates to engage leaders across the communities.

[IMPACT] Please describe how your proposed solution will address the Challenge that you have submitted it in.

The Challenge question is: “How can we make Cardano the go-to choice for building DAOs? What tools can we provide to enable effective DAO's Creation & Operation” More specifically, this proposal addresses the need for “Effective Collaboration Management Platforms to Organize Community Intentions and Actions”.

Blockchain4good attracts projects that aim for both impact and financial sustainability, contributing to the UN Social Development Goals. The idea of the collective is to enable its members to have a bigger impact together than what they could have alone. Together the members can take on challenges that alone would be impossible to tackle. What makes this situation tricky is that there is no Blockchain4good community per se but the alliance is composed of the member organizations’ own interlinked communities and key stakeholders. This wide reach and multitude of identities makes it a real challenge to effectively organize the larger entity. Collaboration only becomes possible when there is comprehension of our common purpose, dream and values as well as communication of our common strategic direction and coordination of our actions.

[IMPACT] What are the main risks that could prevent you from delivering the project successfully and please explain how you will mitigate each risk?

Buy-in from our members:

• We need to make sure our solutions are attractive to all our members and their respective communities. It is important to have each of those communities engaged throughout the whole process. This takes time but their input and feedback will prove invaluable.

Alignment

• Imagining a collaboration of seven or more companies may seem difficult. Some might think that because of their natural differences, different companies will never find common ground, that they will always debate each part of the framework at length and fail to find a point of agreement. However, this risk will be greatly mitigated by the goal that all B4G members already share: to combat some of the most pressing social, financial and environmental challenges. This commonality ensures that members will always find common ground, enriched by the diversity of views, as they all seek the best solutions to these challenges, often based on compelling scientific or institutional evidence.

Cross-Chain nature:

• The solutions we offer and the model that we build shouldn’t feel too “Cardanoish”. The collective aims to be blockchain agnostic so the model should appeal to other blockchain communities, feel interoprable with their methodolgies, while still highlighting the value of Cardano approach. If done correctly this can act as a poster child for the Cardano approach.

Competing calendar bookings

• Fitting the schedules of 7+ organizations together is a daunting task. We prepare for this by providing an initial schedule well in advance and by appointing two people per member organization to be part of the strategy process. We have reserved four months for the entire process. That should be sufficient to accommodate even a delay or two.

[FEASIBILITY] Please provide a detailed plan, including timeline and key milestones for delivering your proposal.

Before September:

• Finalize the Blockchain4good principles discussion: what kind of culture should we have, what are the kinds of members we want, etc.
• Facilitate a series of discussions to engage the community to provide insights for purpose, dream and values.
• Create readiness to start the collaborative strategy-making process.

September:

• Set out the framework and agree on the type of initiatives/projects we want to work on together. Focus on growing the community and number of projects
• Clarify the Identity: Purpose, Dream and Values.
• Fix the 4-5 Functional Perspectives and set the 3-4 Strategic Themes.

October:

• Recruit and engage more people to generate more ideas.
• Introduce a process to set 1-4 objectives per functional perspective.
• Brainstorm example initiatives to achieve the objectives.

November:

• Gather feedback, test and iterate to improve the process.
• Focus on the selected strategies and flesh out the details.
• Outline Roles and Responsibilities required to execute the strategy.

December:

• Prepare Guides and Templates to engage leaders across the communities.
• Create a final presentation to gather everything together.
• Present results to the Blockchain4good and Catalyst communities.

Although individual consultation and training sessions vary in methodology as per intended purpose and outcome, they follow the same proven logic of first generating a lot of potential ideas (divergent thinking) and then making tough decisions to narrow down the realm of possibilities (convergent thinking).

Strategy is a choice. What is left out is at least as important as what is included. Two consulting and training sessions are planned for each deliverable (see the budget breakdown below). In between sessions, there is time reserved for both documentation of previous decisions and preparation of upcoming sessions.

Each session includes two Catalyst GPS facilitators. It is the responsibility of Blockchain4good to ensure participation and engagement of relevant personnel as well as any reach out efforts required towards the community members. We have received a small budget also for that.

[FEASIBILITY] Please provide a detailed budget breakdown.

$3,000 Preparation

$1,000 Needs analysis

$1,000 Introduction session

$2,000 Purpose statement sessions (2)

$2,000 Dream statement sessions (2)

$2,000 Values sessions (2)

$2,000 Strategic Themes sessions (2)

$2,000 Functional Perspectives sessions (2)

$2,000 Objectives sessions (2)

$2,000 Initiatives sessions (2)

$2,000 Roles and Responsibilities sessions (2)

$2,000 Engagement planning sessions (2)

$3,000 Presentation preparation

$3,000 Documentation

$3,000 Follow-up and communication

$7,000 Community engagement activities (for member projects)

$39,000 TOTAL

[FEASIBILITY] Please provide details of the people who will work on the project.

The core Catalyst GPS team includes Tomi, Nadia and Ondra. This core team can be amended with chosen impact-driven facilitators at a later stage.

Tomi Astikainen is a Master of Science in Economics and Business Administration, who majored in Organizations and Management. He has worked as a Strategy Consultant and a Leadership Trainer, helping businesses, nonprofits and social movements alike.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomiastikainen/

Ondřej Hálek is a senior consultant, enterprise architect and analyst, who is experienced in customer-focused and culture-oriented design as well as in agile development.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/ondra-h%C3%A1lek-15107744/

Nadia Hopkins has held several roles in her career, both as a business owner and as a Director of Development and Strategic Initiatives in several non-profit organizations, where community engagement was her key responsibility.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/nadiashopkins

Blockchain4Good will appoint two people from each member project:

• Empowa.
• World Mobile.
• Immunify.Life.
• Waya Collective.
• Cardashift.
• EthicHub.
• Cardano Foundation.

Furthermore, we can invite external advisors as facilitators if required.

[FEASIBILITY] If you are funded, will you return to Catalyst in a later round for further funding? Please explain why / why not.

The Catalyst GPS concept will carry on after this and there might be use cases and aspects that need development support. If needed, we will propose these new ideas at later funds. Blockchain4good has a plan for financial sustainability. At a later stage, the member projects will eventually pay a small fee to form a treasury and this kind of strategic initiatives can be covered from that common pool of assets. As Blockchain4good is a blockchain agnostic collective, the Cross-Chain Collaboration aspect comes to the forefront in Fund10 and after. These efforts might require new Catalyst funding.

[FEASIBILITY] Are you or any member of your team working on any other proposals in this Fund9?

[FEASIBILITY] Are you or your team working on any other proposals from previous Funds?

[AUDITABILITY] Please describe what you will measure to track your project's progress, and how will you measure these?

Completion of each phase is easy to track. Participation from various member communities will also be approximated. The goal is to get feedback and input from at least 500 people.

[AUDITABILITY] What does success for this project look like?

With this proposal, we wish to:

• Decentralize decision making, delivery and reporting.
• Provide direction, help communicate what needs to be done and ensure alignment 
• Show that we are making progress and learn from our successes and failures.
• Create a foundation that we can then use to invite collaboration from other chains.
• Serve as an example and good case practice for other collectives, alliances and decentralized autonomous organizations.

[AUDITABILITY] Please provide information on whether this proposal is a continuation of a previously funded project in Catalyst or an entirely new one.

For Blockchain4good this is a first proposal. The Catalyst GPS concept, in turn, was developed as a Fund8 proposal (https://cardano.ideascale.com/c/idea/398299).

Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Rating

The member organizations of Blockchain4good address nearly all of the SDGs but the main goal is, naturally, number 17 “Partnerships for the Goals”. This will definitely help “Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development”.