Celo Communities Guild | Season 2 Funding Request

Governance Governance Proposals
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Proposal Key Aspects

  • Receiver Entity: Celo Governance
  • Status: [DRAFT]
  • Title: Celo Communities Guild | Season 2 Funding Request
  • Author(s): Goldo (@0xGoldo), 0xj4an-work (@0xj4an-work), Anthony (@Anthony), Skdt (@skdt)
  • Type of Request: Funding
    • Intent: Season 2
    • Funding Category: Community Operations
    • Funding Request: We are requesting from the Community Fund 355,022 Celo (US 55,100 Using 0,1597 Celo/US 90 day average from Oct 30th 2025 to Jan 27th + 10,000) Celo for six (6) months of operations.

Summary

This proposal requests funding to continue and scale the Celo Communities Guild throughout the period from January to June 2026, supporting its presence across Discord, Telegram, Reddit, and X.

Active since August 2021, the program has played a key role in protecting community channels and fostering meaningful participation. This role has become increasingly critical as the Celo Foundation advances its decentralization efforts. Maintaining a seasoned moderation team while expanding incentive allocations will allow the Guild to improve coordination, reduce the spread of inaccurate information, and support the ecosystem’s long-term development.

During Season 1, we also showed that a program of this nature can operate effectively in an autonomous and self-managed way, validating the sustainability of the model going forward.

Motivation

Strong and active online communities are a key driver of innovation within the Celo ecosystem. Platforms such as Discord and Telegram function as shared public spaces where users exchange knowledge, collaborate, and build relationships. Moderators play a crucial role in maintaining constructive conversations, supporting new members, and preventing fraudulent activity. In addition, they serve as an important coordination bridge between regional HUBs and the broader global community. This is particularly true on Discord, where moderators help ensure that information circulates clearly and that perspectives from all regions are represented. For these reasons, ongoing support for the Guild is fundamental to preserving community trust and sustaining ecosystem growth.

Objectives

  1. Strengthen Community Engagement: Encourage consistent, high-quality, and inclusive interactions across all channels to deepen relationships within the community.
  2. Preserve Platform Safety: Uphold the Code of Conduct and reinforce moderation efforts to limit spam, scams, and disruptive behavior.
  3. Expand Ecosystem Visibility: Promote updates, initiatives, and contributions from projects and regional HUBs to improve awareness across the Celo ecosystem.
  4. Incentivize Participation: Enable community quests, giveaways, and reward programs, including initiatives such as the Celo Community Steward program, to motivate sustained involvement.
  5. Support Community Expansion: Welcome and guide new members, builders, and contributors, providing a clear and accessible entry point into the ecosystem.

Specification

Building on a proven track record of strengthening engagement and maintaining safe community spaces, this proposal outlines concrete actions to further enhance moderation, incentivize participation, and deepen coordination across key platforms including Discord, Telegram, covering the main Celo account as well as selected regional and language-specific channels, and Reddit.

  1. Active Moderation
  • Ensure 24/7 coverage on Discord, Telegram, and Reddit.
  • Uphold the Code of Conduct and address incidents quickly.
  1. Community Hangouts
  • Host bi-weekly calls on Discord.
  • Reward engagement and participation on the call in the form of Celo token.
  1. Engagement Incentives
  • Further develop the Discord and Guild.xyz points system.
  • Run contests, quests, and giveaways designed to stimulate ongoing community activity.
  1. Ecosystem Collaboration
  • Deeper collaboration with the Celo Regional Council to amplify their initiatives.
  • Coordinate with the Celo Foundation and other ecosystem entities for cross-promotion, like the good collaboration we had with CeloPG.
  1. Transparency and Reporting
  • Release monthly reports outlining activities, outcomes, and key performance indicators.
  1. X Account:
  • Operate the @CeloCommunities account to highlight community updates, promote contests, and actively engage with the broader community.
  1. Google Services and Domains:
  • Cover monthly payments for Google Services and domain renewals to maintain operational efficiency

Metrics and KPIs

  • Lower average response time to inquiries.
  • Increase monthly active engagement across channels.
  • Reduce Code of Conduct violations.
  • Track FAQ themes and sentiment trends.
  • Grow participation in Guild.xyz quests.

Current Status

The Guild successfully met its H1 & H2 2025 targets by being a totally autonomous entity for the first time. Detailed spending records and monthly reports are available [here]. Building on that foundation, this proposal requests renewed funding to maintain momentum and add capacity for H1 2026.

Over the past six months (June–December), we have diligently tracked our expenses, which are transparently documented [here]. These records underscore our commitment to accountability and keep demonstrating the program’s value and impact.

Timeline and Milestones (Monthly)

  • Active moderation in Celo Guilds (Discord, Telegram & Reddit), keeping those channels free of spam.
  • Bi-weekly Community Hangout calls.
  • Ongoing Guild.xyz quest campaigns.
  • Regular amplification of ecosystem news.
  • Active coordination with the Celo Foundation, cLabs, and other ecosystem entities to keep roles, access and information up to date.
  • Exercise and enforce the community’s Code of Conduct.
  • Monthly internal moderator meetings and reporting.

Detailed Budget

We are requesting a total of 55,100 USD + 10,000 Celo from the Community Fund to support six months of operations. The USD portion will be allocated primarily to cover the payments of four full-time moderators and to fund the essential tools required for our work. The 10,000 Celo will be exclusively dedicated to fostering community engagement through contests, quests, giveaways, and similar initiatives.

Payments will be distributed monthly, with performance-based reviews to ensure the program’s objectives are met effectively.

Item Budget Total
Celo Guild Lead Moderator & PM (0xj4an) 3,000 USD 18,000 USD
Celo Guild Moderator – Security (0xGoldo) 2,500 USD 15,000 USD
Celo Guild Moderator (Anthony) 1,750 USD 10,050 USD
Celo Guild Moderator (@skdt) 1,750 USD 10,050 USD
Subtotal: Compensation — 53,100 USD
HashBot Renewal 500 USD 500 USD
Guild.xyz Plus plan (Membership for One Year) 1,000 USD 1,000 USD
Google Services * 12 months (In Advance) Paid with leftover funds from past budget 100 USD 0 USD
Telegram and Discord Premium Services (Membership for One Year) (125 USD * 4 Members) 500 USD 500 USD
Subtotal: Operational Costs — 2,000 USD
Community Incentives (Contests, Guld.xyz quests, Community Steward rewards, giveaways) — 10,000 Celo
Total 55,100 USD + 10,000 Celo

Any funds left at the end of the sixth (6th) month will be returned to the Celo Community Fund or deducted from the next iteration budget.

The Budget will be managed in a Multi Sign designed to have three members, part of the proposal.

Multisign Address (Threshold 2/3):
0x0B6a6666027d90fD56f4a2E1827296db4d590f4d

Signers:

  • 0xgoldo: 0x33200aF9F9FdE72076B74fAb34fDc91D87257174
  • 0xj4an: 0xFEF5A1A2b3754A2F53161EaaAcb3EB889F004d4a
  • 0xKnight: 0xe1a031170081AadcC869FC25A97c7f5618ED7586

Payment Terms

One transfer covering the full 355,022 Celo (US 55,100 Using 0,1597 Celo/US 90 day average from Oct 30th 2025 to Jan 27th) + 10,000 Celo will be sent to the existing multisig 0x0B6a6666027d90fD56f4a2E1827296db4d590f4d.

Team

For 2026 H1, the proposed rotation will have 0xj4an (@0xj4an-work) stepping into the Lead Moderator role, 0xGoldo (@0xGoldo) taking on the position of Security Moderator, and Anthony (@Anthony) & skdt (@skdt) Community Moderators.

Additional Support / Resources

We request continued access to Celo Foundation resources for training and strategic guidance. A full list of official, regional, and language-focused communities maintained by the Guild are the following:

We invite the community to review this proposal and share feedback to ensure alignment with the ecosystem’s goals. Together, we can create a stronger, more engaged Celo community.

Final disclosure: The Celo Foundation will retain ownership of the Discord, Main Telegram, and Reddit channels.

10 Likes
Celo Governance Call #82 | Jan 22th, 2026
Celo Governance Call #82 | Jan 22th, 2026
Celo Governance Call #82 | Jan 22th, 2026
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Strong support for the Communities Guild S2. They’ve been essential in keeping the conversation productive and scam-free. This proposal is lean, transparent, and perfectly aligned with the broader Season 2 intent of optimizing our resources for maximum impact. Let’s move this forward!

5 Likes
3

I was in a Telegram chat, and honestly, scammers are extremely rare there. I mean, there’s really no need for so many admins. You could easily reduce their number and save some money.
For example, about 3–4 months ago I wanted to become an admin myself — and I was totally ready to do it completely for free. I didn’t even know back then that people actually get paid for it.
Because, you know… for such a relatively casual thing as moderating a crypto-themed chat, it really doesn’t take much time. I’d say maybe 10–15 minutes a day at most — just pop in, check the messages, and that’s it. There’s usually very little activity. There’s simply no need to spend hours every day keeping order.
Most of the work is already done by bots and AI anyway (like bot detection, spam filters, etc.).
So overall — from a financial point of view, it doesn’t really make sense to keep funding this many paid admins.
No offense guys, I get it — you just want a lot of free tokens, but I seriously doubt anyone is going to agree to this.

3 Likes
4

Hi @Dmitrii007s thanks for taking the time to share your perspective.

A key point to clarify is that the moderator role described in the Season 2 proposal is not limited to passively “watching” a Telegram chat. For a project of Celo’s size, community operations are structured, multi-platform, and require continuous coordination.

Moderation covers several layers of responsibility:

  1. Multi-platform coverage and 24/7 continuity Celo’s community is spread across Telegram, Discord, the Forum, Reddit, X, and Guild.xyz. Activity may look low at certain hours on a single platform, but globally it is continuous. The reason for having multiple moderators is to ensure time zone coverage, redundancy, and fast response in case of incidents, scams, account compromises, or misinformation. This is not something that can be handled by a single person “checking in” once per day.
  2. Active supervision of automated systems Bots and AI tools are helpful, but they are not autonomous. Every day there are false positives, incorrect bans, muted users, and edge cases that require human review. These are not occasional events. They accumulate quickly across platforms and must be resolved promptly to avoid blocking legitimate community members. This workload is shared among moderators to keep response times reasonable.
  3. Community engagement and coordination Keeping a community healthy is not just about removing spam. Moderators actively participate in discussions, surface relevant conversations, answer recurring questions, and redirect users to the correct resources. This human layer cannot be automated and is essential to prevent communities from becoming inactive or fragmented.
  4. Operational and program management work As outlined in the proposal, moderators also handle structured initiatives such as:
  • Organizing and running biweekly moderator and steward meetings
  • Managing the Celo Guild on Guild.xyz, including configuration, monitoring engagement, reviewing leaderboards, and preparing monthly reward distributions
  • Organizing contests for the community
  • Supporting community campaigns and content distribution across platforms like X and Reddit
  • Hosting a Community Hangout call on Discord twice a month.

These tasks involve planning, data handling, coordination with other teams, and accountability. They go well beyond casual moderation.

  1. Experience and reliability Celo is a large, high-visibility ecosystem. Moderation decisions can have reputational, legal, and security implications. This is why roles are assigned to people with proven experience and long-term involvement, and why responsibilities are distributed rather than concentrated in volunteers who may not be consistently available.

Regarding compensation, the proposal does not aim to “maximize tokens” for individuals. It aims to ensure continuity, accountability, and professional standards for a core community function, while keeping the overall budget stable and transparent.

We appreciate feedback on efficiency and structure, but the current setup reflects the actual scope of work required to operate and safeguard a global community at Celo’s scale.

5 Likes
5

I find the proposal interesting and necessary. We need more spaces where communities can come together, information can flow clearly, and a safe environment is actively promoted for everyone.

5 Likes
6

The focus on regional coordination is exactly what Celo needs to scale globally.

Solid team, clear roadmap for 24/7 security, and a smart shift toward autonomous community growth.

Excited to see the Celo Communities Guild leveling up for Season 2! :herb:

5 Likes
7

Will there be a separate funding proposal for the Celo Governance Guild?
→ Some members of the Celo Communities Guild are also in the Governance Guild.

3 Likes
8

Thanks for raising this, @clemens

Yes, there will be a separate and independent funding proposal for the Celo Governance Guild, which will outline its own scope of work, budget, deliverables, and reporting.

While two members of the Communities Guild are also contributors to the Governance Guild, the roles and responsibilities are clearly separated, and there is no double-funding between the two initiatives. Each guild will be assessed independently through its respective proposal.

We hope this addresses your question, and we’re happy to clarify further if needed.

5 Likes
9

Huge thanks to the Community Guild for putting this proposal together. Your dedication to growing and supporting the Celo community is clear. You have my full support on this proposal!

3 Likes
10

I agree with @Dmitrii007s that this proposal represents an unnecessary overhead on the Community Fund.

The most immediate issue is that the proposed payment rates are not competitive in the market. Spending ~53,000 cUSD every six months on moderation and engagement services is not proportional to the problem being solved, especially when we know the same outcome can be achieved at a significant discount through leaner staffing, external services, or competitive procurement.

We also need to be realistic about Celo’s actual social scale and activity levels. The current workload simply does not justify a four-person, near-full-time structure on engineer level remuneration. The volume of moderation required across official channels can realistically be handled by one, or at most two people, provided compensation is capped at standard, defensible remuneration rates and scoped strictly to moderation.

It is also important that moderation roles do not overlap with other funded ecosystem or governance roles. Concentrating paid influence across multiple coordination layers creates soft power dynamics that are unhealthy for the ecosystem and difficult for the community to properly scrutinize.

Finally, I want to explicitly push back on the idea that engagement farming is a positive form of “growth” or “advertising” for Celo. Artificially inflating activity through quests and giveaways does not build long-term credibility or adoption. In many cases, it has the opposite effect: degrading signal quality, encouraging low-effort participation, and making the ecosystem look less serious to external builders and partners. I have had major stakeholders and builders directly raise these concerns with me.

I am not opposed to moderation as a function, but this proposal is oversized, overpriced, and poorly aligned with Celo’s current needs. A leaner, competitively sourced, and strictly scoped approach would be far more responsible use of Community Fund resources.

3 Likes
11

Hi @yomfana thanks for taking the time to lay out your concerns in a structured and thoughtful way. I will try to respond in the same spirit and clarify some assumptions behind the proposal.

On cost, remuneration, and market comparison
The figures in the proposal are gross amounts. As independent contractors, moderators are responsible for their own taxes and social security contributions. In my personal case, this means that roughly 40 percent of the gross compensation goes to taxes and mandatory contributions, resulting in a much lower net income. This distinction matters when comparing these numbers to salaried roles or headline market rates.

While I cannot disclose historical compensation details due to NDA constraints, I can state that when this initiative was previously run directly by the Celo Foundation, the total budget allocated to community moderation and coordination was in the same range.

If we benchmark this role against comparable functions such as customer support or customer success roles in Western markets, and evaluate gross figures rather than net income, the proposed compensation is broadly in line with those roles. This is especially true given the requirement for experience, reliability, and availability across multiple time zones.

On scope of work and staffing structure
The proposal does not describe a team of four people performing narrow, chat-only moderation. It describes a distributed operational function covering all official Celo community surfaces: Telegram, Discord, Reddit, X, and Guild.xyz. Activity can appear low when observed from a single channel or time zone, but the combined workload across platforms and regions is continuous.

The four-person structure is intentional to ensure time zone coverage, continuity, and resilience. It allows for redundancy during holidays, illness, or unexpected incidents, and avoids single points of failure or burnout. Reducing this function to one or two people would materially increase operational risk and would not realistically provide the responsiveness expected from a global ecosystem like Celo.

It is also worth clarifying that the primary goal of the moderator role is not community growth or marketing. The role exists to ensure availability, reliability, and fast response when questions arise, issues escalate, or incidents occur. Success in moderation often looks like “nothing happening”, which is usually the result of ongoing monitoring and timely intervention rather than an absence of risk.

On workload characteristics
A meaningful portion of the work is reactive and unpredictable by nature. Scam attempts, compromised accounts, misinformation, or urgent user questions do not follow a fixed schedule. Quiet periods on the surface do not remove the need for coverage; they are often a consequence of it.

On engagement initiatives and “engagement farming”
We do not agree that the initiatives run so far can be fairly characterized as engagement farming. Programs such as Guild.xyz rewards, the sticker contest, or the X thread contest were designed to encourage meaningful participation, surface contributors, and reward sustained engagement rather than one-off, low-effort actions.

These initiatives are optional tools, not growth-at-all-costs tactics. They are periodically evaluated and adjusted based on signal quality and community feedback. We share the concern that low-quality engagement can be harmful, which is precisely why these programs are curated and moderated rather than automated or left unchecked.

We fully agree that Community Fund resources should be used carefully and continuously scrutinized. Our view is that this proposal reflects a realistic cost for maintaining baseline operational quality, trust, and responsiveness.

5 Likes
12

Hi @yomfana! Thank you for sharing your thoughts and opinions on this subject! I wanted to take a moment to share a short personal account of how I became involved with the Celo community.

I first came across Celo while looking into different L1 and L2 projects. At the time, I was mostly reading and following discussions across X and Discord to understand the ecosystem better. After some time, I started participating more actively. One of the ways I engaged was through the Celo Guild on Guild.xyz. The incentives were not the main motivation, but they made it easier to get involved and stay consistent.

As I spent more time in the community, I naturally became more familiar with recurring questions, ongoing topics, and the people involved. Eventually, I was asked if I was interested in taking on a Steward role, which felt like a natural next step based on that familiarity.

I am sharing this simply as an example of how participation in the community can evolve over time. In my case, starting from observation, moving to regular participation, and eventually taking on more responsibility happened gradually and organically over many months.

To me, this experience demonstrates how the Celo Guild initiative truly contribute to community building :seedling:, rather than just fostering negative engagement farming.

5 Likes
13

I confirm my new address signer for the community guild safe

0xe1a031170081aadcc869fc25a97c7f5618ed7586

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I confirm my address as signer for the Celo Community Guild Multisign
0xFEF5A1A2b3754A2F53161EaaAcb3EB889F004d4a

15

I confirm that this is my Address for the multisig.