DAOs in a Nutshell
Even if you’re a newbie in the Web3 space, you’ve more than come across the word “DAO”. Heck, even our own name, BubbleDAO has the oh so famous “D”-word in it. So what is a DAO anyway? DAOs stand for Decentralized Autonomous Organizations, and yes, I know that supposedly self-explanatory name is not the most helpful for those new to Web3, so let’s break the name down.
Decentralized means that the organization does not have a single source of control; as a core tenant of anything in Web3, this means that power, and subsequent decision making abilities, in the organization is spread across multiple entities or people. Typically this means that DAOs will give governance or voting power to members of its community. In BubbleDAO’s instance, we are planning to do exactly that once we launch our future NFTs and tokens, so stay tuned and be on the lookout on how to participate in Bubble’s governance.
The “Autonomous” part of the DAO means that the organization is meant to run itself. Tying things back to the decentralized portion, it connotes that even if a key member of the governance community left the organization, that the DAO would still be able to function on, because it relies on itself as a decentralized institution with automated rules and not solely on any one member of the community or a board of directors. This means that the DAO should be fully transparent in terms of treasury and all other information, so that members of its governance community can make the best decisions for the DAO.
Finally, the “Organization” part of the DAO, while may seem self-explanatory, does have quite a few implications attached to its definition; mainly that the organization is an organized group of people or entities meant to share a common or similar purpose, in other words, a community.
Social DAOs to Create Impact
Now that we’ve figured out what a DAO is, let’s take a look at social DAOs in particular. The “social” part of the social DAO really boils down to a shared purpose in a social group or cause for the community. Unlike say, investment DAOs where the shared common purpose is to pool resources together to invest, social DAOs are really meant to bring together people across various realms and borders, unifying us to a tribe of people with similar interests. In BubbleDAO’s case, we’re all about helping more women and minorities feel comfortable joining the Web3 space through both IRL and online events.
The amazing thing about social DAOs is that they can bring about positive change in the world through activism. Since women’s rights are near and dear to our hearts, we wanted to feature ChoiceDAO as a prime example of the positive action of social DAOs. After the devastating overturn of Roe v. Wade by the Supreme Court on Jun 24, 2022, which ended the freedom of choice for women seeking abortions, ChoiceDAO was formed in collaboration with founders UkraineDAO, ConstitutionDAO, and other groups, as a way to stand up and fight back for women’s reproductive rights. ChoiceDAO is blending community and capital together to lead to an organic grassroots movement that complements and supercharges existing efforts in reproductive health. Launching on Monday, July 11, ChoiceDAO’s initial goal is to raise $1+ million in 26 days to enable direct action for people who need access to healthcare, with 100% of proceeds going to organizations supporting reproductive rights, as voted on by the community. Check out their website https://www.choicedao.org/ to see ways that you can be involved.
The structure of DAOs really lends itself to facilitating social impact missions and non-profits, since DAOs by nature are more transparent, decentralized and governed by the community, and have greater accountability through the use of automations and smart contracts. Because social DAOs are still a relatively young notion, get excited about all the possibilities and innovations that are to come as the Web3 community continues to find new ways to utilize DAOs to create change and social impact.