As Michigan fans, we believe in the unwavering commitment of Michigan fans: We all love Michigan athletics and want to see athletes maximize their experience at Michigan.
Many Michigan fans want to financially support Michigan athletics, but in a way that we feel ownership of that impact (and have different financial entry points)
Michigan has booster organizations, but with a high barrier to entry and a lack of full transparency of end-to-end financial transactions
Michigan fans can reference our fandom online through social media and blog posts, but have no indelible/everlasting proof of the fan contributions we’ve made
Numerous Michigan clubs, fan groups, and alumni associations exist across the globe, but are typically localized to that community. We have the ability to be global.
We believe building the DAO infrastructure upon the foundation of an aligned vision will allow us to focus our collective efforts to create an innovative and sustainable community of owners.
Before going into more detail on what the DAO infrastructure will allow us to do, I wanted to align on questions many people may have. Austin Meek graciously wrote an article recently that we believe accurately represents what we are trying to accomplish, the potential, and also the risks. Additionally, the comments under the article are particularly informative for us at this early stage of development. We know we don’t have all the ideas and should entertain all well-intentioned critiques in real-time to be as transparent as possible. Additionally, we want to use this as a reference for potential members with similar concerns.
“Money laundering involves disguising financial assets so they can be used without detection of the illegal activity that produced them. Through money laundering, the criminal transforms the monetary proceeds derived from criminal activity into funds with an apparently legal source”
a) We are building in public and will not disguise anything
b) We will be fully transparent of financial operations throughout Season 1 — e.g. how much goes to athletes vs. DAO treasury vs. Draftly vs. Charity
c) Once we transition to on-chain treasury and governance, everyone will be able to see transactions on the blockchain (public ledger)
d) We are actively working with NIL experts to ensure everything we do aligns with NCAA regulations regarding NIL
Athletes’ financial relationship with MGoDAO is by definition upside-only. If an athlete is interested in collaborating with MGoDAO, we will actively work with them to develop terms of service and compensation. This could include permission to use NIL on MGoDAO material, promotional social media posts, fan meet-and-greets, signings, etc. We will continue to evolve how we collaborate with athletes in the hopes of designing ways to maximize their earning power.
Alternatively — leverage the MGoDAO community to identify NIL opportunities outside of direct collaboration with MGoDAO or provide platforms for other teams to capitalize on their NIL (example — women’s basketball team signing event at a football tailgate)
Open and inclusive, no gatekeeping: Anyone can join our community from anywhere around the world and participate
Transparent financial flow for athletes, charities, vendors, operations: Once formally on-chain, all MGoDAO transactions will be coordinated through a shared set of rules enforced and visible on the ethereum blockchain. Although Season 1 treasury will not be on-chain, members will have visibility into this as MGoDAO will disclose all transactions to athletes, charities, and vendors
Tangible rewards — member tailgates, athlete meet and greets, giveaways, merch, other community events, etc.
Immutable proof — a permanent, indelible, and unalterable proof of your commitment to Michigan athletics on the blockchain ledger
Ownership — as a member, you own that immutable proof of your commitment in the form of an asset (Ethereum NFT) that you have the ability to sell at any time
Owner input and DAO agility: Members of MGoDAO already have the ability to provide suggestions to the founding team in discord and will have the power to guide the direction of the project through submitting proposals and equal voting rights on all proposals
Flexible/no commitment required: Come build the community with us and help define the direction of the DAO or just hang out in our discord every once in a while
For those of you who made it to the end, I sincerely thank you for the time you took to read this article. Please reach out to us on twitter at @mgodaonft or in our discord. If you’re interested in learning more about web3 and NFTs, check out the article I wrote to onboard my friends back in October.
Operating Model + governance (including examples for proposals and transactions)
Future mechanisms for large donors
Community spotlight — suggestions from contributors