Hi all, I really appreciate everyone’s input! I want this to be an iterative process and all the feedback so far is super valuable in helping to strengthen the proposal, especially around KPIs, accountability, and transparency.
Several concerns have been raised about the proposal in its current form and I will do my best to address them. My responses are below, grouped by theme.
On the size of the distributions from the UBI pool
I first want to point out what this proposal is NOT. This proposal does not remove or replace UBI. Individual UBI remains unconditional, while the House of Alignment is a separate, complementary layer.
The primary intention of this proposal is to explore how GoodDollar can also support partner projects and public goods aligned with GoodDollar’s mission. Through the House of Alignment pilot, we’re exploring a mechanism to grow ecosystem participation and coordination around G$, helping to increase utility, circulation, and long-term sustainability around the token. The size of the distributions is intended to allocate significant amounts to each of the initial four projects — making it worth their effort to participate, producing meaningful impact for their communities, and generating useful data for future program iterations.
The key aspect of the proposal is that the G$ allocated to the House of Alignment are required to be redistributed to each project’s ecosystem in ways that drive future G$ demand. Growing G$ demand means growing the GoodDollar Reserve — the source from which all UBI is paid — and growing future individual UBI distributions. The choice is not “preserve UBI vs. divert it” but rather, should we invest part of it in mechanisms designed to grow the pool for everyone? I understand 40% is asking for a large amount initially, but using September 30 as a first evaluation date helps mitigate the associated risks and concerns.
On Reserve backing and sell pressure
This is precisely what the member selection and redistribution strategies are designed to prevent. Each of the four inaugural projects in the House of Alignment have been chosen based on their alignment to our mission, their partnership with GoodDollar itself, and their bespoke redistribution strategies that have been designed to create structural long-term demand for G$.
As I stated above, growing G$ demand is the same as growing the Reserve. The broader idea is that stronger ecosystem participation and coordination around G$ can help strengthen the long-term sustainability and impact of the GoodDollar ecosystem as a whole. With the current proposal, the same unit of G$ is doing economic work towards Reserve growth, not against it.
Today, a large portion of G$ distributions naturally leave the ecosystem quickly, which is understandable given real-world needs. For this reason, the status quo is not neutral — the amount of each individual UBI claim today erodes against a growing user base unless the Reserve grows. If we want to scale GoodDollar’s impact, we must increase demand for G$. Through the House of Alignment, G$ will be circulating through local economies, aligned communities, and on-the-ground projects (perfectly described in Afo’s post), instead of only being claimed and immediately exiting the ecosystem. Part of this experiment is exploring whether some distributions can instead create longer-term circulation <> utility <> participation flywheels around G$.
On metrics and accountability
Starting on September 30, each member project of the House of Alignment will be reporting periodically on the G$ usage and impact within their ecosystems. While the specific KPIs will evolve over time, the following metrics that are mapped directly to the program’s objectives will be tracked from the start, and should serve as a good initial framework:
| Area | Description | Metrics |
|---|---|---|
| G$ Distribution | G$ received; G$ redistributed; G$ held end of quarter; Redistribution breakdown | Total G$ amount received; Total amount actively deployed; Remaining G$ balance; Amount and % by recipient |
| G$ Demand | New active wallets; Retention rate; Transaction volume; Transaction count; G$ staked | New wallets holding G$; % of recipients who still hold G$ 30 days after receiving it; Total G$ volume attributable to project activity; Number of G$ transactions attributable to project activity; Total G$ staked in Reserve attributable to project or its users |
| Qualitative Impact | Concrete example(s) of G$ creating meaningful impact; How are people in each community using the G$? | Narrative context that quantitative metrics can’t capture |
On member selection
Two distinct concerns are worth noting here, regarding both the process and “web’3-centricity” of the projects.
On the process: The initial cohort was whitelisted by GoodLabs as appropriate for an experimental pilot. Each project was selected based on their alignment and prior relationship with GoodDollar in order to ensure that the allocations would be distributed appropriately and effectively. Curated selection at this stage is deliberate as we’re testing a new allocation and governance mechanism with known, aligned partners before opening membership to full governance vote. Subsequent cohorts will be selected via periodic votes of both governance houses, as outlined in the roadmap for GoodDAO 2.0 that I previously presented to the community during the CoGov process.
On “web3-centricity”: This reads the partners by their infrastructure rather than their user base. The inaugural members serve local universities in Nigeria and farmers in Brazil (Green Goods), Latin American micro-businesses in the informal credit economy (Textile), and Global South community nodes (ReFiDAO). These are precisely the populations GoodDollar UBI is meant to reach and these partners have already built the rails to get it there.
I hope this gets us to a better understanding of this proposal’s objectives and I’m happy to answer any additional questions the community might have. To promote greater transparency around the House of Alignment and answer your questions further, we’re hosting a community call this Friday: https://luma.com/s1i88ipb
I look forward to seeing you all there!