Please vote nay. Timing out.
3 months ago
Rejected
PLEASE VOTE NAY. TIMING OUT.
Thank you to everyone for commenting. As explained 3 weeks ago, the proposal tested the water for both the community appetite to spend and the structure of this initiative. It was clear within the first few days that we needed to regroup and the decision was taken by the Ambassadors through discussion that we would leave it up to gather further feedback upon which to continue building. An overview:
Supportive Points
- Proven Success: Genesis Cycle delivered results in mentorship, coordination, and onboarding.
- Strategic Continuation: Ascent Cycle builds on previous work with clear milestones and focus areas (e.g., education, governance).
- Community Building: Seen as a long-term investment in decentralised leadership and infrastructure.
- Positive Ambassador Experience: Some participants reported meaningful involvement and growth opportunities.
Critical Concerns
- Excessive Compensation: Salaries seen as too high and not well-justified; imbalance between leadership and grassroots contributors.
- Lack of Transparency: Unclear selection process for roles; perception of favoritism or nepotism.
- Questionable Impact: Doubts about program effectiveness, community benefit, or return on investment.
- Proposal Structure: Too large and bundled; mixes unrelated initiatives; difficult to evaluate properly.
- Calls for Delay: Many prefer waiting for the upcoming on-chain governance tools before approving such funding.
Expected Changes
- Break the proposal into smaller, separate parts for clearer evaluation.
- Make all roles openly accessible and selection processes transparent.
- Rebalance the budget to fairly compensate active community members.
- Wait for on-chain governance to manage future ambassador initiatives.
The proposal:
Comments (25)
Requested
1.98M USDC
Proposal Failed
Summary
0%
Aye
0%
Nay
Aye (18)0.0 DOT
Support0.0 DOT
Nay (76)0.0 DOT
I’m proud to support this proposal as both a Polkadot Ambassador and an active voter in the ecosystem. The Ambassador Fellowship has proven its value in the Genesis Cycle — not only by onboarding a diverse group of contributors but also by establishing a strong foundation in mentorship, education, and decentralized coordination.
The proposed Ascent Cycle clearly builds on that success with a structured, milestone-based approach to scaling impact. Activating new cohorts, launching a Web3-native platform, and focusing on verticals like governance and education aligns well with Polkadot’s mission of empowering the community to lead. The emphasis on transparency, sustainability, and regional engagement is exactly what we need at this stage of ecosystem maturity.
I see this not as just another funding request, but as an investment in long-term community infrastructure and leadership development. Looking forward to supporting the implementation and seeing measurable outcomes that benefit the entire network.
Let’s take a look at the truth behind Polkadot governance. This Fellowship keeps hyping up Polkadot every single day, but in reality, they don’t even hold much $DOT.
They pushed for the Treasury to sell 5 million DOT for USDC — and it’s already been executed — just to ensure they can keep applying for funds and getting paid.
Now, they’re asking for another 2.2 million USDC.
But honestly, they haven’t contributed much to Polkadot. At most, they host online meetings, make some charts, and post on X — basically the work of an entry-level office employee.
@16M5hAMWDUi3VMJKjzyce17DGGRfxunLWapGq8izAwEfVNvZ
Thanks for your comment. I think you might be confusing the Technical Fellowship and the Ambassador Fellowship - we have not pushed for the treasury to sell DOT. This is our second proposal, after the first - 1287 - passed for $640,000 and we returned $230,000 ($30,000 of which was earmarked for salaries / bonuses, so the total that should have been returned is $200,000).
For our proposal, we are asking for $220,000 each month. The community can put in a referendum to stop the funding at any point. The Ambassadors themselves can also pull a trigger clause to pause or stop funding for any of the projects within the proposal and both discuss and then vote fairly on it's future. The KPIs and inbuilt mechanisms that we have worked on over the past few weeks are as strong as I have seen in an OpenGov proposal. Every measure has been taken to reduce the risk to the treasury, stakeholders and the Ambassador Fellowship itself.
Happy to answer any more questions - I think you might have more if I am right that this was directed at the Technical Fellowship?