This proposal is for 12 months of funding for 41 “Verified Organization Badges” (aka affiliate badge) on X/Twitter.

The full list of accounts that will be offered a badge can be seen here.

A total of 47 accounts will have a badge, however W3F will pay the fee for 6 of the badges (more info below), hence the funding request for 41 badges.

The proposer is the Social Media Board via its auxilliary, Evan.

Background:

Web3 Foundation historically paid for all badges, approximately €36K per year. Now that marketing is decentralized and the badges benefit the community/parachains, the funding should come from the Treasury.

Currently, 36 accounts have an affiliate badge, this will be expanded to 47 accounts to include more parachains, and three ecosystem wallets.

Note: several parachains have declined to accept a badge, which is why the total number of badges is not >50.

The fee for the following accounts will continue to be paid for by W3F, not the treasury:

• @web3foundation
• @gavofyork
• @BillLaboon
• @FabianGompf
• @bjornwgnr
• @paritytech

Benefits of Verified Organization Badges:

• Verified Organization Badges elevate and distinguish organizations and their affiliates, and come with many benefits including:
• Priority on X - Organic posts will be seen by more people.
• Gold Checkmark
• Impersonation Defense
• Premium Support
• All benefits of X Premium+ (edit post, longer posts, longer video uploads, access to articles and more)

Cost Breakdown:

• The proposal request 7946 DOT // €47,433 @ DOT EMA7 €6.33
• The Verified Organization feature has a base cost of €12K per year, plus an additional €50/month per account, plus 8% VAT.
• This proposal adds 20% contingency to account for fiat price fluctuations of DOT, any surplus in funds, measured by the DOT/EUR exchange rate on the day of distribution, will be returned to the Treasury by W3F.
• (€12K + (€50 * 41 * 12)) * 1.08 *1.2) = €47,434

Criteria for Badge Allocation:

The Decentralized, 7-member Social Media Editorial Board has set clear, stringent criteria for X accounts to ensure capacity is managed effectively and that the number of accounts is within reason. An account must meet the following conditions to qualify for a badge, and there is a set limit for the number of accounts per group.

• Active, maintained Polkadot parachains, that have expressed interest (up to 30)
• Top 3 ecosystem wallets as determined by the Editorial Board (3)
• Polkadot leadership at high risk of impersonation (4)
• Official Polkadot Flagship Events, including Polkadot Blockchain Academy (3)
• Polkadot Communication Channels (6)

Exclusions:

• DAOs
• dApps
• Community Coins / Meme Coins
• Non-flagship events and meetups
• “Ecosystem Agents” and content creators
• Decentralized Voices or Decentralized Futures grant recipients
• Ecosystem news sources, media outlets, newsletters etc.
• Bounties
• All others

Should any criteria be unclear, the Social Media Board may exercise their discretion in assigning affiliate badges

Administrative Details:

Invoices from X will continue to be sent to W3F, the legal owner of the X account, however W3F will be compensated by the funds of this proposal. The funds will be distributed directly into a W3F wallet.

Again, the full list of accounts that will be offered an affiliate badge can be seen here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1NGY-t31CJifl34BG0WUKriZZXedldH21ihEzlxNGfkQ/edit