• This initiative will establish a robust framework for evaluating and enhancing Cardano's governance system. We will identify and benchmark key governance metrics to assess the health, performance, and overall impact of our decentralized decision-making processes. The resulting 'State of Governance' report will provide a structured evaluation of participation, track vital Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), map the evolving governance ecosystem, and pinpoint specific areas for improvement.

• To ensure our findings are grounded in real-world experience, we will engage the Cardano community through various channels. These include virtual workshops, targeted surveys, and in-depth user interviews. By actively gathering and synthesizing community insights, we will gain a comprehensive understanding of the current state of governance. This will allow us to formulate actionable recommendations and pave the way for post-MVG (Minimum Viable Governance) evolution. Where appropriate, these recommendations will be developed into initial drafts of Cardano Problem Statements (CPSs) or Cardano Improvement Proposals (CIPs), directly reflecting the community's vision for a more robust and effective governance future.

Cardano stands at the forefront of decentralized governance innovation. Yet, we face a critical challenge: the absence of transparent, data-backed frameworks to evaluate our governance's effectiveness, pinpoint obstacles, and drive impactful improvements. Without these structured processes, our governance discourse risks becoming reactive and fragmented. Potential risks may slip through the cracks, and decision-makers could lack the vital insights needed to refine our governance mechanisms. To truly evolve beyond Minimum Viable Governance (MVG) and unlock Cardano's full potential, we must establish a robust, data-driven foundation for continuous improvement.

Imagine a Cardano where governance evolves continuously, driven by data and community insights. We will forge that future by moving beyond Minimum Viable Governance (MVG) to craft a dynamic, adaptable system with a clear, cost-effective process to pinpoint the real challenges faced by those who participate in governance. By putting this process into action, we will deliver transparent, insightful findings and expert analysis. Where needed, these insights will be translated into concrete proposals (CIPs or CPSs) reflecting community consensus. This initiative will kickstart ongoing governance optimization, empowering the community to actively monitor and address critical risks, ensuring Cardano remains a leader in decentralized decision-making.

Milestone 1: Establish a Foundation for Governance Measurement

• Comprehensive Research: Conduct secondary research on best practices for measuring decentralized governance outcomes.

• Governance Measurement Framework: Develop a clear framework specifically designed for measuring Cardano's governance effectiveness.

• Defined Governance Metrics: Clearly define the specific metrics that will be used to measure governance health and performance.

• Initial "State of Governance" Report Outline: Create a structured outline for the final "State of Governance" report, ensuring a clear roadmap for the project.

Milestone 2: Collect and Aggregate Governance Insights

• Targeted Survey and Interview Instruments: Develop specific survey questions and interview scripts tailored to each governing role (DReps, SPOs, CC members) and community projects. These will gather feedback on challenges, improvements, and concerns regarding the governance system.

• Representative Community Data Collection: Gather responses from a representative sample, including at least 25 DReps, 10 SPOs, 5 CC members, 3 governance tooling & data providers, and 10 community projects.

• Standardized Workshop Template: Create a reusable workshop template for community members to host and report their findings, ensuring consistent data collection.

• Anecdotal Insights from Community Leaders: Conduct interviews with up to 5 community members who manage governance-related forums to gather valuable anecdotal insights.

• On-Chain Data Correlation: Aggregate on-chain data to provide context and validate observed governance behaviors.

• Community Review of Report Outline: Publish and solicit stakeholder feedback on the initial "State of Governance" report outline.

Milestone 3: Analyze Data to Identify Top Governance Improvement Priorities

• Metric Benchmarking: Establish baseline values for each governance metric to understand the current state of governance.

• Tooling Recommendations: Provide recommendations for tools and dashboards that can support ongoing monitoring of governance metrics.

• Quantitative and Qualitative Data Analysis: Analyze survey and interview data to rank and prioritize suggested governance improvements.

• Transparent Data Sharing: Publish all raw survey data and other relevant information, except where confidentiality is necessary.

• On-Chain Governance Pattern Analysis: Analyze on-chain data to identify trends and patterns in governance behavior.

• Draft "State of Governance" Report: Draft an initial version of the "State of Governance" report, summarizing findings and analysis for key stakeholder feedback.

Milestone 4: Develop Actionable Recommendations for Top Governance Improvements

• Online Workshop Template for Solution Ideation: Create an online workshop template to facilitate community collaboration in identifying core problems, generating solutions, and prioritizing them based on feasibility and viability.

• Facilitated Community Workshops: Conduct 10 workshops (2 per prioritized governance improvement) across multiple time zones to maximize participation.

• Transparent Workshop Documentation: Publish unedited workshop minutes and findings, except where confidentiality is necessary.

• Draft CPSs/CIPs Based on Workshop Themes: Document and publish themes from workshops as initial drafts of Cardano Problem Statements (CPSs) or Cardano Improvement Proposals (CIPs).

• Final "State of Governance" Report: Publish the final, comprehensive "State of Governance" report.

• Governance Process Playbook: Create and publish a detailed playbook outlining a repeatable process for community consultation and consensus-building.

Milestone 1: Establish a Foundation for Governance Measurement $36,000 Milestone 2: Collect and Aggregate Governance Insights $68,000 Milestone 3: Analyze Data to Identify Top Governance Improvement Priorities $56,000 Milestone 4: Develop Actionable Recommendations for Top Governance Improvements $117,000 Contingency (~7%) Buffer for unexpected costs $19,390 Total $296,390

This project is estimated to have a duration of six months, spanning from July 1, 2025, to January 31, 2026, excluding the month of December. The project will be executed by the entire Input Output Voltaire team, with team members contributing on a part-time basis. Additionally, members of the Cardano Constitutional Delegates group will provide support in roles such as analysts, coordinators, and workshop facilitators. We will also collaborate with partner organizations, including WADA.

This project will be driven by a robust coalition of experienced stakeholders dedicated to the advancement of Cardano's governance. Input Output's Voltaire team will provide core leadership, leveraging their unique role as the architects of Cardano's governance framework. As the team responsible for implementing key governance mechanisms—including the Cardano Constitution, the DRep liquid democracy model, and various on-chain and off-chain tools—we possess strong insight into their performance and optimization potential.

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Key Contributions from Input Output's Voltaire Team:

• CIP-1694 Workshops: Designed and executed community workshops that were crucial in refining CIP-1694, which is now implemented on Cardano.

• Constitution Drafting: Led the design and execution of the global constitution drafting workshops, which led to the 85% on-chain approval of the constitution. Michael Madoff served as the founding Chair of the Cardano Civics Committee, Danielle Stanko was the Secretary and led the Constitution Ratification Working Group, and Thomas Upfield managed the delivery of global workshop and convention polling tools during this process.

• CIP Authoring: Demonstrated experience in creating and contributing to Cardano Improvement Proposals: Thomas Upfield is the author of CIP-119, and Danielle Stanko is the co-author of CIP-120.

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Broader Coalition and Community Involvement:

This project will not solely rely on Input Output. We are building a broad coalition with active participation from:

• Constitutional Delegate Committee Members: Ken-Erik Ølmheim, Max van Rossem, and Tevo Saks, all experienced Cardano contributors, have committed to supporting this project, bringing valuable expertise as Workshop Hosts.

• Partner Organizations: We have secured commitments from key partner organizations, including WADA and the Intersect Constitution team, to contribute to the project's delivery.

• Active Cardano Community Members: We will actively engage with and draw upon the diverse expertise within the broader Cardano community, ensuring a truly collaborative and inclusive approach.

This collaborative model ensures a wide range of perspectives and expertise, enhancing the project's depth and impact on Cardano's governance evolution.

• The process outputs will be published including a state of governance report with measurement methods and workshop data with analysis
• A playbook will be published with details about how to repeat the process and include lessons learned
• Any CPS and CIPs will be authored by this team as a milestone of this funding, but the team will be open for other interested co-authors and collaborators
• Further funding would be required to move a CPS to a CIP, or to implement a CIP
• This could become a repeated process if the community finds value in funding these activities annually

• Draft committee budget codes: CC-0031-25, CC-0033-25, CC-0034-25
  • In creating CIP-1694 and the Cardano Constitution, many great ideas were surfaced, but could not be implemented in 2024.
  • CIP-1694 concludes with “Other ideas/ Open questions”
  • The Constitution drafting process documented Future Governance Workstreams which were presented during the Constitutional Convention
  • The Constitution Ratification governance action includes the intent to host future governance workshops

This project relies on several key dependencies, both internal and external to the proposal coalition, to achieve its objectives:

1. Comprehensive Governance Data Access (External):

   • We require access to accurate and detailed on-chain and off-chain governance data. This includes:

     • Voting records, such as participation rates and outcomes of governance actions.

     • Delegate Representative (DRep) activity, including engagement levels, decision-making trends, and provided rationales.

     • Constitutional Committee (CC) decisions and their effects on governance processes.

• We will coordinate with entities like Intersect as well as partnering with community data providers such as Lido, Governance Space, and Tempo.vote to ensure we obtain complete and reliable on-chain data.

2. Active Community Participation (External):

   • Successful execution depends on the active involvement of a diverse range of Cardano community members, DReps, Stake Pool Operators (SPOs), and Constitutional Committee (CC) members as well as governance tooling data providers.

3. Internal Research and Analysis Support (Internal):

   • We will utilize Input Output's internal team of analysts and researchers to process and interpret the collected governance data.

   • Collaboration with governance policy experts and data scientists will be essential for developing meaningful Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).

   • We will engage technical experts to assess the feasibility and viability of proposed solutions.

4. Cardano Improvement Proposal (CIP) and Cardano Problem Statement (CPS) Processes:

   • We will leverage the established CIP and CPS processes for formalizing and proposing governance improvements.

5. Intersect Grant Administration (External):

   • We will rely on Intersect to administer grants to workshop hosts, facilitating community engagement and data collection.