FAQ

 

Frequently asked questions about the DAO Experimentation Program — Cohort 3. For questions specifically about partnering with a DAO, see the Partnership FAQ.

 

Collaboration & DAO Structure

Will there be collaboration across different DAOs?

Yes — collaboration across DAOs is open and encouraged. 

There are no pre-set cross-DAO projects, and that's deliberate: if two or more DAOs see a way of working together that genuinely serves their goals, they're free to take the initiative themselves — talk it through, plan it, and carry it out. 

Members can also join another DAO's open activities, attend shared workshops and showcases, and support one another across DAOs. 

The monthly All-DAOs Sync is a natural place for these connections to start.

 

How is a DAO structured?

Each DAO organises its work into lanes, where a lane is a stream of work owned by a pair of members. 

Members who don't co-own a lane can still contribute as floating contributors, helping across lanes wherever they're needed. 

The lanes themselves aren't fixed in advance — each DAO forms them in its Master Plan. 

Other roles hold the DAO together: the DAO Lead, who is a member coordinating and aligning things from the inside, and two DAO Facilitators from Kambria, who support the DAO from the outside without doing its work for it. 

You can read the full picture on the Member Roles & Contribution and Owned Lanes Model pages.

 

Are teams regional or global?

They're global — a single DAO usually has members from several countries. Where the activities actually take place depends on the lane: some run entirely online, while others are carried out locally.

 

Will there be visibility beyond DEP?

Yes. Your work is shared in several ways: the end-of-cohort Summary & Showcase, the ongoing Update & Showcase page, each DAO's Summary Report, and the Our Collaboration Network directory. Together, these help make what you build visible to partners, universities, and future collaborators.

 

Can DAOs work with partners or sponsors?

Yes. In DEP 3, each DAO owns its own partnerships — it decides who to approach, invites them, and manages the relationship itself, rather than Kambria arranging it centrally. The Partner With Us page and the Partnership FAQ explain how it works.

 

Skills, Learning & Participation

What skills help most?

More than any single technical skill, DEP looks for people with the right mindset — ownership (taking responsibility and seeing work through), an outcome focus (delivering real results, not just effort), comfort working in a self-governed team, and integrity with shared resources. 

Alongside that, practical skills go a long way: project coordination, cross-cultural communication and teamwork, documentation and storytelling, community engagement, creative contribution, and a basic feel for DAO governance and XDAO voting. 

You don't need to arrive with all of these — taking part in the program is itself one of the best ways to build them.

 

Do I need prior blockchain or crypto experience?

No, it isn't required. DEP is a learning-by-doing program, and onboarding walks you through every tool step by step, so beginners are genuinely welcome. 

That said, a little basic familiarity — for example, knowing how to use a MetaMask wallet — is a plus and gives you a head start. The Tools & Onboarding page shows what you'll set up.

 

How does DEP support inclusive, diverse participation?

In several ways: recruitment is global, onboarding barriers are kept low, the documentation is written to be easy to follow, governance is transparent, and contribution formats are flexible. On top of that, each DAO designs its own inclusive ways of working across different timezones and working styles.

 

Project Execution & Processes

If members live in different countries, who runs local activities?

Each lane decides its own approach. Usually, members who are on the ground run the local activities, while remote members support with planning, coordination, documentation, content, and session design. 

A lane can also bring in external volunteers if it helps, though that's optional.

 

Is the work funded? How does the money work?

Yes. Each DAO receives a $3,000 seed that covers both contributor pay-per-task and the DAO's operating costs. Contributors are paid per task through the Kambria DAOs Framework — at the rates set in the DAO's Pay-Per-Task Scheme, and only after the work is verified — while operating costs, such as a tool subscription or a venue, are released by a DAO vote. 

It helps to think of the seed as starting capital to scale the project's impact, not a fixed budget to live within: the aim is for a DAO to build toward its own sustainable channel rather than lean on the $3,000 alone. 

The DAO Funding Guide and the Using Your DAO's Budget guideline explain both in full.

 

When are proposals submitted, and by whom?

Proposals are made by teams, not individuals, and they come in two parts: each DAO submits one Master Plan, and each pair submits a Lane Proposal for its lane. Both are put to a vote on XDAO at the start of Execution. The Program Timeline page has the exact dates.

 

Do we need receipts for spending?

For operating costs, yes — every cost needs a receipt or simple evidence (a payment screenshot, a photo of what was bought, or an order confirmation), stored in the DAO Drive and linked in the Cashbook. The rule is simply: no receipt, no reimbursement. 

Contributor payouts are different — they're recorded automatically on-chain through the framework. 

The DAO Revenue Tracking & Audit Guidelines cover this in detail.

 

Outcomes, Data & Sustainability

What outcomes does DEP 3 aim for?

Several things at once: members who come away more confident at decentralized collaboration; real deliverables with measurable impact across the three axes of reach, depth, and self-propagation; and, where it works, a sustainable channel that keeps scaling a project's impact beyond the cohort. Alongside these, a recognition model (KAT) working next to real payment for work, and DAOs that genuinely own how they operate.

 

Will a DAO continue after the cohort?

It might. The biggest factor is whether the DAO has built a sustainable channel — a way for its work and impact to keep going without depending on fresh seed funding. Member interest, the results it achieved, and the partner relationships it built all feed into that. Some DAOs evolve or merge in later cohorts.

 

What happens to revenue a DAO earns?

When a DAO earns revenue, the framework automatically splits it across the defined pools — among them order handling, contributor payouts, and the DAO's own treasury, which the DAO can draw on to continue its activities into the next cycles. That treasury is governed by the DAO's members through proposals and votes. 

The DAO Funding Guide and the Kambria DAOs Framework pages explain the split in detail.

 

How is my data used?

Your data is used to run the program — for coordination, reporting, and communication — as described in the Privacy Notice and the Kambria Privacy Policy.

 

Is Kambria an NGO or a B-Corp?

No. Kambria is a technology company that builds open-innovation and DAO infrastructure.

 

What do contributors and communities get in return?

Quite a lot, and the exact mix varies by DAO. 

Contributors are paid per task for verified deliverables and recognised with KAT for contributions of every kind. 

They also gain a real voice in governance, opportunities beyond the cohort (future cohorts, leadership roles, and collaborations), hands-on experience and a global network, a certificate on completing the program, and the chance to create genuine social impact.

 

DAO-Specific Questions

Each DAO adds its own questions here — for example, how sessions are designed in the Capacity Exchange DAO, what kinds of output qualify in a participant-proposed DAO, and how proposed topics are validated. These appear once the cohort's DAOs are confirmed.