Proposal to Nouns DAO — Aug 2026
Putting the Organization Back in DAO
A 12-month strategic operating layer for Nouns — built by Problem, backed by Noun holders already inside the ecosystem.
Monthly Stream
$32,000
Engagement Treasury
$100,000
Total Request
$484,000
Target Return, Yr. 1
$2–3M
Summary
This is about putting the organization back in DAO
Nouns has the brand, treasury, culture, talent, history, and permissionless energy to keep moving forward. What it needs now is a stronger operating layer around that energy.
Problem is requesting a 12-month stream of $32,000 / month, alongside a $100,000 Community Engagement Treasury, to help Nouns become easier to understand, easier to build with, easier to contribute to, easier to partner with, and easier to execute around.
This is not about centralizing Nouns, turning the DAO into a company, or adding unnecessary bureaucracy. It is about creating a clearer structure around the people, proposals, partners, programs, communications, resources, and real-world opportunities already moving through the ecosystem.
What Support Looks Like
- Contributors get a clear front door to paid work instead of informal backchannels.
- Builders get proposal support, scoping, and execution follow-through.
- Partners get a real point of contact and materials worth showing internally.
- Holders get more context on opportunities before they hit governance.
- Authority stays exactly where it is — with Nouns.
Why This Matters Now
The DAO has the talent. It's missing the wiring.
Nouns already has incredible people across art, technology, governance, product, engineering, media, events, strategy, community, collecting, and culture. The challenge is that too much of the work still moves through fragmented conversations, unclear pathways, and disconnected teams.
Contributors want to help but don't always know where paid opportunities exist. Larger holders and active voters often need more context before opportunities reach governance. Problem can help build the connective tissue between all of these groups.
The Signals
- Strong ideas lose momentum before they reach execution.
- Builders struggle to find the right support.
- Partners are interested but unsure how to engage.
- Contributors don't always know where paid work exists.
- Holders want more context before opportunities reach a vote.
What We're Proposing
A dedicated operating layer — not a new authority
Problem runs on three connected layers. For Nouns, they map directly onto how the DAO already needs to work.
01 — Structure
Problem
Intelligence
Structures the path for Nouns: proposal scoping, opportunity evaluation, budgeting, partner strategy, and execution roadmaps.
02 — Execution
Problem
Media
Executes the work: creative direction, campaigns, communications, events, retail, technology, and partnerships on Nouns' behalf.
03 — Return
Value Back
to Nouns
Captures the upside: sponsorship revenue, licensing, contributor income, and co-funded programs that flow back to the DAO.
Authority stays with Nouns. Problem's role is to help the DAO operate with more structure, visibility, context, and accountability.
Problem's Background & Why We Want to Lead
We're not pitching from the outside
Problem is a creative, media, and technology company that has spent years working across strategy, creative direction, media production, technology, partnerships, events, retail, product, and culture building the kind of connective infrastructure that Nouns needs right now.
Through Cares and related Nouns work, Problem has already supported proposal development, campaigns, events, partnerships, creative direction, governance conversations, onboarding, and real-world activations across this exact ecosystem.
Problem is applying as a holder, not a vendor. Noun 610, 713, and 1240 sit inside the DAO alongside everyone voting on this proposal with a direct stake in what happens to the treasury being requested.
Why Now, Why Problem
- Already embedded — active inside Nouns as holders and contributors, not arriving cold.
- Bridges two worlds — fluent in on-chain culture and traditional partner, brand, and media conversations.
- Built for distribution — a media company by trade, wired for storytelling and public-facing execution.
- No governance grab — structured to strengthen the DAO's authority, not replace it.
Track Record
Problem already operates this model
Nouns is already inside Problem's active portfolio, run on the same Intelligence + Media structure proposed here.
The Case for This Investment
$2–3M
In partnership value & revenue we believe Problem can bring back to Nouns in the first 6–12 months, beyond a more organized DAO, this is a bet on measurable return that the DAO doesn't have to fund alone.
01 / Sponsorship & Partnerships
Funded activations
Converting active relationships across fashion, entertainment, gaming, music, sports, and tech targeting 6+ high-level workstreams in Year 1.
02 / Retail, IP & Licensing
Turning IP into product
Organizing retail, licensing, and merchandise opportunities alongside Klim, Bigshot, and other ecosystem contributors.
03 / Service & Execution Revenue
Outside budgets, in-ecosystem income
Routing paid, partner- and sponsor-funded execution work through Nounish contributors.
04 / Co-Funded Programs
Multiplying treasury capital
Structuring proposals so DAO capital is matched or multiplied by sponsorships, co-funding, and revenue share.
This is a directional target, not a guarantee — built from active partner conversations and comparable engagements in adjacent ecosystems. It depends on deal cycles outside Problem's sole control. Progress will be reported publicly every month and summarized every quarter.
Maturity & Risk
Helping Nouns become the safest, strongest version of itself
As the DAO matures, the stakes get higher. The work now touches governance, treasury decisions, legal structures, contributor relationships, partner conversations, public-facing programs, regional communities, and larger holding groups.
Problem will help support that process through clearer structure, stronger materials, more consistent communication, and better coordination between the people already active across the DAO. This does not mean Problem becomes a legal authority, governance authority, or decision-making body, it means Problem helps create the operating layer around the people, teams, advisors, admins, holders, builders, and outside experts who need to be involved in shaping the next version of Nouns.
Working With Larger Holding Groups
Shared context, not competing agendas
This proposal is designed to work with the full Nouns ecosystem, including larger holding groups and active voting blocs. Those groups play an important role in keeping Nouns focused, financially aware, and intentional about how resources are used.
Builders, contributors, partners, and newer members need clearer pathways to understand what the DAO needs before opportunities reach governance. Different opportunities require different paths: some DAO-funded, some sponsor-funded, some shaped through revenue share, services, co-funding, outside capital, or contributor-led execution. Problem will help create clearer pathways so ideas are better shaped before they ever reach a vote.
Community Engagement Treasury
$100,000 to put contributors to work immediately
In addition to the monthly operating stream, this proposal includes a $100,000 Community Engagement Treasury, designed to immediately engage the community and put contributors to work during the first year of the program.
It may support contributor bounties, creative briefs, development tasks, proposal support, event support, content, design work, research, partner activations, documentation, onboarding, and community programming.
The Handoff
- Treasury starts the engine — first bounties, briefs, and activations fund contributors from month one.
- Problem builds the system — routing, scoping, and reporting infrastructure around that spend.
- Partners scale the opportunity — over time, more activity is supported by earned and sponsored capital, reducing reliance on the treasury.
Core Areas of Work
Seven lanes, one operating layer
01
Strategy & Positioning
Clearer resources for members, builders, partners, brands, institutions, and events.
02
Structure & Leadership Support
Mapping the ecosystem into clearer teams, working groups, and leadership lanes.
03
Problem Intelligence Access
A Nouns-specific intelligence layer for intake, scoping, budgeting, and roadmaps.
04
Contributor Routing & Bounties
A practical system for putting Nounish talent to work.
05
Community Programming
A consistent rhythm of Spaces, Discord calls, sessions, and reporting.
06
Partnerships, Events & Retail
Organizing Nouns' identity into partnership, sponsor, and licensing strategy.
07
Legal, DUNA & Ops Support
Organizing process around legal, foundation, and DUNA questions, with the right people at the table.
Budget & Stream
$484,000 over 12 months
The monthly stream supports the ongoing strategic operating layer around Nouns — senior strategy, creative direction, coordination, proposal support, Problem Intelligence access, contributor routing, partner development, community programming, reporting, and retail strategy.
Total 12-Month Request
$484,000
Partner Network & Outside Capital
Showing partners Nouns is more than a treasury
Problem will actively engage its broader network to create opportunities for Nouns and Nouns contributors: across fashion, entertainment, gaming, music, sports, technology, media, retail, consumer products, events, art, education, public goods, and cultural institutions.
The opportunity is to show partners that Nouns is a global creative and technical network that can support campaigns, activations, products, events, content, technology, public goods, and culture — not only a DAO with a treasury. As those opportunities mature, more work flows back to Nouns contributors through partner-funded programs, sponsored activations, service revenue, revenue share, licensing, co-funded proposals, and bounties.
Where Problem Already Has Relationships
12-Month Deliverables
What Problem reports against
Public Infrastructure
- Overhaul nouns.wtf and public-facing infrastructure
- Clearer front door for storytelling, onboarding & governance
- A portfolio of what Nouns has funded and enabled
Partnership Materials
- Master Nouns partner deck + category materials
- Sponsor materials, outreach frameworks, briefs
- 6+ partnership workstreams opened or advanced
DAO Communications
- Weekly X / Twitter Spaces + weekly Discord calls
- Monthly public updates, quarterly summary reports
- Consistent rhythm on workstreams, blockers & wins
Contributor Activation
- Intake & routing systems, Bounty Board support
- Routing artists, developers, writers, strategists into paid work
- Clearer partner-, sponsor-, DAO-funded pathways
Proposal Support
- Proposal templates and support materials
- Scoping budgets, timelines, risks & accountability
- Execution planning for approved proposals
Retail, IP & Licensing
- Strategy alongside Klim, Bigshot & contributors
- Partner-facing retail concepts & licensing materials
Problem Intelligence for Nouns
- Nouns-specific intelligence layer for intake, proposal development, opportunity evaluation, and contributor routing
- Partner strategy, execution planning, reporting, and knowledge management in one place
Accountability
Reporting, on a rhythm
Monthly
Public updates on active work, resources created, bounties posted, and blockers.
Quarterly
Summary reports on partner conversations, contributors routed, and outcomes.
Ongoing
Transparent reporting on Community Engagement Treasury spend by category.
Always
Governance, voting, treasury, and legal authority remain fully with Nouns.
Problem will not control Nouns governance, voting, treasury decisions, legal decisions, or official DAO authority.
What Success Looks Like
At the end of 12 months
- nouns.wtf is clearer, stronger, and more useful as the public front door for Nouns.
- Nouns has stronger partner decks, onboarding materials, sponsor materials, and public resources.
- A consistent weekly rhythm across X / Twitter Spaces and Discord.
- A clearer contributor intake and opportunity routing system, with a live or developing bounty layer.
- Stronger proposal templates, diligence, and execution support.
- A more organized approach to retail, IP, licensing, merchandise, events, and partnerships.
- At least 6 high-level partnership workstreams opened or advanced over the term.
- Contributors have more pathways into paid opportunities; holders have more context before governance.
- A stronger path for outside capital — sponsorships, co-funding, revenue share, licensing, and bounties.
Closing
Put the organization back in DAO.
Nouns has the culture, talent, capital, history, and permissionless energy. Now it needs stronger systems to help that energy move with more clarity, consistency, and impact — so Nouns can move forward together, and mature into the safest, strongest version of itself without losing what made it special.
Proposal at a Glance
Authority stays with Nouns. Problem reports monthly, with quarterly summaries against every figure above.
Problem Intelligence × Problem Media — mgmt.problem.tv