I. Executive Summary
Arbitrum DAO approved a $1.5M budget for funding DAO events in 2025 to streamline event planning and funding processes. To guide the allocation of this budget, a survey was conducted among DAO delegates and ecosystem contributors to understand priorities for event funding and participation.
Key findings from the survey, which had 16 respondents, include:
Priority Events for DAO Funding:
- Educational workshops focusing on Arbitrum technologies (Stylus and Orbit) received the highest priority rating;
- Delegate gatherings, Arbitrum Days, and hackathons also ranked highly;
- Event sponsorships received the lowest priority rating.
Priority Outcomes for DAO-Funded Events:
- Proliferating Arbitrum technology;
- Onboarding and educating new builders; and
- Strengthening Arbitrum’s position among Layer 2 solutions.
- Gaining market share in key geographic regions;
Priority Events for DAO Participation:
- Ethereum-native events, Web2-focused events, and Emerging Market events were rated as most important for maintaining Arbitrum presence.
We hope that events organisers and DAO members leverage these insights in preparing event proposals for DAO funding.
II. Background
Arbitrum DAO has approved the proposal to earmark a budget of $1.5M to fund DAO events in 2025. This was predicated on the understanding that events are crucial to fostering community engagement, improving brand awareness and driving ecosystem growth. While events planning and funding are time-sensitive processes, they can take considerable time and energy. This necessitated creating a DAO Events Budget to streamline the process of funding DAO events. By pre-approving funds, the DAO can enable faster decision-making and efficient pricing and procurement of event services.
In establishing the events budget, one of the key considerations in the proposal was ensuring that all DAO-funded events are aligned with Arbitrum’s brand, strategic ecosystem objectives and the work of AF/OCL. Hence, the selection of event providers and funding of events will follow either of these two processes:
- Entropy Advisors, the ADPC and Disruption Joe collaborate to procure service providers for events that have passed Snapshot and requested this group to procure service providers to run the event; or
- Events providers directly propose events for DAO funding from the events budget and propose to run the events themselves.
With this framework in place, we conducted an Events Survey to gauge stakeholder sentiment and gather feedback on what events should be organised or funded by the DAO. As event organisers prepare to submit funding proposals, we want to provide them with guidance on what types of events they should propose. Additionally, the survey results can help potential events organisers understand which events are more likely to receive DAO funding.
III. Survey Overview
The survey targeted Arbitrum DAO delegates and ecosystem contributors. We focused on this group because they possess deep contextual knowledge of events and strategic priorities for the DAO through their positions and, as delegates, they will be responsible for voting on funding proposals.
The objective of the survey was to collect feedback to help provide clarity for events organisers / proposers on what events to propose, and which are likely to get funded. Accordingly, the survey collected feedback across three key areas:
- Priority events for DAO funding - This addressed the question “What events should Arbitrum DAO fund?” and helped identify the types of events most valuable to the ecosystem.
- Priority outcomes for DAO-funded events - This explored “What event outcomes should Arbitrum DAO prioritise?” to understand the desired impact and measurable results from funded events.
- Priority events for DAO participation - This examined “What events should Arbitrum DAO maintain a strong presence or high level of participation in?” to determine where the DAO should focus its engagement efforts.
The responses we received (16 in total) provide event proposers with a clearer insight into the DAO’s strategic priorities and which events the community believes best serves these objectives. Respondents were asked to rate options in each focus areas on a scale of 1-10. The survey also included open-ended questions to gather additional insights and expound on the reasoning behind numerical ratings.
IV. Key Findings
Priority Events for DAO Funding
This section of the survey focused on identifying the types of events that respondents considered the most valuable to the ecosystem. Educational workshops focused on popularising key Arbitrum technologies like Stylus and Orbit ranked highest in priority. Other high-priority events for the DAO funding included delegate gatherings, Arbitrum Days and hackathons. It is worth noting that, per the events budget proposal, delegate gatherings will be limited to two. On the other hand, event sponsorships were rated as the lowest priority for receiving DAO funding.
In providing more context around the kind of events they would like to see funded, respondents emphasised events focused on builder support such as pitch days and legal clinics. Overall, they generally favoured events likely to generate traction for the Arbitrum network.
Priority Outcomes for DAO-Funded Events
Ensuring alignment with strategic DAO objectives and maintaining synergy with AF/OCL remain key priorities in defining an events strategy for Arbitrum DAO. Funding should be allocated towards events that align with the DAO’s mission. Based on the survey responses, the most important outcomes for DAO-funded events include:
- Proliferating Arbitrum technology;
- Onboarding and educating new builders; and
- Strengthening Arbitrum’s position among Layer 2 solutions.
- Gaining market share in key geographic regions;
These responses indicate what strategic outcomes events should target and achieve. The graphic below provides a break down of how respondents rated different outcomes for DAO-funded events.
Respondents also mentioned that measurable metrics such as dApps built, developers onboarded, leads generated, etc., were also key outcomes for DAO-funded events.
Priority Events for DAO Participation
Arbitrum has developed a strong brand and culture not only through its impactful technology, but also through its continued presence at the industry’s most prominent events. To maintain this momentum, the DAO must identify which events remain most relevant and impactful for Arbitrum. Understanding these key ecosystem events can provide a sense of direction on where to channel efforts, as DAO-funded events should ideally align with these broader ecosystem events.
The survey asked respondents to rate the category of ecosystem events that were important for Arbitrum DAO to maintain a presence in. Among the highest rated categories were Ethereum-native events and Emerging Market events. The graphic below provides a full breakdown of the survey results.
V. Conclusion & Next Steps
We hope event proposers will find these survey results helpful when preparing funding proposals. For clarity, these results are not meant to provide strict guidelines but rather offer directional guidance to the community. The decision to fund any event ultimately rests with the DAO via governance / voting.
Anyone is welcome to propose events for DAO funding. The only requirement is that the proposal must pass a Snapshot vote with at least 3% of the votable token supply and achieve a simple majority of For/Abstain votes to receive funding from the DAO events budget. The ADPC, Entropy, and Disruption Joe can help procure service providers to organise the event, or the proposer themselves can serve as the project manager/event coordinator.