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How to Create a Proposal

Learn how to create a proposal for a DAO#

This guide will walk you through how to create a proposal for your DAO using the Nouns Builder UI. You can learn how to submit proposals for:

However, it is important to first familiarize yourself with the key terms and lifecycle of a proposal.

Key Terms#

  • Proposal Threshold: Minimum amount of total votes (NFTs) needed to put a proposal to a vote. For example, if the Proposal Threshold is set to 1% and there are 500 total NFTs minted then 5 NFTs need to approve the proposal for it to a vote.
  • Quorum Threshold: Minimum of total For votes (NFTs) required for a proposal to pass
  • Voting Delay: The amount of time before a proposal can start voting in seconds.
  • Voting Period: The duration for voting on a proposal in seconds.
  • Time Lock Delay: The amount of time a successful proposal must wait between being queued and executed.

Proposal Lifecycle:#

  • A proposal is submitted to the DAO on-chain by an address that owns enough NFTs to clear the Proposal Threshold.
  • The proposal can't be voted on until after the voting delay time has passed.
  • Once the delay period has passed, the proposal must then receive more For votes than Against and the number of For votes must meet or surpass the Quorum Threshold.
  • Next, if the voting period has finished and it has received enough For votes then the proposed transaction is queued for execution.
  • Then the proposal must pass the Time Lock Delay which defaults to 2 days.
  • Finally, once the time lock has ended the proposal is then executed.
proposal-lifecycle

Updating DAO Settings#

This section will go over how to edit a specific parameter of your DAO such as the description, auction duration, voting period, and much more.

Admin Section#

First, navigate to the Admin tab under the live auction for your DAO. You will only be able to view this section if connect a wallet that has an NFT for the DAO.

admin-section

Edit Details#

Next, select the DAO setting you would like to change. In the example below, we are changing the auction duration to once a day instead of once every three hours.

admin-edit

Proposal Form#

Now add a title and description to your proposal.

proposal-form

Submitting the Proposal#

Finally, you will be prompted with a transaction once you click Submit proposal. This will create the proposal on-chain. Note, that you must have enough NFTs in your address to meet the Proposal Threshold to create a proposal.

proposal-success

Live Proposals#

Then you should be able to see your proposal under the Governance tab under the live auction for a DAO. Note, the proposal must pass the Voting Delay time period before being voted on.

proposal-created

Creating a General Proposal#

This section will cover how to create a custom proposal that sends ETH out of the treasury.

Sending Ether#

First, navigate to the Governance tab under the live auction for a DAO. Then click the Submit Proposal button in the Proposals section.

general-proposal

Proposal Form#

Now add a title and description to your proposal. Then paste the address you would like to send the ETH and enter the amount. You can skip the function and arguments part since we are only sending ETH.

send-eth

Calling a Contract Function#

In this example, we will create a proposal that will mint a free NFT from a Zora Create contract.

Proposals Section#

First, navigate to the Governance tab under the live auction for a DAO. Then click the Submit Proposal button in the Proposals section.

general-proposal

Proposal Form#

Then write a title and description for your proposal. After that add the contract ABI for the contract you are calling. You can find the ABI for a contract on Etherscan under the Contract section below the source code. Then select the function you want to call in the proposal.

general-proposal

In this case, we are minting an NFT. For this we will select the purchase function, the NFT is free so we set the ETH to 0, and we set the amount to 1 to mint a single NFT. Once, that is done we can submit our proposal on-chain with a transaction.