Contributing to SuperBenefit DAO Governance

Contributing to SuperBenefit DAO Governance

This guide outlines how to effectively maintain and contribute to SuperBenefit's governance documentation. This repository serves as the canonical source of truth for our agreements, policies, and governance history, enabling transparent coordination across our purpose-aligned network.

Understanding SuperBenefit's Governance Structure

SuperBenefit operates through a multi-stakeholder governance structure with distinct domains of authority and participation. Understanding this structure is essential for making appropriate contributions to the repository.

Community Governance includes all SuperBenefit community members and addresses matters affecting the broader ecosystem, cultural standards, and shared values. Community members participate in shaping community agreements and community-level policies through established proposal and deliberation processes.

Operational Governance includes SuperBenefit DAO contributors who take on formal roles and addresses resource allocation, project coordination, and organizational structure. Contributors participate in operational agreements and policy-making through SuperBenefit DAO's governance processes.

Both governance domains operate with appropriate autonomy while maintaining coordination through shared documentation and cross-referenced policies. Changes to agreements and policies must originate from their respective governance domains, ensuring legitimate authority for all repository modifications.

Contribution Authority and Processes

Repository contributions follow the governance authority structure outlined in our governance.md document. All significant changes to agreements, policies, and governance structures must trace to legitimate governance decisions made through appropriate processes.

Agreement Modifications

Community agreements are modified through community governance processes and require formal proposals submitted by community members. Operational agreements are modified through operational governance processes and require formal proposals from SuperBenefit DAO contributors. Constitutional elements affecting relationships between membership classes require broader governance processes including input from affected participant types.

For detailed workflows on agreement modifications, see the respective readme files in agreements/community/readme.md and agreements/dao/readme.md.

Policy Development and Updates

Policies follow the same membership-based authority structure as agreements, with additional delegation mechanisms enabling responsive policy development. Policy domains operate with appropriate autonomy within boundaries established by their delegating governance body.

Policy changes can be implemented through decisions from delegated policy-making roles without requiring formal proposals to broader governance bodies. Cross-domain policy changes require approval from governance bodies with authority over affected domains.

For specific policy development workflows, see the readme files in each policy domain: policies/metagovernance/readme.md, policies/operations/readme.md, and policies/platforms/readme.md.

Proposal Integration and Archival

All governance proposals are integrated with repository maintenance through pull request workflows. Proposals requiring repository content changes are submitted as pull requests containing both the proposal document and specific changes to governance documentation.

For comprehensive proposal workflows including archival procedures, see proposals/readme.md which contains detailed instructions for importing proposals, updating archives, and deriving policies or agreements from approved proposals.

Repository Maintenance Workflows

Different types of repository changes require different approval processes and workflows. Understanding these distinctions enables appropriate contribution practices while maintaining governance integrity.

Administrative Updates

Contact information, project status, and organizational details may be updated by repository maintainers without formal governance approval, provided changes are communicated to relevant governance spaces. These updates help keep the repository current and useful while not affecting fundamental governance structures.

Content Changes Requiring Approval

Changes to agreements, policies, and governance structures require formal approval through appropriate governance processes before implementation. Repository maintainers verify that implemented changes accurately reflect approved governance decisions and maintain internal documentation consistency.

Quality Assurance and Minor Corrections

Typographical errors, formatting improvements, and broken link repairs may be implemented without formal approval provided they do not alter content meaning. Such changes are communicated to relevant governance spaces and reviewed during regular governance activities to maintain transparency.

For detailed maintenance procedures and quality assurance workflows, see policies/metagovernance/state/readme.md.

Document Style and Standards

SuperBenefit's governance documentation prioritizes natural language flow and narrative coherence over excessive structural formatting. This approach creates engaging, comprehensive documentation that invites careful reading rather than superficial scanning.

When writing or updating governance documents, develop ideas through cohesive paragraphs rather than defaulting to bullet points and nested headers. Reserve structural elements like headers, lists, and tables only for when they truly enhance readability. For governance documents specifically, explain principles and processes through thoughtful prose rather than listed rules, using examples and context to illustrate abstract concepts.

All governance documents should balance comprehensiveness with readability, creating logical flow between sections rather than treating each as an isolated unit. Before finalizing contributions, review documents to ensure they read as written by thoughtful humans for other humans, with information presented in digestible paragraphs rather than disconnected points.

File Organization and Naming Conventions

SuperBenefit's governance repository follows consistent organizational patterns that reflect actual governance boundaries rather than arbitrary categorization. The three-part structure of Agreements, Policies, and Archives reflects different aspects of governance that operate with appropriate autonomy while maintaining coordination.

Use lowercase for all filenames and replace spaces with underscores or hyphens. Choose descriptive names that clearly indicate content and maintain consistency across similar documents. When creating new files, place them in appropriate directories based on governance authority and content type.

When committing changes, craft clear messages that explain both what changed and why, following this pattern:

Update [document name]: [brief description]

[Optional longer explanation]
[Reference to proposal/decision number]

Specialized Contribution Workflows

SuperBenefit's governance repository supports specialized workflows for common governance activities. These workflows enable efficient processing of governance decisions while maintaining documentation quality and governance integrity.

Importing Approved Proposals

When governance proposals are approved, they must be integrated into the repository through established archival processes. This includes documenting the complete proposal context, voting results, and implementation status. For detailed procedures, see proposals/readme.md.

Deriving Policies from Agreements

Operational agreements often establish frameworks that require detailed policy implementation. When agreements delegate policy-making authority or establish new coordination mechanisms, contributors may need to create corresponding policy documents. For policy derivation workflows, see the respective policy domain readme files.

Agreement Implementation

When new agreements are approved, implementation may require updates to multiple repository sections, cross-reference adjustments, and related policy modifications. For comprehensive implementation workflows, see the agreement-specific readme files in agreements/.

Cross-Domain Coordination

Some contributions affect multiple governance domains or require coordination between community and operational governance. These contributions require special attention to authority boundaries and may need approval from multiple governance bodies. For cross-domain workflow guidance, see governance.md and relevant domain-specific readme files.

Getting Started

New contributors should begin by reviewing governance.md to understand SuperBenefit's governance structure and repository maintenance principles. Then explore the specific readme files in areas where you plan to contribute:

Each readme file contains detailed workflows and instructions for performing specific governance functions within that domain. These workflows serve as implementation guides for both human and AI contributors, providing step-by-step procedures for maintaining governance documentation that accurately reflects SuperBenefit's collective decisions.

Questions and Support

For questions about contribution procedures, governance authority, or repository workflows, consult the relevant readme files first, then engage through established governance spaces. SuperBenefit's governance succeeds through active participation from contributors who understand that coordination mechanisms must serve changing circumstances while preserving alignment with our core values.

The repository evolves through thoughtful contributions that maintain the balance between responsive adaptation and governance integrity, creating coordination infrastructure that enables rather than constrains effective collaboration across SuperBenefit's diverse network.