Governance (GIPs)
GnosisDAO is governed by GNO token holders. Every binding decision from treasury allocations to protocol changes flows through a single mechanism: the Gnosis Improvement Proposal (GIP).
This page explains how GnosisDAO governance works. For a step-by-step walkthrough of creating and submitting a GIP, see the How to Create a GIP guide.
The legal source of truth for GnosisDAO governance is the GnosisDAO Participation Agreement (published in GIP-10 and amended from time to time). Clause 2.2 ("Governance Mechanism") defines three binding phases.
Participating in any phase (submitting a GIP, running a forum poll, voting on Snapshot) digitally signs the Agreement. See the FAQ for what that means in practice.
Principles
GnosisDAO governance is built on a few core ideas:
- Open participation. Anyone can submit a proposal. You don't need to hold GNO or be a delegate, just an idea and the willingness to engage.
- Token-weighted voting. The amount of GNO you hold (or have been delegated) directly determines your voting power. Governance influence is proportional to stake.
- Community-first process. Proposals are shaped through open discussion on the GnosisDAO Forum before they ever reach a vote. The forum is where proposals succeed or fail.
- Accountability. Passing a vote is not the end. Funded teams are expected to deliver on their commitments and report on progress publicly.
Champion the GIP Process
Every GIP moves through three governance phases defined by the Agreement (Clause 2.2), followed by a fourth operational phase the community expects but the Agreement does not strictly mandate:
| Phase | What happens | Typical duration |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Ideation | The author shares their idea on the forum and gathers community feedback. | 7+ days (avg. 28 days) |
| 2. Formal GIP | The proposal is structured using the GIP template and put to a forum poll. | 5-day poll (avg. 14 days total) |
| 3. Snapshot Vote | A binding, GNO-weighted vote on Snapshot. | 7 days |
| 4. Accountability (operational; outside the three binding phases of the Participation Agreement) | The team executes the proposal and reports on progress. | Ongoing |
Most proposals take 4–8 weeks from first forum post to Snapshot result, though this varies with complexity and community engagement.
Process flow
Phase Overview
Phase 1: Ideation
The ideation phase is a community signal check. Authors post their idea to the GnosisDAO Forum and use the discussion period to test appetite, refine the concept, and build early support. A minimum of 7 days and at least 5 substantive replies are expected before a proposal advances — proposals that don't generate discussion rarely survive later phases.
Phase 2: Formal GIP
Once an idea has community traction, the author structures it into a formal GIP using the GIP Template, covering the abstract, motivation, specification, budget, and risks. The formal GIP is accompanied by a 5-day forum poll that includes a "Yes" or "No" option. This is the opportunity for the community to provide feedback before it moves to onchain voting.
Phase 3: Snapshot Vote
Proposals that clear the forum phase are submitted to the GnosisDAO Snapshot space for a binding vote. Voting is GNO-weighted and runs for a minimum of 7 days. To pass, a proposal needs both a majority of YES votes and a quorum of 75,000 GNO (current value; quorum is a governance parameter and can be changed by a future GIP).
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Voting mechanism | GNO-weighted |
| Passing threshold | Majority YES |
| Quorum | 75,000 YES votes |
| Minimum voting period | 7 days |
Quorum is the most common point of failure. Historically, a third of proposals that reach Snapshot fail because not enough people vote, not because the community opposed them. Building support before submitting to Snapshot is critical.
Phase 4: Accountability (operational best practice)
Phase 4 is community convention — operational, and outside the three binding phases of the Participation Agreement. The 30/60/90-day reporting cadence below is not legally enforceable on its own — but the Agreement's clause 14.2 covenants (to "actively participate" and "support the purpose" of GnosisDAO) sit underneath it, and GnosisDAO can vote to terminate funding agreements for non-delivery.
If a passed proposal involves a treasury transfer, this will be co-ordinated with the GnosisDAO treasury manager via the moderation team. Funding-style GIPs implicitly engage the proposing team as a Service Provider under the Participation Agreement — they become accountable for delivering the work in the proposal, not just for receiving the funds. From that point, the proposing team is expected to post progress updates at 30, 60, and 90 days at minimum, and publish a completion report when the work is done. Non-delivery damages credibility for future proposals.
Proposal Lifecycle Tags
Each proposal on the forum carries a tag indicating its current phase. Authors are responsible for keeping their tag up to date.
| Phase | Tag | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | [DRAFT] | Proposal posted, iterating on community feedback. |
| 2 | [REVIEW] | Structured community review and forum poll underway. |
| 3 | [VOTING] | Submitted to Snapshot, vote is open. |
| 4 | [PASSED] / [REJECTED] | Vote concluded — tag reflects the outcome. |
| — | Stale | No activity for 14 days; thread may be archived. |
Get Started
Gnosis Ltd can help amplify your proposal through GIP Spotlight features, social media, and community calls — but driving support is ultimately the author's responsibility.
Ready to submit a proposal? The How to Create a GIP guide walks you through every phase in detail, with checklists and tips on what makes proposals succeed.
For common questions, see the GIP FAQ.
Need real-time help? Join the Discord community.
Last updated: March 2026