In current time, Kernel’s multisig’s hold a variety of tokens. These are used mostly to sustain operations for Kernel. For example, the [current balance of ~$500K].(https://app.safe.global/balances?safe=eth:0x7DAC9Fc15C1Db4379D75A6E3f330aE849dFfcE18)
It still may just be an imagination, but we would like to work towards a future where:
- Kernel’s operating costs remain relatively small, stable, and predictable
- The tokens in the Kernel treasury are increasingly diverse, unique, and valuable
In short, we’d like to explore what it would look like to begin an endowment which is sustained and perpetuated by Kernel.
Endowment comes from the english “endow”, made up of two parts: en- (“to put in, cause to be”) and -do* (“to give into”).
Donations and endowments go hand in hand – in this case, it would be donations that allow the Kernel endowment to begin. Surprisingly, words like anecdote, antidote, pardon also share roots.
Beyond the roots, how have endowments begun? What are their origin stories? What are the ways to get one healthily off the ground? Where does the first $100K, $1MM, or $10MM come from?*
In Harvard’s case, the largest public, univserity endowment, ChatGPT helps:
Harvard University’s endowment was established in 1974 as a result of a restructuring of the university’s financial resources. Prior to 1974, Harvard relied primarily on annual gifts and donations to fund its operations and programs. However, the university’s leadership recognized the need for a more sustainable and stable source of funding to support its long-term goals.
To establish the endowment, Harvard merged a number of existing funds and invested them in a professionally managed portfolio of stocks, bonds, and other assets. The goal of the endowment was to generate investment returns that could be used to support the university’s programs, research, and operations over the long term.
Initially, the endowment was valued at $4.4 million, and was managed by a small team of investment professionals. Over time, the endowment grew through a combination of strong investment performance and effective fundraising efforts. Today, Harvard’s endowment is one of the largest in the world, with a value of over $41 billion as of 2021.
Further queries show that donations, public & private grants, and other inputs helped get it off the ground – much happened between 1636, when Harvard began, and 1974. There is much more to cover and explore in examples beyond just Harvard’s in the coming weeks and months.
Thinking about this now comes to the key question:
What differences might an ‘internet native’ endowment have from one of the previous era? Ultimately, how would a healthy endowment associated with Kernel begin?
A simple way to begin thinking is on a) what inputs might go in and b) how outputs are shared and sustained.
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On inputs: if this endowment invested directly in web3 projects / people who are building in web3 we meet through Kernel, or if tokens are sent back via Kernel projects, there is a chance for meaningful inputs beyond what most university endowments imagine. There is also the opportunity to explore new types of tokens, including endowment tokens, a simple and powerful concept Juan Diosdado shared, signature economies, and other ideas.
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On outputs: there might be a wider dissemination of and access to said endowment. Perhaps importantly, it may not be a Kernel endowment, but an endowment supported by Kernel, to which access which is unique, vibrant, and meaningful to local, communal spaces of learning (native altars). We may attempt to simply (but not easily), to avoid the typical overhead associated with such pools of funds and “develop independence and learning” in small communal spaces, not "bureaucracy and teaching.”
There is one subtle concern to speak of the barriers to doing this well.
An endowment maintains a particular type of ‘enclosure’ over assets which re-defines community. In many ways, there is work to be done on working against the felt ‘enclosure’ of these assets, which a successful endowment would satisfy, towards a sense of infrastructure “not perceived as scarce”, but somehow dedicated well towards common use. This design space seeks exploration.
We welcome thoughts, and we intend to start as small as is reasonable on the middle way.