Ephemeral DAOs are short-lived, flexible governance containers formed to carry out a particular process — like allocating a grant round, selecting stewards, or funding a mission-critical task — and dissolve or pause once complete. They prioritize purpose over permanence.
How It Works
Ephemeral DAOs provide governance on demand without the overhead of permanent organizations.
- Define scope and duration — the community specifies what the DAO will do, how long it will exist, and what authority it has
- Assemble participants — members are drawn from trusted groups or randomly selected from the community
- Deploy lightweight infrastructure — using existing tools like Gnosis Safe, Snapshot, or Allo Protocol
- Execute the mission — the DAO carries out its defined task (grant allocation, steward selection, crisis response)
- Dissolve or sunset — once the task is complete, the DAO dissolves, returning any remaining funds and archiving decisions
Advantages
- Reduces long-term governance maintenance burden — no zombie DAOs
- Enables rapid, focused decision-making around specific goals
- Creates context-specific legitimacy without permanent overhead
- Supports modular, cyclical governance that can be revived with fresh membership
Limitations
- Not suited for long-term ecosystem maintenance or ongoing stewardship
- Cannot provide persistent roles or continuous accountability
- Requires clear scope definition to prevent mission creep
- May lose institutional knowledge when dissolved
Best Used When
- Grant allocation needs focused, time-bound governance
- Temporary steward councils are needed for specific decisions
- Crisis response requires rapid coordination without bureaucracy
- Domain or region-specific governance decisions need independent authority
Examples and Use Cases
Grant Round Governance
A community spins up an Ephemeral DAO for each quarterly grant round — fresh reviewers, clear scope, automatic dissolution after funds are distributed.
Crisis Response
A natural disaster triggers an Ephemeral DAO that coordinates mutual aid funding for 30 days, then dissolves with a transparent accounting of all decisions.
Steward Selection
A protocol creates an Ephemeral DAO specifically to select the next cohort of domain stewards, ensuring the selection process has dedicated governance.