Contribution tables

Initial ideas about how contribution tables could be implemented

Contribution tables are a record of what people have contributed towards an organisation. Contributors can highly benefit from contributions being recorded and verified. Every type of contribution could be recorded in contribution tables.

Capital

Capital investments can be recorded by including the date of the investment, the asset being invested and its total value and who the investor is. Most capital investments would be converted into risk adjusted loans that the organisation will pay back sometime in the future. The details about that loan should be linked to any capital investment contribution information.

Donations

Donations can be recorded by including the amount being donated, the time the donation was made and the person that made the donation.

Consumption

Consumption can be recorded by including the good or service that was provided to the individual, the price they paid for that good and service, the date they paid and received the good or service and who the individual was that made the purchase. In some situations the consumer would want to remain anonymous, a unique reference identifier could be used to make a contribution log but enable the consumer to remain anonymous. The consumer could also be given a way to prove that they purchased a certain good or service if they needed to in the future using technology such as zero knowledge proofs.

Labour contributions

Capital, donation and consumption contributions are often much easier to understand from a value perspective as most of the value of these contributions is known at the time they are made. Labour contributions are often more complex due to the fact that the value of the labour is sometimes not immediately obvious or measurable. Some contributions could take multiple years before it is clear on how valuable that contribution has been for an organisation. This makes it important for an organisation to understand who made what contributions so this can be tracked over an extended period of time. Recording labour contributions accurately will help with rewarding impactful contributions in the future based on the value and impact they generate for an organisation. The following are some initial suggestions about the parameters that could be used for recording labour contributions.

Worker details

Details about the person who provided their labour should be recorded on each contribution entry. This could be details about the individual or another organisation that has made the contribution.

Start date and end date

The start and end date for when the contributions were made.

Market rate

In a market based economy the labour for different roles and skills can have a different value based on the supply and demand for people that could fill those roles. Each skill can have a varying level of difficulty and amount of effort that is needed to master the skill. An organisation can use market data to determine what a fair market rate is for certain roles and skills and then using that data determine what their own agreed rates should be.

Agreed rate

Organisations can pay different rates based on how well the company is doing and where it is along its own startup journey. In the earlier stages it is common for organisations to not have the same amount of capital and resources due to a lack of income from consumer purchases or donations. An organisation will need to collectively agree on what a fair agreed rate should be for different roles based on what the organisation can afford at that point in time and what is fair and reasonable for the responsibilities and complexities of each role. An agreed rate doesn’t guarantee that contributors will be paid this much that year as the revenue for the organisation will often not be known ahead of time.

Salary

Each worker would receive a salary or wage based on an agreed contribution period and payment for that period. The salary that someone receives should be a prediction of the value of the contributions they will make based on their historical performance and impact. For some organisations, it could be beneficial to agree on income levels that are below the market rate of each worker. This is because it is only a prediction of what they will contribute and how they will perform. Capital can then be reserved for a bonus incentive in the future.

Unpaid salary

Sometimes an organisation is unable to pay the agreed rate that each worker was expecting. Unpaid salaries are the total amount of the agreed rate that has not been paid to the worker. The worker should be paid this missing income in the future when and if the organisation is able to do so.

Outcome percentage

At the end of each contribution period an organisation can benefit from determining what percentage of the current outcomes were due to the contributions of each person. This is important for a more competitive environment where people are rewarded based on the value of their contributions. There are many ways that this percentage could be determined that will need separate and more in depth analysis. The level of accuracy that is needed will be based on the needs of the organisation and how competitive they prefer their environment to be.

Bonus percentage

An organisation needs to decide what percentage of the existing assets should be allocated towards contributors through bonuses. An organisation will need to decide what amount of capital it needs to reserve for future expenses and salaries before making an informed decision about what percentage could be used for bonuses.

Bonus

A bonus incentive is an effective way to pay workers for what has actually happened after they have finished a period of contribution. It is hard to predict how performant and impactful someone will be ahead of time. Contributors can come together at the end of a contribution period to discuss and vote on which contributors have been the most performant and impactful based on what actually happened. This means that enough capital should be reserved for this review period when possible. Even if there is little to no capital for a bonus incentive available this same process can help with identifying the most performant contributors who can then be rewarded in the future. Contribution tables help to ensure that organisations can reflect on these contributions in the future and take into account whether people were fairly compensated for those contributions.

Paid income reward

Paid income rewards combine the income and bonus for a contribution period that someone has received and then multiplies this income by a reward multiplier. The justification for this reward is because the value of someone's contributions can be higher in certain circumstances such as during the starting stages of an organisation where it is riskier to make contributions as it is not always guaranteed the organisation will be around to pay them in the future. An increased reward could also be provided when someone has made contributions for multiple years as their expertise and understanding of the organisation could now be even more effective for the organisation.

Unpaid income reward

Unpaid income is the agreed rate minus the amount that the contributor has actually been paid. If this results in an amount that has been unpaid then the unpaid income should be similarly rewarded in the future. Unpaid income can be even more greatly rewarded than paid income as the contributor is taking on delayed risk as they might not get paid this delayed income in the future. Organisations may purposefully decide to delay paying people their agreed rate salaries to maximise the chance the organisation survives. These contributors are taking a risk that the organisation could fail and due to this their unpaid income reward needs to reflect this risk in their future reward.

Total contribution value

A person's total contribution value will combine someone's paid income reward and the unpaid income reward for a given contribution period. This value will include the income, bonus and any added rewards that they should receive in the future. This value helps to express a more accurate representation of the value that someone has provided an organisation.

Cumulative contribution value

A person's cumulative contribution value is the sum of all the total contribution values for each contribution period. This value will represent the total contribution value they have provided to an organisation up until the current point in time.

Contribution logs

Accurately working out how performant and impactful someone's contributions are will require a thorough understanding of what each person has contributed. To achieve this, contributionism advocates for people to record logs of any contribution outputs they have generated over a period of time. Contribution logs can be used as a way to verify someone's contribution efforts and outcomes. The aggregation of someone's contribution logs should give a good indication of how performant and impactful a contributor has been. This information can then be fed into the review process and inform future income and bonus compensation decisions.

Automatically recorded contributions

Blockchain and ledger technology is a complimentary technology for automatically recording contributions that could be used for contribution tables. All donations and consumer purchases could be easily recorded using on-chain transactions. When labour contributions are paid out a transaction could be created that can be used as a receipt for the contribution period that has been paid. Capital investments could mostly be converted into risk adjusted loans where the contracts could also be added on-chain.

A number of governance systems and processes would be needed for contribution tables to function properly in an on-chain environment.