Individual donation funds

[bitcoinx2]

I would like to propose a donation structure by which work can be paid (via bounties), that perfectly fits into using Github issues for tracking tasks, and avoids having a centralized donation structure. It would go like this:

1. Core community members can publish a donation address that is held by them, that they are accountable for. The address is public and viewable by anyone. These addresses are listed in the ANN or on Github, along with the user holding it.
2. Any Github user can create feature requests. Feature requests are voted on via "reactions" (the funny icons, thumbs up or down) or simply by listening to the community.
3. A member holding a donation fund address can decide to fund a feature and will comment below the created issue on Github. He will specify the size of the bounty and the acceptance criteria. Other members can join and add additional bounties.
4. Any Github user can provide a possible solution via a pull request, that is then reviewed by the core developers (if it is a technical feature) or on an individual basis (for graphics work for example).
5. If the task has been fulfilled, the person holding the donation address sends the promised money to the contributor and posts the transaction ID below the issue as a proof that the money has been paid.
6. Since the transaction and all involved Github issues are public, a monthly report can be created by the person holding the donation address for perfect transparency.
7. Based on these reports and on trust put into the community member holding a donation address, investors can decide to donate to one of these addresses if they want to support the project. The donator can choose who should administrate his donation based on personal preferences and on trust.

This approach ensures that there is not a single person being in control of all the donation funds. At the same time, it avoids having a complex consensus protocol for deciding where money should be spent. Each member holding a donation address is accountable for it with his good name, and is responsible for spending it wisely and in the sense of the community. If someone doesn't display sufficient responsibility, he will lose trust and will not receive any additional donations in the future. The community member holding a donation address will also have an incentive to stay true to his word and pay money after it has been promised to the developer/artist. Latter will be paid after delivering, to make sure that he actually delivers the work that he is being paid for.

This concept can also be relaxed a bit into two directions:

• A member administrating a donation fund does not have to restrict himself to Github issues. He can also decide to spend money on marketing or any other work that he deems to be a wise investment in the sense of the donators who gave money to him. Along with the donation address listing, each person can describe where he wants to spend the money, or what priorities he has.
• Donators can also comment below Github issues themselves and offer bounties directly. In this case, the developer or artist has to trust the person offering the bounty to actually pay him after the work has been delivered.

Please vote on this suggestion using Github reactions (+1 or -1), to see if that feature works ;)