Summary

This is a proposal to update the passive salary rates of the Polkadot Technical Fellowship to a flat annual schedule: $5,000/year for ranks 1-2 and $10,000/year for ranks 3 and above (paid in stablecoins, monthly equivalent of ~416.67 and ~833.33 respectively).

The change will be submitted via the FellowshipAdmin track on OpenGov and takes effect from the first full salary cycle after enactment.

Background

Fellowship members declare themselves as either active or passive. Active members are expected to contribute continuously to the protocol and are compensated at the full rate for their rank. Passive membership acts as a retainer: it recognises rank and past contribution and keeps members within the collective. Passive members are expected to keep their knowledge of Polkadot up to date, but do not carry an expectation of ongoing development work.

Current salary parameters are defined on-chain in fellowshipCore.params() on the Collectives chain (values below annualised from the monthly on-chain amounts):

Passive salary is currently defined as 50% of the active rate at every rank. This proposal replaces that proportional structure with a two-tier retainer, decoupling passive compensation from rank seniority. The higher tier for ranks 3+ reflects the increased participation requirements, notably voting on Fellowship referenda. Active rates are not modified by this proposal.

Why now

Fellowship membership is growing: the JAM Prize and PBA pipelines are expected to roughly double the number of salaried Rank 3 members over the coming year. The salary account will also need to be replenished in the near future, and the Fellowship should make sure its compensation structure is sustainable before making any further funding requests, with Treasury funds concentrated on members actively contributing to the protocol. A flat, modest passive retainer achieves that:

1. It keeps passive membership meaningful - rank is retained, members stay part of the collective, and returning to active status remains a simple re-registration.
2. It removes the situation where passive compensation scales with seniority to six-figure annual amounts ($100,000/yr at Rank 6+) without an expectation of ongoing contribution.
3. It directly reduces the size of the upcoming salary funding request, and every future one.