Appendix u — Organizational Precedents & Staffing Models

Published

August 22, 2025

Organizational Precedents & Staffing Models

This document analyzes the organizational structures of three successful entities that serve as precedents for the DIH. By understanding how they are staffed and organized, we can provide a credible, real-world justification for our own Hiring Plan.

The DIH is a hybrid organization that combines the functions of all three:

  1. The Global Fund: A massive, multi-billion dollar public health funding institution.
  2. The ICBL: A nimble, decentralized global political advocacy campaign.
  3. MakerDAO: A decentralized, on-chain financial protocol.

1. Precedent: The Global Fund (The Financial Institution)

Model: The Global Fund is a financial institution disguised as a public health organization. It does not implement programs directly. Instead, its core function is to raise and deploy capital at massive scale (~$5B/year). Its organizational structure reflects this focus on finance, risk management, and grant administration.

Approximate Staff Size: ~700-800 people in its central Secretariat in Geneva.

Illustrative Org Chart & Key Roles:

  • Executive Office: Executive Director, Chief of Staff.
  • Grant Management Division (Largest team):
  • Fund Portfolio Managers (by region: Africa, Asia, etc.)
  • Health Finance Specialists
  • Monitoring & Evaluation Specialists
  • Finance & Administration Division:
  • Chief Financial Officer
  • Controllers & Accountants
  • Treasury & Risk Management Teams
  • Procurement & Supply Chain Specialists
  • Strategy & Policy Division:
  • Public Health Experts
  • Economists
  • Policy & Strategy Advisors
  • External Relations & Communications Division:
  • Fundraising & Donor Relations Teams
  • Government Affairs & Lobbyists
  • Communications & Media Relations
  • Legal & Governance:
  • General Counsel
  • Board Relations Team

Relevance to DIH: The Global Fund’s structure provides a proven blueprint for the team required to manage the DIH Treasury (Phase 3). Our CFO, CCO, Treasury Operations, and Program Officer roles are directly analogous to the core functions of The Global Fund’s Secretariat.

2. Precedent: The ICBL (The Political Campaign)

Model: The ICBL was not a large, centralized organization. It was a lean, decentralized network of NGOs that coordinated a global political campaign. Its power came from its moral authority and its ability to mobilize a vast network, not a large internal headcount.

Approximate Staff Size: A very small core team (likely < 20 people) responsible for coordination, with the bulk of the work done by partner organizations.

Illustrative Org Chart & Key Roles:

  • Coordination Team / Secretariat:
  • Campaign Director / Coordinator
  • Communications Lead
  • Regional Liaisons (to coordinate with partner NGOs)
  • Diplomatic & UN Liaison
  • Advisory Board / Steering Committee: Composed of leaders from the major partner NGOs.
  • The Network: Thousands of volunteers and staff at hundreds of partner NGOs around the world who performed the actual in-country advocacy.

Relevance to DIH: The ICBL’s lean, decentralized structure is the model for the DIH’s political campaign (Phases 1 & 2). Our Head of Political Strategy, Elections Compliance Lead, and Regional Campaign Directors are the modern, more heavily capitalized version of the ICBL’s core coordination team. We are, in effect, running a professionalized, well-funded ICBL.

3. Precedent: MakerDAO (The Decentralized Protocol)

Model: MakerDAO is a software protocol, not a traditional company. It has no CEO, no central office, and no formal employees in the traditional sense. It is governed by a global community of token holders and powered by a network of independent, self-organized “Core Units” that receive funding from the DAO.

Approximate Staff Size: ~100-150 full-time contributors across all Core Units.

Illustrative “Org Chart” (Core Units):

  • Engineering Core Unit: Smart contract development and maintenance.
  • Risk Core Unit: Financial risk analysis and parameter adjustments.
  • Oracles Core Unit: Manages the data feeds that the protocol relies on.
  • Growth Core Unit: Works on partnerships and adoption.
  • Governance & Facilitation Core Unit: Manages the governance process, runs community calls, and organizes voting.
  • Real-World Finance Core Unit: Works on integrating traditional assets into the protocol.
  • Community & Communications Core Unit: Manages public communications and community channels.

Relevance to DIH: MakerDAO provides the blueprint for how the DIH will operate in its mature, fully decentralized state (post-Phase 3). Our Head of Governance / DAO Facilitator role is directly modeled on MakerDAO’s successful Governance Core Unit. The long-term vision is for the DIH’s core functions to be managed by a similar network of independent, specialized teams funded by the DIH treasury itself.