A DAO (Decentralised Autonomous Organisation) allows a community to make every decision regarding the protocol through proposals and voting! The DAO will have rules set out in the smart contract which is fully transparent (in most cases). A DAO will generally have a native token which will allow users to Stake or Earn through the DAO’s treasury in some way.
Most DAOs will require users to stake or HODL a certain amount of tokens if they wish to vote and govern the network. Be aware that some DAOs with lower TVLs can be manipulated more easily by crypto whales.