Gm Good Contributors👋
After enjoying a week with family and friends, it's time to get back to our regular routine. This week, I'll be exploring the concept of grants in the DAO ecosystem.
DAO Grants: Funding for Mission-Driven Projects
Navigating the Grant Process for DAOs: Tips and Strategies
Funding for All
Latest DAOs News
Overcoming Rejection
Meme of the Week
DAO Grants: Funding for Mission-Driven Projects 💊
Grants are a common way for DAOs to fund various initiatives or projects. They are essentially financial allocations of funds from the DAO treasury to individuals, teams, or organizations for a specific purpose or task.
Grants can be used to support a wide range of activities such as product development, research, marketing, community building, or any other initiatives that contribute to the DAO's mission and goals.
In exchange for the grant, recipients may be required to provide regular updates on their progress or submit a final report detailing their achievements.
Navigating the Grant Process for DAOs: Tips and Strategies ✔
You might think that grants in the DAO ecosystem are only available to a small group of highly skilled experts, but that's not the case.
As always, each DAO is unique, but there are some general steps you can take to increase your chances of receiving a grant in the Web3 ecosystem.
Research and Identify DAOs: The first step is to research and identify DAOs that align with your project or idea. Look for DAOs that have a track record of funding projects similar to yours.
Participate in DAO Communities: Once you have identified potential DAOs, join their communities and start actively participating. Engage in discussions, provide feedback, and contribute to the community. This will help you build relationships with members of the DAO and increase your visibility.
Submit a Proposal: Most DAOs have a proposal process through which you can apply for a grant. When submitting a proposal, make sure it is clear, concise, and aligned with the DAO's goals and values. Include a detailed plan, budget, and timeline for your project. Be prepared to answer questions and provide additional information if needed.
Demonstrate Value: During the proposal process and throughout your project, focus on demonstrating value to the DAO. Be responsive to feedback, communicate regularly, and provide updates on your progress.
Build Relationships: Building relationships with members of the DAO is crucial. Take the time to get to know key stakeholders, build trust, and show that you are committed to the DAO's goals and values.
In general, acquiring a grant within the DAO ecosystem involves research, engagement, communication, and network building.
As you can see on DeepDAO, there are numerous grants available for you to apply to.
Do you find the idea of reviewing each proposal individually overwhelming? Don't worry, it's completely normal. Check this.
Funding for All 💰
Grants have existed for a long time in TradFi, where governments and other platforms offer money to individuals and organizations to fund projects.
However, this system is often plagued by bureaucracy and corruption, which means that the money does not always reach where it is needed.
Why are grants in Web3 better than the traditional system?
Firstly, DAOs can provide more transparency and accountability in the grant-making process. With smart contracts and blockchain technology, the entire process of grant allocation and distribution can be recorded on a public ledger, allowing for greater visibility and ensuring that the funds are distributed as intended.
Secondly, DAOs can enable greater citizen participation in the grant-making process. By allowing anyone to contribute funds to a particular grant project, DAOs can democratize the allocation of funds, allowing the public to support causes they care about.
Thirdly, DAOs can reduce bureaucracy and corruption in the grant-making process. Since DAOs are decentralized and run on a trustless system, the risk of corruption or misappropriation of funds is significantly reduced.
Finally, DAOs can help to address funding gaps for projects in developing countries. By allowing anyone with an internet connection to contribute to grant projects, DAOs can help to provide funding to areas that are traditionally underserved or lack access to traditional funding sources.
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Gitcoin enables communities to fund their shared needs and create the digital public infrastructure of tomorrow. BanklessDAO hosts an AMA with Shawn Grubb and Evan Powell, discussing Gitcoin's mission, values, product market fit, north star metric, and challenges to overcome.
Latest DAO News 📢
➢DAO treasuries top $25 billion for the first time: DeepDAO
➢MakerDAO passes new ‘constitution’ to formalize governance process
➢Community wants Arbitrum Foundation to return 700M ARB to DAO Treasury
➢Aragon and Polygon Labs collaborate to boost DAO accessibility
➢Pfizer-Backed VitaDAO Votes on Creating For-Profit Company to Fund Longevity Research
➢NFTX DAO Eyes Treasury Rebalancing After USDC Wobbles
➢MoonDAO teams up with Space for a Better World on Zero-G flight experience
➢DAOBox presents a framework for legal wrappers in DAO ecosystems
➢UNICEF hatches plan for a prototype DAO, following its crypto fund
➢The Harvard Summit on Equitable Ownership and Governance will bring together key stakeholders
➢Hydra Ventures DAO raised $10M to accelerate the venture DAO ecosystem
➢DaoLens invites communities to apply for its $5000 funding program
➢NEAR launches $11M grassroots community trust registered in Guernsey
Overcoming Rejection 🌿
So, you might be wondering what to do with all that sweet funding after learning about DAO proposals. But hey, let's be real, sometimes your proposal might not make the cut.
For example, I recently pitched a proposal in Nouns to receive 2ETH. Here you can see the proposal that I submitted with my fren Soho.
Anyway, long story short, we didn't get the funding. The competition was fierce and the other proposals were pretty impressive.
But you know what? I'm not too upset about it. I gotta hand it to the winners and start preparing a better proposal for next time.
Meme of the Week 😁
Gn Good Contributors!👋
Super helpful, thanks! Something I've been considering with grants and would love your thoughts on: I think there should be some mechanism for weighting grants towards longer-term relationships, and probably activity as well. What are your thoughts around this idea? Basically, I think there's a lot to be said for the idea that if you've been part of something for a long time and putting in effort, there should be more weight to that than on writing a good proposal. I think we sometimes put too much weight on things like proposals.