Earlier this week, we shared our Open Source Developer Grants Bounty Program on Polkassembly, and now we’re cross-posting it here for greater visibility and hopefully some community feedback.
We propose the establishment of an Open Source Developer Grants Program to support individuals and small teams in developing open-source software for the Polkadot ecosystem. This initiative aims to fund up to 15 projects with grants of up to $30,000 each, focusing on those with a proven background in open-source software development. Projects can include proofs of concept, general-purpose libraries, or full-scale dApps that benefit the Polkadot ecosystem.
The primary goal of this bounty is to streamline the grant process for applicants, providing an alternative to the W3F Grants Program and traditional treasury funding. By consolidating the discussion, evaluation, and processing of technical proposals into the hands of curators, we aim to create a more accountable and effective decision-making process. Unlike the W3F Grants Program, which is managed solely by the foundation, this bounty will feature multiple community curators, offering varied perspectives on funding open-source development. The milestone-based payment system ensures continuous feedback, allowing curators and teams to adapt their work to meet community expectations.
Proposed Curator Set
Diogo Mendonca from Ditavia
Tommi Enenkel from Alice und Bob
Otar Shakarishvili from JUST Open Source
Luca von Wyttenbach from Polimec
Sebastian Müller from Web3 Foundation
For more details on the proposal and to participate in the discussion, please refer to the full proposal here. We welcome any questions or comments you may have to ensure all aspects are thoroughly considered before submitting the bounty for the referendum.
Interesting proposal. Yes, this kind of incentive is needed for small development teams, and currently, there are no child bounties that cover this. Now I have some questions or perhaps you could provide more information:
Will the grant be awarded to those who deliver a complete product that can already be used by everyone in the ecosystem?
Afterwards, will that team continue to request funds from the treasury to continue development, or will they be advised to opt for other existing funding options, like Polimec? Is that possible?
Since the grant will be awarded in stablecoin, why isn’t the bounty requested in stablecoin?
Will there be publicity for the bounty? That is, will social media be created where potential candidates can learn about the requirements, steps to participate, and so on?
These are the questions that come to mind for now. I wish you much success.
Thanks for your questions and apologies for the delay in getting back to you. Let me answer your points:
The grant doesn’t necessarily require a finished product. It can be awarded at various stages of a project’s development. The goal is to also support ongoing progress, so even partial advancements are eligible.
Teams can indeed request additional funds from the treasury after the initial grant. The grant is a great way to demonstrate capability and commitment to the community. Continued support would depend on community approval, but proving the project’s value through initial funding can certainly help.
Grants are not awarded in stablecoin. Grant applications are denominated in USD, but will be converted to DOT at the time of payment. Currently, it’s not feasible to fund bounties directly with stablecoins. However, as this is definitely programmable, we might explore in the future, potentially managing multiple assets through an AH address controlled by curators, similar to the classic setup on the relay chain.
All grant-related information will be available on GitHub for easy access. However, we do not plan a dedicated social media presence. Instead, we’ll advertise the bounty individually and rely on word of mouth.
I hope this answers your questions! Please feel free to reach out if you need any more details.
Could we organise a chat? My main thoughts would be that it would be great to find out how we can best capture some insightful data from these experiments to identify any problems or opportunities with these different approaches.