Chia Cultivation Grant Program
Do you have an interest in coding new tools and programs to add valuable resources to the Chia ecosystem? Then you need to be in the know when it comes to Chia’s Cultivation Grant Program.
Chia Networks announced its Chia Cultivation Grant program in August of 2021. As they are committed to growing and nurturing the Chia ecosystem, they realize that they can’t (and shouldn’t) do everything themselves. Not only are they striving to build applications and functionality in-house, but they want to encourage their highly engaged community to unleash its creativity as well. They know that members of the community will create amazing open source projects of their own, and that some of those projects will very likely stand as pillars of the community and ecosystem. To that end, in an effort to further support these high-potential projects and teams, they have created this grant program.
Recipients of this grant are people or teams who have caught the eye of Chia’s senior leadership and presented a compelling proposal as to why they feel their vision, talent, and expertise are uniquely positioned to add material value to the community through the creation of Chialisp applications, Wallets, blockchain tools, and other projects. They plan to recognize this potential value by providing to them some modest financial support to help realize their vision, as well as highlighting the potential value Chia feels they bring to the ecosystem with promotional assets and support.
To further support this program they have launched the Chia Cultivation Grant homepage, which currently reflects a basic outline of the program, but as time goes on will soon also showcase profiles of current recipients of the grant, an FAQ, and more. Until then, watch that space for more updates, and if you have a team with a project vision you think would be a potential candidate for a Grant, you can reach out to the leadership at Chia at the contact info posted on that page.
FAQ
Q: Is Chia paying out the grant in XCH and/or from the Strategic Reserve?
A: No. Chia has a solid footing of funding, which is used to run the company day to day and also to pay for activities such as these in Fiat USD. As always, you can track the Strategic Reserve here: Chia Network pre-farm tracker
Q: Who decides which applicants get the grant?
A: The Chia Cultivation Grant is managed by a Committee made up of several key executives at Chia Network with experience in this space and a vision towards what kinds of projects will further grow the Chia ecosystem. They collectively review and discuss the various proposals sent in that meet the baseline requirements, and work with the applicants to administer the grant funding when chosen. The day to day administration of things like communications, in-bound proposal filtering, and other miscellaneous logistics, are overseen by the Ecosystem team.
Q: How much money is given out to recipients of the grant?
A: There is no fixed amount, but they aim to stay within a range of $30k to $250k per grant. However, they don’t focus on a specific target and instead they look at the applications given to us, the amount asked for, how it is proposed to be used, and work from there to find a practical amount that helps the team reach their goals without them being entirely dependent on us for continued success.
Q: Is there a limit to how many recipients can be awarded Grants or a maximum that will be given out?
A: No. At this time they do not have a fixed dollar amount to cap, nor do they have a limit on the number of recipients they will award a Grant to.
Q: What is required to submit a grant application?
A: While there is no specific checklist of criteria, they focus on proposals that are well thought out and have a fleshed out vision and roadmap. Think of the application process as similar to pitching a startup idea to seed investors… They would like to see in-depth proposals that incorporate not only a solid idea, but milestones, fiscal and resource budgets, team background information, contingency plans, go to market strategies, post launch support plans, etc.
Q: Are grants awarded on a rolling basis, or is there a limited application window every year?
A: Grants are awarded as-needed. They constantly review submissions and organic interactions they have with people in the ecosystem to look for potential recipients. They award Grants any time they feel they have found a great team and idea.
Q: What are the technical requirements for applicants (i.e. free, open source, etc…)?
A: They require that the fundamental core product released by the grant be open source and compatible with the Apache 2.0 license, however, they understand that they are investing in people and ideas that want to improve the ecosystem long term, which generally means helping create a viable, self-sustaining venture. To that end, they understand that a revenue model is key to this success and are comfortable with recipients creating “premium” experiences as a commercial product to extend beyond the core products they funded.
Q: Can I submit multiple applications?
A: A person or organization can submit as many applications as they like, but do note that due to volume they can’t respond to every application that doesn’t meet the threshold for further communications. Please do not submit the same submission repeatedly. They do encourage you to resubmit ideas with improved supporting documentation and planning if it will help elevate your original application to a higher quality!
Via this site.
