Introducing The Newly Improved ICP Community Grants Program

V2 of the Internet Computer Community Grants Program is designed to support and empower star teams and individuals in their mission to engage, educate, inspire global Web3 communities.

The Internet Computer Blockchain is quickly gaining momentum as a revolutionary technology that could potentially change the way communities interact with the internet. With its unique architecture, ICP is able to host websites, apps, and even entire ecosystems on chain without relying on traditional cloud providers.

The past year has been an exciting time of expansion for ICP, as more and more stakeholders started to explore its capabilities. With the aim to continue the momentum, the DFINITY Foundation is excited to share a new release of its Internet Computer Community Grants Program. This new version 2 has been optimized to better support and empower star teams as well as individuals in their mission to engage, educate, inspire global and local Web3 communities about the world computer capabilities of the Internet Computer blockchain.

To qualify for the Community Grants Program, projects must demonstrate a high level of impact and the capacity to further drive the expansion and the adoption of the Internet Computer blockchain, with focus on one of the following three verticals:

Education: Any educational initiative in the form of bootcamps, courses, curricula or accelerators that aim to engage or onboard developers, entrepreneurs, users and institutes.

Events : Online or IRL events to evangelize ICP, showcasing use cases or creating awareness for developers, entrepreneurs and industry stakeholders.

Content : Video, audio or written content that highlights ICP technology, features, ecosystem and communities to engage and educate the web3 community at large.

What’s NEW

The program has been revamped based on extensive feedback from all the important stakeholders, and represents a significant improvement over the previous version.

A number of important changes have been made to the ICP Community Grants Program in order to achieve the goal of offering our community partners the support they need. Firstly, the application process has been streamlined, making it more accessible and user-friendly for potential grantees.

Secondly, a rigorous evaluation process has been put in place to ensure that we are funding initiatives that have the greatest potential to make a meaningful impact and at the same time align with the core values and mission.

Finally, constant communication touch points with our grantees have been weaved into the program to provide regular updates and feedback throughout the grant cycle.

How does it work

The Internet Computer Community Grants Program will be initially managed by a committee of experienced DFINITY team members who will be responsible for reviewing and processing grant applications on a weekly basis.Committee members with expertise in various areas related to above-mentioned verticals will evaluate each application based on agreed milestones, deliverables, and key performance indicators (KPIs) to ensure a proper alignment with values, vision and (industry) standards.

The Committee will vote and provide feedback to applicants in the shortest time possible. As the goal is to ensure that the grants be used effectively and efficiently to drive the adoption of the Internet Computer blockchain, suggestions and revisions of the grant submissions will be made by the Committee.

The Pilot phase

The pilot phase (Q2, 2023) will be kicked off to test processes and workflows, to ensure the program will be scalable and efficient. During the pilot (Q2–2023), the team will work on optimizing processes and workflows, making sure everything is sufficiently scalable to accommodate a large volume of submissions without friction in the whole user experience.

At this stage, only a limited number of grants will be disbursed. However, everyone can apply, and we look forward to receiving your groundbreaking ideas.

Community Involvement

The community is the ultimate stakeholder when it comes to the Internet Computer ecosystem, which is why we have designed it to involve our community at every stage. The program will be rolled out in a three-step process over the next few quarters:

Q2 2023: The community will be invited to engage in a poll announced on social media with the scope of defining a new and fresh brand identity for the program.

Q3/Q4 2023: The community will be directly involved in the Committee, with the inclusion of community representatives who will join the Grant Committee. It’s important to clarify that candidate selection will strictly be based on competencies and proven track records that exemplify high quality work focused on the expansion of the ecosystem. The role of community representative will be on a volunteer basis and subjected to turnover.

2024: Subject to the success of the previous 2 steps, the intention is to decentralize the program and enlarge voting to the whole ICP Community and beyond. Options include (but are not be restricted to) the formation of a DAO as a governing body.

What It IS and IS NOT

To reiterate, the measure of success of the Internet Computer Community Grants Program will not be in the number of grants disbursed, nor in the value of the grants. The main objective is to create impact to drive a perceivable expansion of the ICP ecosystem. Some examples of metrics include: attendance for IRL events, number of graduations for courses, and outreach beyond the ecosystem for content production.

It is therefore necessary to emphasize that this new V2 of the Internet Computer Community Grants Program is NOT:

— An extra marketing budget for teams or individuals within or outside the ecosystem to promote themselves or their communities.
 — Financial support on top of previous grants (Developer or Community Grants)
 — A general reward for individuals or teams who are particularly active in the ecosystem.
 — A way to pay for conference sponsorship packages (such as “Diamond, Gold, etc.)

The Grant Handbook: Everything You Need to Know

We understand how confusing a grant application can be. To make things a little easier, we’ve put together a detailed handbook to guide applicants at each stage, and to create a level-playing field for everyone. The handbook covers these four areas:

1. Provides clarity and guidance: enables applicants to submit stronger and more competitive proposals.
2. Ensures consistency and fairness: prevents any biases or favoritism in the selection process and promotes transparency and accountability.
3. Helps with compliance: ensures that all applicants and recipients are aware of their obligations and can comply with the program’s requirements.
4. Promotes accountability: ensures everyone involved in the program understands their role in its success.

We are looking forward to being wowed by your creative ideas. Visit our website for more details and to submit applications:

Community Grants Program | DFINITY

Learn more about the internetcomputer.org and join the community at @dfinity.

Introducing The Newly Improved ICP Community Grants Program was originally published in The Internet Computer Review on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.