Micro-Grants Pilot — Fund Small Community Experiments

Summary

Fund an 8-week micro-grants pilot to back a handful of lightweight community experiments before committing to a full grants program. Total budget capped at 2,500 USDC.

Rationale

A standing grants program is real capital and ongoing overhead. A small, time-boxed pilot lets us test demand, surface strong contributors, and gather evidence to design the larger program well.

Budget

• Total cap: 2,500 USDC
• Per-grant cap: 750 USDC
• Minimum 3 grants; unspent funds return to treasury at close

Eligible project types

• Developer tooling and integrations
• Educational or documentation content
• Community initiatives and events
• Small experiments that test demand for a future product or service

Out of scope: ongoing salaries, large infrastructure, anything requiring funding beyond the pilot window.

Review process

• Applicants submit a short proposal: goal, deliverable, requested amount
• Open application window during weeks 1–2
• A 3-member review group (1 admin + 2 members) scores on clarity, feasibility, and community value
• Grants approved on a rolling basis until the 2,500 USDC cap is reached

Duration

8 weeks from approval: weeks 1–2 applications, weeks 3–7 execution, week 8 reporting and wrap-up.

End-of-pilot reporting

• Each recipient submits a short writeup: what was built, outcomes, learnings
• Review group publishes a summary with total spend and per-grant results
• Report includes an explicit go/no-go recommendation on a full program

Risk note

Scope, 8-week window, and 2,500 USDC cap bound the downside. Main risk is weak applications; mitigated by small grant sizes, the review group, and mandatory reporting that feeds the go/no-go decision.