We have encountered a range of different requests and have been taking a holistic approach to understand the unique needs faced by each project and the resources available to help them achieve their goals moving forward. While financial support is only one part of this, there have been a number of questions about the range of options available, so we wanted to give everyone visibility into the next steps.

Projects looking for funding will first explore internal resources including the BD/Ecosystem success team and ad hoc advisory support via a 1-1 call with the Horizon team, as well as by working closely with the MarketingDAO, CreativesDAO, and DevHub. Projects that do not qualify through any of these routes will have the ability to go to an internal review process. 

To make sure the community voices are heard and involved in the process, members of the Governance Working Group (GWG) have collaborated with NEAR Foundation to define the criteria needed to receive financial support. The criteria the committee will use to make the selections are the following:

• Is the project built on NEAR and live on mainnet?
• Is there a current grant already in place? 
• Are there a minimum 100 monthly active users?
• Does the request cover a maximum of 3 months of runway?

This process should be completed within the coming two weeks, at which point the NEAR Foundation will provide a further update. In the meantime, if you have any questions you can always reach us at community@near.foundation.

The post Grassroots Support Initiative Update – September 11, 2023 appeared first on NEAR Protocol.

For us at the Foundation, hearing directly from builders provides invaluable insight into the state of the ecosystem and how we can best continue to support the people and projects that make it what it is. What we have heard so far is that while financial support is important as the NDC fully ramps up, every project has a unique set of needs that requires a holistic approach to provide the right support, and that simply re-starting a grants program is not the right solution. To make sure that we get as many perspectives from across the ecosystem, we will be leaving the form open for one more week (until September 4th) to give anyone who needs support a chance to have their voice heard.

Once the form is closed and we have had a chance to review all of the inputs, we will then begin setting out a broader plan — in alignment with the NDC — to ensure projects get the support they need as we continue moving forward on the path to decentralization. The moment we have the full insights from these conversations, which should be within the next few weeks, we will share them in a follow-up blog post along with a clear plan on how we will be moving forward. 

We are excited to have so much interest from builders, and look forward to creating a plan that can help keep grassroots projects engaged and building.

You can sign up for a time to speak with the Ecosystem Relations Team here.  

The post Update on the Grassroots Support Initiative appeared first on NEAR Protocol.