Funding the Commons: Accelerating the Public Goods Funding Ecosystem

Public Good Projects Discussion
1

Project Name

Funding The Commons (FtC)

Project Description and why it’s classified as a Public Good

Funding the Commons (FtC) originated as an event series aiming to cultivate a public goods community spanning across the spectrum, including Web2, Web3, research, philanthropy, government, and industry. Its primary focus is the fostering of innovative public goods funding mechanisms. By leveraging the FtC community, brand, events, extensive resources from key partners, and a growing builder community, the organization aims to establish a sustainable PGF ecosystem, and shape the discourse around public goods funding. This involves integrating existing public goods funding platforms to build a cohesive infrastructure, allocating resources effectively, and incubating innovative projects.

Our current focus is to bootstrap a virtuous cycle of builders and a community of protocols in creating and integrating public goods funding infrastructure, and leveraging that infrastructure, in addition to the infrastructure of leading PGF protocols, to fund the next wave of builders.

Conferences

Funding the Commons will continue with its flagship offering: curated, thematic conferences leading the discourse in public goods funding, and bridging the gap between web3, web2, academia, and mainstream philanthropy.

We have successfully produced 7 conferences around the world in places such as New York City, Lisbon, Berlin, and Paris, in conjunction with major web3 events. Our speaker roster has included Juan Benet (founder of Protocol Labs), Vitalik Buterin, Jaan Tallinn (founder of Skype, director of Future of Life Institute), and many more.

Videos of presentations from previous conferences can be found on our YouTube channel, which exists as an evergreen educational asset for the global community interested in public goods to access our conference virtually in perpetuity.

Hackathons

Our first Fund Public Goods hackathon, ran in partnership with Buidlbox and completed on 1 September 2023, saw $100k in bounties allocated amongst 400+ competing builders prototyping public goods funding infrastructure on protocols such as Gitcoin, Brave, Celo, Drips, Filecoin Green, ENS, and more. Upon completion of the first Funding the Commons hackathon, we have identified a positive-sum outcome that generates grants for developers, prototypes for public goods funding protocols, and reputational prestige in the builder communities. The winners can be viewed here. Our goal with hackathons is to identify global talent in the public goods builder community, and in this way grow our community of builders.

Residencies

Facilitating collaboration over an extended period of time has led to long conversations, and high levels of collaboration and cross-pollination. A very interesting collaboration between two residency projects has emerged as a good example of this: GainForest and impactMarket are collaborating along with Celo, to prototype “Conservation Basic Income” as a way to solve 2 critical issues – poverty and on the ground data labeling – simultaneously.

We are currently planning a residency and pilot program in in 2024. We are looking at two locations. The first option is Split, Croatia in 2024, in partnership with the municipality and mayor of Split, local conference and hackathon BlockSplit, and Gitcoin. The residency would focus on applying web3 public goods funding infrastructure to real-world public goods funding: engaging the citizens of Split, Croatia to directly participate in allocating a portion of Split’s municipal budget. There is already significant sponsor interest in supporting this residency, as it gives the opportunity for blockchain protocols to prototype real-world non-speculative use cases with potential 6-figure user base growth. The second option is Chiangmai, Thailand.

Main Project Funding Sources

Protocol Labs, Gitcoin, Octant, Celo, Drips, Brave, Near, Optimism retroPGF
Optimism retroPGF application: Optimism Agora
Gitcoin GG19 application: Gitcoin | Explorer

Seeking project-specific funding or funding for general operations

Project-specific funding for:
Next Funding the Commons Residency
Funding the Commons conferences
Builder basic income (BBI)
A defragmented funding and impact evaluation stack

Project Roadmap and Milestones (only for project-specific funding):

Next Funding the Commons Residency

Identify, resource, and amplify early stage projects. Creates an intimate space to create relationships between organizations, builders, and thought leaders. Finish analysis, evaluation, and research of this residency. Create a framework for measuring impact and metrics of future residencies, and implement a PoC. Potential direct benefits to Octant from residency outcomes:
Octant integrated with other aspects of PGF stack
Reputation by association
Pipeline of public goods builders applying for funding on Octant

What is a Funding the Commons Residency (explainer video) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ToX5EbFLE8

Funding the Commons Berlin Residency Recap (summary video) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXrqTm9UBZI

Funding the Commons Conferences in 2024

FtC Taipei 2023 recap video: https://youtu.be/bsEEwIANBWE
Funding the Commons conferences are the premier ecosystem bringing together the web3 public goods funding community, and bridging the gap with web2, academia, institutional philanthropy, non-profits, and the public sector. Funding the Commons has hosted 8 editions around the world, including Lisbon, New York, Bogota, Paris, Berlin, and Taipei. 300+ speakers have presented their work, with over 3000+ combined participants. For the benefit of the general public unable to attend, all presentations are recorded and posted on our YouTube channel.
Academics present new research in public goods funding mechanism design, protocols present their experiments and public goods funding programs, representatives from the public sector and institutional philanthropy share decades of experience in funding real-world public goods, and representatives from web2 share the wisdom gleaned from funding open source for the past 25 years since the advent of the internet. At Funding the Commons, these communities overlap, share information, learn from each other, and form new cross-industry and cross-sector partnerships and projects. Builders meet funders, for new projects, and integrate new research. Major protocols discuss learnings and methodologies with each other, and collaborate on funding public goods together. In this way, new public goods initiatives are catalyzed, and existing initiatives are turbocharged.

  • April 2024: Funding the Commons SF Bay Area. Funding the Commons comes to the Bay Area in April 2024, iterating on our signature format bringing together builders, funders and academics leading innovation in the public goods space. We’re focused this time on two areas of rapid innovation underpinning fundamental infrastructure for navigating the digital-physical commons: AI and Open Web. sThe FtC experience design team is joined by partners to curate programming for each track, which will each take place over a full day.
  • July 2024: Funding the Commons Tokyo, in partnership with DAO Tokyo, Fracton Ventures, and DeSci Tokyo.
  • Q4 2024: Funding the Commons “Road to DevCon” will take place in Southeast Asia preceding DevCon.

Builder Basic Income (BBI) Program

Create Builder Basic Income Fund for our builders who wish to continue working on public goods projects, including those initiated during the Berlin Residency.

The Builder Basic Income Fund is an interface for patrons to support a curated list (a Drips List) for builders. It will also be the first “mini-product” created directly by Funding the Commons which will kickstart the virtuous cycle of builders creating public goods funding infrastructure to fund more builders. Builders will have a curated list of project concepts based on the public goods funding infrastructure stack to choose from. Hypercerts will be awarded to patrons, and a “Based Builder Hyperboard” will be created to display the dynamic contributions of patrons and builders. Builders will publish monthly progress for the Funding the Commons community.

Blog post draft further elaborating the BBI: Medium

Applied Research: Funding and Impact Evaluation Stack

The funding and impact evaluation stack aims to create alignment and convergence on a consolidated defragmented public goods funding stack, which is compatible with Octant V2. +
Two research and development initiatives are planned for 2024: Prototyping a Hypercerts-driven Public Goods Fund, and a new primitive to unify the fragmented public goods funding stack.

By bringing together many projects building on the public goods funding stack, and bringing in representatives leading common infrastructure projects, thought leaders, and facilitating cross pollination and collaboration we have effectively facilitated and encouraged consolidation of public goods funding projects to meet at a schelling point of a public goods funding stack that makes sense at this point in time.

The current public goods funding stack is fragmented and inefficient, with much duplication of data structures, incompatibility of data, duplicate functionality, and incompatibility. Our new initiative to develop a primitive, Ground Zero, will remove fragmentation in the public goods pipeline and create an interoperable Impact funding system which will provide the basis for building impact investment, and markets for public good impact.

GZ will also make it easy to onboard high quality projects, and monitor and evaluate their success in a more efficient, transparent manner while creating transparency.

This will help enable Funding the Commons to attract and fund high quality projects and create incentive alignment between the different participants enabling them to co-ordinate in exponential value creation with in built value signalling, increasing the probability that capital funds productive impact creation.

Product Overview

The primary function of Ground Zero is to:

  1. Create alignment and convergence for a consolidated public goods funding stack.
    By bringing together many projects building on the public goods funding stack, and bringing in representatives leading common infrastructure projects, thought leaders, and facilitating cross pollination and collaboration we have effectively facilitated and encouraged consolidation of public goods funding projects to meet at a schelling point of a public goods funding stack that that aligns
  2. Create a POC that shows what was achieved during the FtC residency which is aligned with a longer term vision of what we believe a public goods funding stack should look like.
  3. Create a standardised way for projects to collaborate, and be funded. This provides a system to reward and acknowledge the high uncertainty, high upside projects that may or may not be captured by other mechanisms (e.g. prospective grants).
    • Seeks to reduce fragmentation in the public goods pipeline and create Interoperable Impact Funding systems

This will enable:

  • Defragmentation
  • Data portability
  • Reduce the cold start problem
  • Enable impact evaluation using standard metrics and apis

Team Information, including backgrounds and roles:

David Casey - Director at Funding the Commons. 2x Founder @ ReSource Protocol, NuMundo, Scout @ Celo, Advisor @ Gane, Values Co, Hyphen.Earth. LinkedIn: David Casey - Funding the Commons | LinkedIn
Beth McCarthy - Experience Design/Events & Marketing at Funding the Commons. Formerly @ Centrifuge, Toucan, Gnosis, Ocean Protocol.
LinkedIn: Beth McCarthy - Funding the Commons | LinkedIn
Anna Medina Perez - HR, Admin, Operations at Funding the Commons. Formerly @ReSource Protocol, HSBC
Joaquin Moreno - Financial Administration at Funding the Commons. Professor of Finance at Universidad ORT Uruguy. Formerly Oikocredit, Quantum Capital, Unilever, ReSource Protocol. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joaquinmorenoa/
James Farrell - Funding Stack and Impact Evaluation at Funding the Commons. Co-founder @ Toucan Protocol. Github: positonic (J△MΞS) · GitHub LinkedIn: James Farrell - Toucan Protocol | LinkedIn

Advisors and Collaborators
Juan Benet - Founder & CEO @ Protocol Labs
Eleftherios Diakomichalis - Co-founder @ Radicle, Drips
Rene Reinsberg - Co-founder @ Celo
Holke Brammer - Director @ Hypercerts Foundation

Social Credibility (development progress, awards, notable GitHub commits, referrals):

Our FtC Residency in Berlin attracted over 200 applicant projects, of which only 40 were selected. Workshops and mentor sessions from the following partners.

  • Molly Mackinlay, Will Scott (Protocol Labs)
  • Daniel Burnett (Ethereum Enterprise Alliance)
  • Nate Gosselin Product Lead of Allo (Gitcoin)
  • Technical Lead of Octant (Golem Foundation)
  • Steve Ellis (Chainlink co-founder)
  • Mark Tyneway (OP Labs co-founder)
  • Rene Reinsberg (Celo co-founder)
  • Jonas (retroPGF lead at Optimism)
  • Jeff Pulver (creator of the public good VoIP)
  • Eleftherios Diakomichalis (Radicle & Drips co-founder)
  • Holke Brammer (Director, Hypercerts)
  • Anirudha Bose (Brave)
  • Arthaud Mesnard (Geometry.xyz)
  • Janine Leger (Zuzalu)

40+ peer to peer workshops and coworking sessions including smart contract development, zero knowledge cryptography, AI integrations, public funding systems, impact evaluation, and economics in developing countries.

250k+ USD estimate of follow up funding to projects as a result of relationships developed during the residency.

Projects worked on during Berlin residency

  • Arbiter - Arbiter is a framework for stateful Ethereum smart-contract simulation.
  • AtMoos: A Free House - The Freehouse is an intelligent and self regulating living object/entity with two demonstrators (Moos and TDF).
  • Common Ground Database - A shared database containing behavior information and due diligence about projects on different grants programs.
  • NineTails - UI Configurator for flashbot bundles.
  • ZK Proof of Exploits - Tool for proving exploits found without revealing them.
  • Privatized Gitcoin Donations - Sean from Aztec working on this.
  • Decentralized Credit Scores in Nigeria/Ghana
  • Impact Market - UBI and Microloans in some of the world’s most vulnerable populations.
  • Project JubJub - Experiments with ZK proofs and NFC chips.
  • Split QF - Quadratic Funding system for local municipalities in Split, Croatia.
  • Anonymous Proof of Humanity - via ZK obfuscated government issued IDs.
  • ZK Email Wallet - Provide framework for anyone to send transactions via email, also lets you bring inboxes “on-chain” for all manner of fascinating new use cases.
  • HackerDrop - System for deploying hypercerts.
  • GitCoin Project Scanner - automatically enriches information on GitCoin projects to help identify fraud.
  • FreeHaus Project - Experiment in tokenized ownership of a beautiful communal space in the heart of Berlin.
  • GainForest - Research project and top 6 contender for the 10 million dollar X prize for scalable biodiversity measurement protocol.
  • ChainExplorer - AI chatbot that leverages on and off chain data, allowing for deep dives into reputation and impact.
  • Quadratic Attention - System for signaling user engagement with advertisements.
  • Circuit breakers - Circuit breakers will help projects overcome their security challenges by allowing anyone to easily create robust, production-ready smart contracts with just a few lines of code.
  • Impact evaluation framework - Building an impact evaluation framework for web3
  • FtC: Impact evaluation stack - A POC stack for evaluating the impact of FtC
  • On-chain Representation of Hyperboards - with an associated wallet using ERC6551
  • Unalienating Systems - A study into how to prevent a sense of disconnection or estrangement within communities and individuals
  • RETH contributions - Help reth to become production ready.

Discord contact

Display name: David C
Username: david.nu

Secondary Contact: Beth
Username: ontologymachine

Project Summary

Funding the Commons (FtC) is growing a Public Goods community through conferences, residencies, and hackathons. We help builders explore and develop on existing infrastructure through real-world contexts. Our residency program and conferences help to connect enterprises, governments, and protocols with builders and projects in the web3 space.

In 2024, we will continue to grow the credibility of our brand in the public eye as a center for thought leadership in the public goods funding space. This includes bridging web3, web2, AI, government, institutional philanthropy, and academia.

Eligibility criteria

  • Do you have a commitment to open-source (i.e. every open-source license accepted by the Open-Source Initiative) technology and sharing results publicly?
    Yes

  • Have you provided transparency about how exactly funding will be used?
    In 2024, our planned budget is:

  • $300k for three conferences (San Francisco, Tokyo, Southeast Asia)
  • $300k for staff / operational costs (3 full-time team members, 3 part-time)
  • $100k for a residency
  • $100k research & development grants for public goods funding infrastructure
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Funding the Commons events have been excellent ways for the Tor Project to meet people who are not part of our ‘traditional ecosystem’ but have clear values alignment and are working towards similar things. Some strong relationships have been forged because of these events. Thanks for doing what you do!

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Achievements since the last Octant Epoch:

FtC Taipei

Upcoming milestones on your project roadmap:

  • Funding the Commons Berkeley 13-14 April (conference), in partnership with UC Berkeley Center for Responsible Decentralized Intelligence

  • Edge City California June (residency)

    • FtC plans to support Edge City by producing a content track on public goods funding
    • Edge City Wiki Link

  • FtC Tokyo 24-25 July (conference)

    • Sponsor deck link
    • Octant is listed as a sponsor, and will be invited to speak as well as table

  • Decentralized Web Camp 7-11 August (unconference)

    • Website link

      • "DWeb Camp is a five-day retreat for builders and dreamers to connect, learn, share and have fun as we work towards building a better, decentralized web. A web that actualizes the principles of trust, human agency, mutual respect, and ecological awareness. "

    • Participate in the following capacity:

      • At DWeb Camp, Funding the Commons will organize a designated zone for exploring the concept of Archiving as Resistance – how archiving and “an-archiving” serve as a process and repository for collective wisdom capture and sharing, bearing witness, capturing and producing memory, and enabling the definition and persistence of identity and narrative.

      This concept is deeply intertwined with the function of the decentralized web, especially when independently and securely hosted by the individuals creating, preserving and sharing their own records.

      Through experiments, experiences, peer-to-peer learning, storytelling and scenario building, and live curation of our own archive, we will expand on the theory, practice, and tangible application of “archiving as resistance” with Dweb co-curatorial partners from Protocol Labs, Internet Archive, Gray Area and more.

      We’re excited to design this experience spanning 4-5 days of DWeb, as part of a larger thoroughline of research, experimentation and philanthropic initiatives including topic areas at our conferences and the International Refugee Solidarity Fund, described below.

  • FtC Bangkok ~8-9 November (unconference)

  • Launch of the International Refugee Solidarity Fund with 2-3 pilots in 2024

    • The International Refugee Solidarity Fund is a project that Funding the Commons will launch in partnership with a number of prominent blockchain ecosystems to support refugees around the world using blockchain technology, while pioneering and prototyping real-world use cases for blockchain such as financial inclusion & financial security, digital identity, and information storage.
    • Pilots are currently being considered in Ukraine, Nigeria, Argentina, and Thailand (Burmese). Pilots are being assessed for their case study value and their potential to demonstrate real world impact of blockchain technology, for the benefit of the web3 community & industry

  • FtC Residency in Thailand in October

  • FtC public goods hackathon in Q4 2024

  • How funds from the previous Epoch were utilized and plans for any funds raised from Epoch Two:

    • Octant sponsorship for FtC Taipei
    • Octant sponsorship for FtC Berkeley (upcoming April 13-14)
    • Octant sponsorship for upcoming FtC events in 2024 (FtC Tokyo, FtC Bangkok, and Southeast Asia developer residency in the fall)
    • We hired a dedicated marketing team member who is now coordinating with Octant marketing team to support community-building efforts for both of our communities. This allows FtC to give more dedicated support to Octant as one of our key partners & allies in growing the public goods funding movement

  • Grant funding received since the last Epoch (e.g., RetroPGF, Gitcoin, etc.), including funding amounts:

    • Optimism retroPGF: 92,000 OP tokens (approx. $300k USD)
    • Gitcoin x Zuzalu events round: $20,000 USD

  • Other non-grant funding sources (like user payments, donations, staking or LP contributions to treasury, VC investments, etc.):

    • Sponsorship revenue from FtC Taipei
    • Ticket sales from FtC Taipei (~$1000)
    • Sponsorship revenue for FtC Berkeley
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Octant Epoch IV Update

June 2024

Update on Organization Priorities

With 9 international conferences since its inauguration in 2021, Funding the Commons is a referential event series across strategic markets for PGF innovation. FtC has also been organizing successful builder residencies, numerous public goods funding hackathons, as well select impact pilot projects leveraging the tools platformed across its ecosystem.

Within the web3 ecosystem, FtC has established itself as the premier conference for PFG advancements, specifically targeting thought-leading builders, innovators and funders.

By providing a platform for these individuals to showcase their work and connect with public goods funders, FtC has been instrumental in fostering collaborations and bringing to light the contributions of the Public Goods community to a broader audience.

This initiative has bridged the gap between Octant and the wider public goods funding ecosystem, encompassing both web3 and web2 spaces, thereby facilitating an environment where ideas and methodologies for sustaining open-source projects can flourish and evolve.

Launch of The Commons Fund (June)

  • At FtC, we develop, spotlight, incubate, and fund blockchain-based PGF infrastructure and tooling. We also deploy this infrastructure through pilot experiments that serve as positive use-cases, leveraging blockchain technology to drive real-world impact and sustainable open-source software innovation. This approach supports rapid iteration and innovation cycles on PGF tooling. This will include running the first Funding the Commons retroPGF in 2024 to support open source PGF builders, with the support of Protocol Labs.
  • Starting this year, we are launching 2-3 real-world pilots leveraging new public goods funding infrastructure to serve vulnerable communities with blockchain innovation in partnership with established philanthropic foundations, blockchain foundations & protocols, international institutions, NGOs and humanitarian actors invested in Public Goods Funding innovation.
    • Use cases being prototyped include financial inclusion & security, crypto literacy & education, digital identity/sybil resistance, and decentralized storage.
    • Pilots currently being considered in Ukraine, Sudan, Nigeria, Uganda, Argentina, and Thailand (Rohingya).
    • Pilots are being assessed for their case study value and their potential to demonstrate real world impact of blockchain technology, for the benefit of the web3 community & industry.
    • The Thailand residency and hackathon mentioned in the below sections are woven into the launch roadmap for the Thailand pilot currently in development.
  • Another significant experiment currently in progress showcasing Funding the Commons’ dedication to supporting public goods builders is the creation of the Builder Basic Income Fund on Drips.
    • This initiative serves as a concrete mechanism to offer continuous financial support to PGF developers. It allows them to concentrate on adding value within open-source ecosystems without the burden of financial uncertainty.
    • By ensuring a steady income for builders, Funding the Commons not only aids individual creators but also sets a new standard for public goods funding, encouraging other entities to adopt similar supportive measures.

Launch of Earth Commons (March)

Last quarter, Funding the Commons inherited Sustainable Blockchain Summit (SBS), now known as Earth Commons, a new conference series focused on exploring new models & mechanisms to better steward planetary commons. This broadens our ecosystem and allows us and our partners to reach beyond our current public goods community.

Achievements since the last Octant epoch:

Octant was a central sponsor within the context of our last event, Funding the Commons Berkeley (April 13-14) gathering builders, researchers and funders in the Bay Area in partnership with UC Berkeley Center for Responsible Decentralized Intelligence. Funding the Commons focused on two areas of rapid innovation underpinning fundamental infrastructure for navigating the digital-physical commons: AI and the Open Web. The inaugural conference for Earth Commons focused on building bridges between climate entrepreneurs, academics, technologists, funders, NGOs, and international public institutions to explore the funding and governance of nature’s commons.

  • Total Impact of SF Berkeley:
    • 793 registrations across both events
    • Both events were part of the Protocol Labs Lab Week on PG and combined, these 2 events accounted for the majority of attendees gathered for 22 total events that week.
    • Total online audience leveraged for promotional content on the conference, including posts featuring Octant: 9.9K
    • Media Reach & Production: impact for longevity of conversations post-conference
      • 72 PG presentations recorded on Open Source, AI and Climate Tech
        • 37 FtC + 35 EC - to be posted on YouTube in June
      • 45 social films, “Open Conversations” series ****highlighting leaders in PG ecosystem
      • 9 video podcasts interviews by Ma Earth Media
      • 13 profile films by Spaceport in the context of Protocol Labs Lab Week on PG
  • Impact of FtC track sponsored by Octant:
  • Impact of Earth Commons track:
    • We launched a new conference series stretching our ecosystem by focusing on the nexus of new technologies for climate impact. ****Event was held in the same location as FtC, exposing attendees ****to the Octant sponsorship of FtC and allowing both crowds to cross-pollinate.
    • Since March, the FtC team inherited the Sustainable Blockchain Summit conference series. Originally born from Filecoin Green, SBS focused on platforming web3 sustainability initiatives and is growing it in a new form: Earth Commons.
    • Our team is focused on building out a new ecosystem to transform the funding and governance of nature’s commons, such as forests, fisheries, oceans, biodiversity, freshwater reservoirs, and other ecosystem services, by uniting the forces of Web2, Web3, research, philanthropy, and industry.
    • The inaugural conference held in Berkeley last April in partnership with the Berkeley Climate Change Network was a great success, gathering :

Upcoming milestones on your project roadmap:

Overview of 2H24 Live-Events Calendar

  • 3 International Conferences (EU + APAC)
    • FtC Tokyo, July 24-25
      • Sponsor deck link
      • Octant is listed as a sponsor, and will be invited to speak and participate in workshops, as well as table.
    • Earth Commons, Zurich Sept 13-14
      • Earth Commons will gather for its second live event in Zurich September 13-14th to bridge the world of climate tech with local financial institutions, NGOs and institutional philanthropic organizations focused on solving systemic problems.
        • Day 1 will be a broad audience conference setting allowing us to expose new PG funding mechanisms such as Octant’s funding ecosystem to significant EU and Swiss actors.
        • Day 2 will be a private closed-door workshopping session with highly curated attendee profiles (<50 people) to host focused facilitated discussions on topics like the evolution of impact reporting, alongside new funding mechanisms, grant-making, running funding distributions, and new models for adoption in these sectors including Octant’s funding ecosystem.
    • FtC Bangkok, November 8-9
      • FtC Bangkok will be the first of its kind, Design Sprint by FtC, produced in partnership with UNICEF and APAC DAO
      • Sponsor deck link 1
      • Octant will be listed as a sponsor
  • 1 FtC Builder Residency, Chiang Mai, Thailand, October
  • 1 FtC Online Public Goods Hackathon (Q4)
  • 3 Pop Ups Events
    • Edge City Esmeralda, California, (June)
    • EthCC Brussels (July)
    • Edge City Crecimiento, Argentina (August)
      • FtC plans to support Edge City by producing a content track on public goods funding
  • 7 Public Goods Town Halls by FtC (Monthly Community Calls)
    • Starting in June, we are kicking off these monthly Zoom call with our most loyal community members, allowing for a recurring, international gathering of thought-leaders in the Public Goods space in between conferences.
    • What to expect? Enriching discussions and exclusive benefits for the audience: networking in break-out rooms, promo codes, rewards, early announcement releases, collaboration/employment opportunities, highlights of ongoing projects enrolled in fundraising activities - cross-promotion and cross-donation incentives, project pitches or reviews in small groups.
    • Joining these calls allows Octant to participate in a continuous conversation with our community. We would love for one of these calls to be dedicated to Octant speakers to provide education, incentives and open conversations about joining the Octant community to further break-down barriers to potential conversions.

How funds from the previous Epoch were utilized and plans for any funds raised from Epoch III:

Though we did not receive funding from Epoch III, we will list activities that benefited from Epoch II funding:

  • Octant sponsorship for FtC Taipei (December 2023)
  • Octant sponsorship for FtC Berkeley (April 2023)
  • Octant sponsorship for upcoming FtC events in 2024 (FtC Tokyo, FtC Bangkok, and Southeast Asia developer residency and hackathon in the fall)
    • Forecasted events budget for 2H24: $350,000
    • Operational costs for 2H24: $300,000
  • We hired an additional marketing team member to further enable strategic community-building and recruitment efforts for our ecosystems. This allows FtC to give more dedicated support to Octant as one of our key partners in growing the public goods funding movement beyond the promotional period of our live events, sustaining our share of voice throughout the calendar year.
  • Grant funding received since the last Epoch (e.g., RetroPGF, Gitcoin, etc.), including funding amounts:
    • Gitcoin GG20: ~$5000 USD
    • Celo retroPGF: 2455 Celo Tokens (~$2k)
    • Filecoin retroPGF: 1903 FIL (~$11k)
  • Other non-grant funding sources (like user payments, donations, staking or LP contributions to treasury, VC investments, etc.):
    • Sponsorship & Ticket Sale Revenue from FtC Taipei
    • Sponsorship & Ticket Sale Revenue for FtC Berkeley
    • Sponsorship & Ticket Sale Revenue for FtC Tokyo
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Just want to +100 this and say that the FtC Berkeley has been a highlight of 2024 so far. We were proud to be a sponsor :slight_smile:

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Thanks for sharing all of this @david-fundingcommons !! On this event specifically, it was quite interesting to hear about the narrative the AI crowd had about crypto. Was there anything you can share about why this is? Also if there were any changes in perception after the event?

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@james Thanks for the question. With respect to the open source AI community, this was a learning experience for us as it was our first direct touch point with this ecosystem, and we learned a lot. Perception from the AI community about web3, especially in the SF Bay Area, is that crypto as an industry has been tarnished with scandals and there is a significant amount of mistrust. I think that in-person events that enable genuine cross-industry dialogue are key towards building bridges, and we strongly believe that open source digital public goods are that bridge.

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Octant Epoch V Long-Form Update:

  • Total Funds Received from Octant so far: $ / ETH

    • Octant 2: 12.15 ETH (~$31k)
    • Octant 3: 0.11 ETH
    • Octant 4: 9.53 ETH (~$31k)

  • Funds Spent: $ / ETH

    • $60k

  • Detailed Utilization:
    Provide a detailed account of how Octant funds have been used so far. You may copy & then build upon previous responses, adding new details as appropriate.

    • $20k of funds were deployed to fund Funding the Commons San Francisco Bay Area, of which the total production cost was $113,000.

    • $20k of funds were deployed to fund Funding the Commons Tokyo, of which the total production cost was X. Link to published budget HERE.

    • $20k of funds were deployed to seed the Commons Fund. The Commons Fund has so far deployed:

      • $10k towards the Builder Basic Income Fund, which Drips has committed to match 1:1. Launched in partnership with fellow Octant recipient Drips, the Builder Basic Income Fund drips a basic monthly income to a curated cohort of open source public goods builders. The fund welcomes community contributions!
      • $30k grant to muqa.org, incubated during our first public goods residency in Berlin. Muqa builder Tomislav was recently recognized as an Ethereum Next Billion Fellow.
      • $35k grant to https://www.hyperstaker.com/, public goods funding infrastructure to support public goods projects and builders by enabling access to up-front funding in exchange for a % of rPGF income.
      • $20k committed towards the upcoming Funding the Commons retroPGF.
      • $10k deployed to fund initial development of Akashic, an open-source public goods funding infrastructure platform and digital archive to permanently store, preserve, and organize memories, stories, and cultural knowledge of refugees and vulnerable populations. By leveraging the power of decentralized storage solutions like IPFS, these narratives remain accessible, immutable, and resistant to censorship. Through permissionless p2p payments, donors can directly support refugee creators and receive Hypercerts in exchange.
      • $10k towards the Artizen Fund’s Humanitarian Fund for Displaced Storytellers quadratic pool, which was matched with $10k from Artizen Fund. We anticipate these funds to be matched by an additional $30k+ in community contributions from the Ethereum ecosystem, expanding the reach, interconnectivity, and real-world touch points of the Ethereum network by connecting donors around the world directly through the blockchain to content creators around the world using the censorship-resistant properties of blockchain technology to share their stories and receive funding directly. These creators often don’t have access to a bank account due to their immigration status, so crypto is the only viable way they can receive public goods funding support from the international donor community. We see this use case as a key driver for blockchain-based public goods funding infrastructure in the real world.
        • 65 submitted projects
        • 14 approved, including initiatives around Ukrainian, Armenian, Palestinian, Syrian, and South Sudanese cultural preservation.
      • $10k deployed to Refunite’s blockchain-based public goods funding and impact evaluation platform https://relayhelp.world/. These funds are being deployed to fund two refugee-operated music studios (link 1, link 2). An impact measurement report and a video documentary will be made to capture the quantitative and qualitative impact of the grant. It is our hope that these music studios contribute content to Akashic, enabling viral storytelling to reach, touch, and onboard new users onto web3.

Milestones and Deliverables

  • Milestone 1:
    Description:
    Produced Funding the Commons San Francisco Bay Area, a two-day flagship conference in Berkeley, California, on 13-14 April. FtC Bay Area was produced in partnership with NEAR, Open Source Observer, and the UC Berkeley Center for Responsible, Decentralized Intelligence (RDI), and featured inspirational talks, workshops, networking corners, and space for intimate conversations with thought-leaders.

    Immediate Outcome:
    The FtC Bay Area conference was essential for deepening relationships with key partners NEAR and Open Source Observer, as we partnered with each to produce one day of the conference (AI Day and Open Web Day, respectively).

    We also activated a critical partnership with UC Berkeley, working closely with entities affiliated with the university, including UC Berkeley Center for Responsible Decentralized Intelligence, Berkeley Climate Change Network, and Blockchain at Berkeley, and producing the event at the David Brower Center nonprofit space.

    Collaborating on experience design and program curation, we worked with these partners to spotlight the latest research and innovations in open source technology and AI as applied to navigating the digital-physical commons.

    Themes we explored included:

    • Pioneering experiments in new funding mechanisms for public goods
    • Platforming successful model methodologies leveraging open source technologies and artificial intelligence with scaling potential
    • Understanding the role of AI and open source in funding, building, and supporting public goods – and as public goods themselves
    • Frameworks for incubation and methods of support for high-potential innovation
    • Explorations of feedback loops to optimize impact evaluation

    We were able to bring in stakeholders from areas we are deeply interested in but have not yet explored as fully, such as collaborators from Internet Archive, Tor Project, Metagov, Harvard’s Berkman Klein Center, Stanford, Gray Area, and Edge Network on topics ranging from AI ethics to collective intelligence. These connections and thematic frameworks empower us to expand beyond our original narrow scope of network goods and funding mechanisms, to cultivating rigorous discourse about theory and practice of resource sharing, opportunity creation, and impact analysis in digital public goods.

    Coming “home” to the Bay Area, a birthplace of both the OSS movement and Funding the Commons, enabled us to draw on diverse expert speakers from throughout that field as well as platforming long-time supporters to cement our thought leadership in this ecosystem.

    This success was reflected in the metrics of our highest-engagement event yet:

    • 367 total conference attendees
    • 39 speakers

    Finally, Funding the Commons Bay Area provided the space to roll out a major new content angle for us: Open Conversations documentary videos capturing the wisdom, creativity, and pioneering work of our speakers and partners. View the first release, featuring Al Smith from Tor Project, here. We hope to include Octant in future instantiations of this series!

  • Funding Used: $20k

  • Milestone 2:
    Produced Funding the Commons Tokyo
    Description:
    Funding the Commons Tokyo marked our tenth flagship conference and first event in Japan, hosted on 24-25 July at the prestigious United Nations University venue in the days leading up to Ethereum EDCON 2024.

    We were invited to co-produce FtC Tokyo by partners DeSci Tokyo, Plurality Tokyo, and Fracton Ventures, leveraging initial funding from the Ethereum Foundation as part of their Road to Devcon program.

    FtC Tokyo explored organizations and research projects revitalizing communities and civic infrastructures by defining new forms of support for public goods. The first day, co-produced with DeSci Tokyo, was heavily focused on regional and global innovations in that subject area. The second day, produced in partnership with Plurality Tokyo, was a deep dive into the complex, cross-disciplinary landscape of digital public goods pioneering in Japan and across SE Asia.

    Immediate Outcome:
    FtC Tokyo was a blend of, and expansion on, “classic elements” of our format. It was the first conference we’ve co-curated directly with a DeSci thought leader organization (although we shared space, resources, and production with DeSci Paris and DeSci Berlin for our 2023 events in those cities). Further exploring DeSci as a foundational use case of commons-in-practice is one of our key curatorial themes for Q4 into 2025, so this collaboration was inspiring and informative as we incorporate that topical throughline.

    It also challenged us to expand beyond the US and Eurocentric realm of commons theory and praxis to distinctly Asian philosophies, like academic-entrepreneur Ken Suzuki’s “smooth society” research and the digital civic tech experimentation of innovators like Audrey Tang, Hal Seki, and Takahiro Anno.

    As our first fully bilingual conference, with continuous translation in Japanese and English from live translators available via headsets for every mainstage talk, we were deeply motivated by our work’s potential to bridge disciplines, cultures, and communities within and beyond web3/digital public goods.

    Themes explored in this rich cross-cultural context included:

    • Innovation in Support for Public Goods in Japan
    • Mechanisms for Design of Public Goods
    • AI Alignment
    • Learning from Population Decline & Urgency of Public Goods Reinvention
    • Regional Development Cases for Global Replicability
    • Open Source Culture

    FtC Tokyo proved essential for advancing several strategic aims:

    • We further solidified key partnerships, including with UNICEF and pan-Asian collective Pagoda, initiated with FtC Taipei in 2023, who have grown to be invaluable allies as we plan for our upcoming Residency, Hackathon, and Conference in Thailand this autumn.
    • Brought on top-tier speakers such as Audrey Tang, Glen Weyl, Aya Miyaguchi, Scott Moore, representatives from United Nations University, UNICEF Office of Innovation, Kyoto University, and many more. These created high-quality content, for both on-stage talks and our Open Conversations video interview series, and activated promising future collaboration pathways.
    • Embedded more with local policymakers and politicians, featuring talks from Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike, Japan House of Representative Member/Web3 Project Team Lead Maasaki Taira, Tokyo Governor Election candidate Takahiro Anno, and Director of Shibuya Startup Support Yoshiro Tasaka.
    • Provided ample opportunity for thoughtful, inspiring, and unique interviews for our documentary work, which we look forward to sharing within this quarter.

    Engagement metrics:

    • 60 speakers
    • 538 total event attendees

  • Funding Used: $20k

  • Milestone 3:
    Launched the Commons Fund
    Description:
    Launched the Commons Fund: a non-profit incubator and grant fund accelerating the development and deployment of blockchain-based public goods funding infrastructure by identifying and supporting promising public goods builders. The mission of the Commons Fund is to catalyze the development and implementation of public funding infrastructure by fostering a global ecosystem that supports open-source and blockchain-based solutions.

    Immediate Outcome:
    Created a Lichtenstein vehicle to facilitate the granting of funds towards builders of open source public goods funding infrastructure. Created and secured funding for our Uganda pilot, as well as two ongoing Artizen Fund campaigns, Public Goods Pioneers and Humanitarian Fund for Displaced Storytellers. Disbursed grants to a number of public goods builders, as well as Builder Basic Income to 3 builders on Drips.Network.

  • Funding Used: $20k

  • Karma GAP:
    [If you haven’t already, make sure to set up your Karma GAP page, add relevant milestones, and link your project’s Karma GAP page: Karma GAP - Octant community grants]
    Karma GAP - Funding the Commons

Challenges

  • Previous Challenges:
    Description:
    [Did you outline any challenges in your previous submissions? If so, provide a brief reminder of those challenges.]

    • Our continued support from web3 foundations is dependent on the volatile fluctuations of the public crypto markets.
    • We have a small team, and we feel the urgency of our mission to support the research & development of public goods funding mechanisms at scale. This is the time to be having these conversations and to be redesigning these funding mechanisms for the public benefit.
    • Our community organizers have expressed the desire to be more empowered and given more agency and autonomy in organizing FtC events around the world.
    • Often, funders claim to support public goods, but in reality, they support “network goods,” i.e., goods that are only widely useful for their specific L1 or L2 ecosystem.
    • Measuring the results from a conference can be challenging, given that much of the impact happens weeks and months afterward, and is difficult to track and measure. Our conferences are both about public goods and serve as a public good themselves – in addition to network effects resulting from education, rigorous discourse, and centering of opportunities for funding, Funding the Commons events are a springboard for initiating and deepening impactful connections throughout the ecosystem. Many community members state that they’ve identified co-founders, future hires, pathways to funding, evaluation frameworks, sponsors/investors, etc., either directly or indirectly through the platforms we provide. This inclusive expansion of opportunities and connections is very difficult to measure, especially since it often manifests over a timescale longer than quarterly or yearly reporting.
    • Crypto is often in an echo chamber, and breaking through to a more mainstream audience can be met with resistance based on preconceived assumptions around the technology and the community behind it.

  • Updates:
    What are the updates on these challenges? Have they been resolved, or are they ongoing?

    • We are actively pursuing diversification of our funder base to include institutional philanthropists, traditional foundations, and individual donors.
    • We are instituting various forms of participant feedback.

  • Resolution:
    How did you resolve these challenges? Describe the steps and strategies used.

    • We are decentralizing Funding the Commons by allocating a % of our treasury into Funding the Commons DAO: a community-governed smart contract enabling all previous local organizers of Funding the Commons events to make proposals with attached budgetary requests, and all previous attendees of conferences will be able to vote on those proposals.
    • Implementation of participant feedback tools such as Lu.Ma reviews, feedback surveys, etc.

  • Lessons Learned:
    What lessons were learned from these experiences? Share any insights or best practices that can benefit the community.

    • Grassroots community leaders need to be empowered & supported as much as possible to enable true community growth in a horizontal and non-hierarchical way. Enshrining this philosophy will enable more rapid organic growth of public goods movements worldwide.
    • When organizing events and building community internationally, being attuned to cultural sensitivities will go a long way. This applies especially to the public sector and government bodies. Local community partners should be identified, vetted, and entrusted to guide and lead these conversations and interactions for the best outcomes. This extends from empowering local partners to lead communications with local public sector institutions, sponsors, partners, and speakers, to having a local emcee or facilitator on-stage that speaks the local language and is well-versed in local cultural mores.
    • When working with local partners, collaboration will be more smoothly facilitated with rigorously developed onboarding templates and guidelines for producing an event locally. These should be accompanied by active support from the core event organization, and this in combination with strong and disciplined use of collaborative project management tools like Notion will go a long way in situations where a production team is spread across time zones, languages, and cultures.
    • Securing philanthropic funding is often about building personal relationships with the funder and connecting to their story. Each human being, and philanthropists and public goods funders are no different. This approach applies particularly well to family offices and individual philanthropists. Notably, some of our funders greatly appreciated the opportunity to spend time with our speakers.
    • Inviting speakers from the public sector can draw more organic participation from public sector officials. For example, the presence of Audrey Tang, Taiwan’s former Digital Affairs Minister, contributed towards the presence of a number of high-ranking Japanese public sector officials. This approach has, in turn, allowed us to build bridges between the web3 public goods funding community and the between the web3 public goods funding community and the incumbent public goods funding world, including international bodies such as the UN. Likewise, hosting an event at a venue like the United Nations University makes a web3-adjacent conference more approachable and accessible to public sector officials who may not otherwise attend.

Outputs and Outcomes

Outputs (Last Epoch):

Short-term Outcomes:

  • Outcome 1:
    [Describe the short-term outcomes resulting from the outputs, e.g., increased user engagement, higher retention rates, immediate feedback from users, increase in transaction volume]

    • Total Impact of FtC Berkeley:
      • 427 attendees
      • Our event was part of the Protocol Labs Lab Week on Public Goods and accounted for the majority of attendees gathered (across 22 total events that week).
      • Total online audience leveraged for promotional content on the conference, including posts featuring Octant.
      • Media Reach & Production: impact for longevity of conversations post-conference

  • Impact of FtC track sponsored by Octant:

  • Outcome 2:
    [Describe the short-term effects resulting from the outputs]

    • Funding the Commons is becoming increasingly high profile, especially in Asia, with the presence at FtC Tokyo of:
      • Yuriko Koike: Governor of Tokyo - the largest metro area on Earth - and Japan’s former Minister of the Environment and of Defense.
      • Masaaki Taira: Japan’s leading web3 and AI policy regulator, as Director of the Internet Media Bureau, and Director of the Information and Research Bureau.
      • Audrey Tang: Former Minister of Digital Affairs of Taiwan.
      • Glen Weyl: Founder of the Plurality movement.
      • Aya Miyaguchi: Director of the Ethereum Foundation.
      • It is also moving the needle towards legitimizing web3 in institutional spaces that currently view our industry with heavy skepticism.
    • Thanks to the United Nations University in Tokyo hosting our most recent conference, Funding the Commons is deepening our relationship with UNICEF and other UN bodies. Notably, there is a likelihood that a number of UNICEF Venture Fund crypto founders will join the upcoming Funding the Commons Chiang Mai builder residency, and Funding the Commons Bangkok conference pre-DevCon.
    • Through evolving relationships with high-level stakeholders from the public sector, on municipal, national, and international levels, we are increasingly being enabled to represent the web3 industry and initiate conversations around blockchain-based public goods funding technology being deployed to fund real-world public goods at a scale that would enable crypto to break through to the mainstream in a different way than it has so far.

  • Long-term Outcomes:

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  - **Original “Open Conversations” Content Series:**
    - Through FtC’s unique access to thought-leaders at live events, we have focused our efforts on creating high-quality content that elevates the narrative of our entire ecosystem:

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    - **Examples of 14 partner interviews conducted so far in 2024:**
      - Al Smith, The Tor Project - *launched in July* (15.8K total views)

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        - [The importance of spaces to discuss public goods with stakeholders (feat. Gitcoin, Octant, Drips)](https://x.com/FundingCommons/status/1813660112655155266) *(9.5K views)*
        - [Funding DPGs means paving the way for a freer, safer internet](https://x.com/FundingCommons/status/1808157535607681102) *(6.4K views)*
        - [Digital Privacy as a Human Right](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nj835oyCABc) - *full video*
        - **New FtC Reels:**
          - 28.5k views across posts & reposts

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          - **Next interviews launching:**
            - Audrey Tang, Plurality.net
            - Navroop Sadev, The Digital Economist
            - Samantha Power, BioFi Project & Finance for Gaia
            - Atossa Soltani, Amazon Sacred Headwaters Alliance
            - Stuart Cowan, Buckminster Fuller Institute
            - Brian Behlendorf, Linux Foundation
            - Natalie Cadranel, Open Archive
            - Glen Weyl, Plurality Institution & RxC & Microsoft
            - Aya Miyaguchi, Ethereum Foundation
            - Chris Szymczak - UNICEF Office of Innovation
            - Scott Moore, Public Works
            - Ken Suzuki, University of Tokyo, SmartNews Inc.
            - Behind the Scenes Video - FtC x DeSci Tokyo
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Posting second half of update due to Discuss character limitation per post.

Plans for Potential Funds Raised in the Next Octant Allocation Window

  • Goal 1:

    • Description:
      Funding the Commons public goods builder residency in Chiang Mai.
    • Expected Outcome:
      The first public goods builder residency in Berlin saw over 25 exceptional projects worked on, and we anticipate this number to be above 30 for Chiang Mai. As with our Berlin builder cohort, a number of our builders in Chiang Mai will receive follow-on funding to continue the projects they incubate during the Chiang Mai residency. We anticipate hosting 1-2 Octant team members at our residency, integrating Octant into the programming offered, and providing ample quality time for Octant to build networks with overlapping public goods ecosystems, such as EF grantees, UNICEF, Filecoin/IPFS builders, local Thai and SEA builders, etc.
    • Funding Needed: $20k

  • Goal 2:

    • Description:
      Funding the Commons public goods hackathon.
    • Expected Outcome:
      Octant. Expecting 600+ public goods builders to contribute more than 150 projects. A portion of these funds will be allocated as prize funding for builders leveraging Octant. Part of the prize funding will be allocated via Dorahack’s quadratic funding mechanism, enabling the community to vote on hackathon projects.
    • Funding Needed: $10k

  • Goal 3:

    • Description:
      Funding the Commons Conference & Design Jam in Bangkok.
    • Expected Outcome:
      Expecting 1000+ public goods enthusiasts to pass through the doors over the 4 days of programming. Octant is invited to lead a working group around impact evaluation in web3, to present the evolution of the Octant platform at Funding the Commons Bangkok on stage, and sit in panels alongside both web3 and institutional public goods funders. We will also create high-quality video assets interviewing Octant team members and disseminating the work of Octant to the wider public goods funding community.
    • Funding Needed: $10k

  • Goal 4:

    • Description:
      Launch of Funding the Commons DAO - a decentralized community treasury.
    • Expected Outcome:
      Alongside Protocol Labs & Funding the Commons, Octant will become one of the first three direct contributors to the Funding the Commons DAO, accelerating the decentralization of Funding the Commons as an organization, and its expansion across the world through a grassroots effort spearheaded by a community-run DAO governance process. The launch of our DAO will empower and fuel the growth of local nodes of Funding the Commons worldwide, including in Tokyo, Taipei, Bangkok, Seoul, and Berlin. This will unlock our ability to seamlessly produce events globally, with local organizers, communities, and logistics networks.
    • Funding Needed: $20k

  • Goal 5:

    • Description:
      Run Funding the Commons retroPGF.
    • Expected Outcome:
      Alongside Protocol Labs, Gitcoin, and Funding the Commons, Octant will become one of the four direct contributors to the first Funding the Commons retroPGF round, enabling Funding the Commons to directly support the most promising public goods funding infrastructure builders in our community. With support from Octant, we expect to distribute $50k+ to builders of public goods funding infrastructure, signaling to our community that building proactively will be rewarded.
    • Funding Needed: $10k

Other Funding

  • Grant Funding Received Since the Last Epoch:
    [Detail any grant funding received, including amounts]

    • Filecoin rPGF: 1,911 FIL (~$9,000)
    • Gitcoin GG20: (~$9,200)

  • Other Non-Grant Funding Sources:
    [Detail other sources of funding, such as user payments, donations, staking, LP contributions, VC investments, etc.]

    • Event sponsorships: NEAR Foundation, listed sponsors for FtC Tokyo.
    • Event registration ticket sales
    • Public Goods Funding received since Epoch IV:
      • Through evolving relationships with high-level stakeholders from the public sector, on municipal, national, and international levels, we are increasingly being enabled to represent the web3 industry and initiate conversations around blockchain-based public goods funding technology being deployed to fund real-world public goods at a scale that would enable crypto to break through to the mainstream in a different way than it has so far.

Future Plans for Financial Sustainability

It’s now been 4+ months since your initial application. Have there been any changes to revenue sources and income generation plans? Share your story on how your project plans to achieve long-term financial sustainability and the progress since the previous epoch. You may include updates on any of the following aspects:

  • Changes to your revenue sources and income generation plans since your initial application:

    • Funding the Commons was initially incubated by Protocol Labs and relied on that single entity for full support in 2022. Over the past 18 months, we are rapidly decreasing our dependence on Protocol Labs from 100% in 2022 to ~50% in 2024, thanks in part to Optimism and Optimism retroPGF. Protocol Labs will continue to support us in 2025, increasingly as a matching funder that doubles the funding we receive from other sources.
    • We have recently added the Stellar Foundation to the roster of web3 foundations supporting Funding the Commons in a meaningful and longer-term way.
    • We are working on diversifying our funder community beyond web3 into open-source AI, and traditional philanthropy, including foundations, family offices, and corporate philanthropy.
    • In 2025, we plan to increase our income from individual donors through donation-based crowdfunding and QF campaigns like Gitcoin, Giveth, Clear Fund, etc.

  • Since our initial application:

    • We have continuously diversified our funding sources to include sponsorships and grants from a number of other web3 foundations, as well as being public goods funding recipients of Giveth, Filecoin retroPGF, and Celo retroPGF. We’ve also secured a small grant to incubate a public goods funding infrastructure project (Akashic), as well as a small grant to run a real-world public goods funding pilot in Africa with Refunite. We’ve also begun to earn contracts to produce high-quality short videos and media to capture the stories of leaders in the public goods funding space and have secured in-kind sponsorships from a Thai bank (for a sponsored event venue).

  • New or ongoing strategic partnerships or collaborations that support your project:

    • Key partnership:
      Protocol Labs. Funding the Commons is incubated by Protocol Labs and continues to receive both financial and strategic support by Protocol Labs and related ecosystem players such as Filecoin Foundation.
    • New partnership:
      UNICEF. Funding the Commons is partnering with UNICEF to bridge the web3 public goods funding world to real-world impact by collaborating with UNICEF Office of Innovation team members and UNICEF Blockchain Venture Fund-backed founders through our conferences and residencies.

  • Plans for securing additional funding and ensuring diverse funding sources:

    • Funding the Commons has massively diversified our funding sources over the past 18 months since becoming independent from Protocol Labs. We plan to continue making an impact that will put us in a position to qualify for ongoing retroPGF rounds from Optimism, Filecoin, Celo, and other ecosystems while starting to diversify our funding sources outside web3. To this end, we’ve initiated a number of ongoing conversations with traditional philanthropic organizations, international institutional bodies, as well as commercial banks in Asia with an interest in crypto.
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Haha @david-fundingcommons this is a f’ing update. Thanks for the depth here man. Few questions for you:

  • Can you provide more detail on how the $20k for the Commons Fund is being allocated across the various initiatives mentioned, and what specific outcomes you expect from these allocations?
  • Since impact is the hot topic these days, how do you plan to measure the long-term impact of the conferences, particularly in relation to the connections and collaborations formed during these events?
  • And lastly, I’m curious if you could you share more about the process and criteria for selecting local community partners and organizers for future Funding the Commons events?

Appreciate you sir, thanks again!

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  • Can you provide more detail on how the $20k for the Commons Fund is being allocated across the various initiatives mentioned, and what specific outcomes you expect from these allocations?

    • The $20k for the Commons Fund is being allocated in the following ways:
      • $10k to fund the Builder Basic Income Fund, matched by Drips.Network.
        • Intended outcomes:
          1. Prototype an experiment for builders to develop open source public goods with the support of a basic income. To this end, we plan to work with the 3 builders and publish impact updates together with them periodically on their progress.
          2. Leverage our contribution with matching grants from the public goods community - this has already been accomplished with a matching commitment from Drips.
      • $10k allocated to Funding the Commons retroPGF round.
        • Intended outcomes:
          1. Fund projects, initiatives, and efforts in the Funding the Commons ecosystem that have contributed value to the public goods funding ecosystem.
          2. Establish a track record as an emerging public goods funding round operator.
          3. Inspire more of our community to proactively develop public goods funding infrastructure.

  • Since impact is the hot topic these days, how do you plan to measure the long-term impact of the conferences, particularly in relation to the connections and collaborations formed during these events?

    • Projects that emerged from ideas presented at Funding the Commons (e.g., Hypercerts) or connections that formed at Funding the Commons (e.g., da0).
    • Funding secured for public goods projects that was a result of Funding the Commons - would be measured through follow-up surveys, self-reporting from projects.
    • New members of the Octant community (e.g., staking GLM and voting on Octant) resulting from Funding the Commons - would need to be coordinated together with the Octant team via community outreach/surveys, POAP tagging of wallets, etc.

  • And lastly, I’m curious if you could share more about the process and criteria for selecting local community partners and organizers for future Funding the Commons events?

    • Local community partners and organizers are selected based on the following criteria:
      • Reputation and proven track record for organizing web3 & tech conferences locally (e.g., DAO Tokyo, Vietnam Fintech Summit, DeSci Berlin, Green Fintech Network), Taipei Blockchain Week, including connections with local vendors, local & regional speakers, academic institutions, public institutions, media outlets, and sensitivity to local culture.
      • Proven ability to fundraise & attract sponsors and philanthropists to events.
      • References: Well-regarded by the local community and vetted through personal references from the Funding the Commons network.
      • Public goods orientation and values.
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Section One: Octant Epoch VI Update:

Total Funds Received from Octant so far:

  • Octant 2: 12.15 ETH (~$31k)
  • Octant 3: 0.11 ETH
  • Octant 4: 9.53 ETH (~$31k)
  • Most Recent Round: $25k
  • Total: ~$87k
  • KarmaGap profile: Funding the Commons | Karma GAP

Funds Spent:

$90k

Detailed Utilization of Funds Received from Octant:

Conference Production:

  • $20k deployed to fund Funding the Commons San Francisco Bay Area.
  • $20k deployed to fund Funding the Commons Tokyo.

Public Goods Funding Experiments & Real-World Pilots:

  • $20k seeded the **Commons Fund [**PGF Distribution], allocated as follows:
    • $10k towards the Builder Basic Income Fund, matched 1:1 by Drips.Network.
    • $10k towards public goods builder grants, supporting innovation in the public goods funding ecosystem.

// new expenses from Epoch V //

  • $7.5k towards the Chiang Mai Builder Residency: 40 builders hosted from 25 countries. Details below.
  • $7.5k towards the Funding the Commons x Earth Commons Hackathon. A total of 356 participants joined online, with a number attending the final 2-day sprint in Bangkok to benefit from our community’s support, including mentorship from dedicated experts. The event resulted in 116 projects and distributed $110,000 in prize funding.
  • $7.5k towards Funding the Commons x Earth Commons Bangkok Flagship Conference.
  • $7.5k towards Creation of high quality media content, including speaker videos like Aya Miyaguchi, Glen Weyl, and Artem Brazhnikov, Head of Engineering at Octant, to recruit actors beyond Web3 into the conversation. This professionally produced content is also inclusive of our livestream, which benefited 497 attendees who were able to join us remotely, making our conference content a public good accessible to all. All of these videos will be posted to YouTube in the coming weeks, making them freely available for everyone to enjoy indefinitely.

Milestones and Deliverables

Milestone 1: Chiang Mai Builder Residency

40+ residents from 25 countries participated in the builder residency. Projects here.

Description: Hosted the Funding the Commons Chiang Mai Builder Residency, a month-long immersive program held in October 2024, designed to accelerate public goods innovation in Southeast Asia and beyond. The residency welcomed 40 talented builders from diverse backgrounds to a collaborative environment in Chiang Mai, Thailand. This initiative provided the space, resources, and mentorship necessary for participants to ideate, prototype, and refine impactful public goods projects.

Immediate Outcome: The Chiang Mai Builder Residency served as a launchpad for several groundbreaking projects and fostered a vibrant community of public goods builders. Key outcomes included tangible advancements in tools, protocols, and platforms for public goods funding and deployment. The program featured contributions from Octant and other strategic partners, including UNICEF and GainForest, reinforcing connections between global organizations and local talent.

The residency also emphasized skills development through workshops on decentralized finance, AI ethics, and sustainable tech solutions. Interactive sessions were led by Vitalik Buterin (Ethereum Foundation), David Dao (GainForest), and Artem Brazhnikov (Octant). Two Octant team members participated in the residency.

Projects like Akashic, Impact Evaluation Service, Counterfactually, Hyperstaker, Doogly, the Commons Protocol, Fund Pop Up Cities, and Refunite Digital ID system were prototyped and advanced during the residency. Berlin Residency alumni Climate project GainForest shipped new features (and won the Rainforest X Prize!), and Ethereum Next Billion Fellow Devansh Mehta launched VoiceDeck, the first live marketplace for Hypercerts. Two Octant team members participated in the residency, making progress on Octant v2. Amongst other mentors, Vitalik Buterin visited the residency and took an hour of questions from residents on building public goods funding systems and mechanisms.

Engagement Metrics:

  • Participants: 40 builders from 25 countries
  • Projects Developed: 22 innovative public goods prototypes
  • Workshops Conducted: 18 interactive learning sessions
  • Follow-on Funding Secured: $500k for projects being built by residents from the beginning of the residency through 1 December 2024

Key Outcomes:

  1. Talent Pipeline: At least one residency participant was hired by a sponsoring organization.
  2. Innovation Incubation: Several projects have moved into pilot stages, with prototypes showcased at the subsequent FtC Bangkok conference and hackathon.
  3. Community Building: The residency fostered cross-cultural collaboration, bridging gaps between local builders in Southeast Asia and global public goods networks. An immediate key outcome is that five of our residents, all of whom are based in India, came together to organize an FtC pop-up on 6-8 December at ETH India, the largest Ethereum hackathon in the world.
  4. Strategic Insights: Focused exploration of decentralized governance, impact evaluation, zero-knowledge privacy cryptography and regional public goods challenges informed the development of new funding models and frameworks.
  5. Funding: Projects and residency builders have received approximately $500k between the date the residency began (7 October) and 6 December 2024.

The full list of projects worked on can be viewed here.

A film shot at the residency will be released in Q1 2025.

Photos (Drive link):

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  • Funding Used: $10k

Milestone 2: Funding the Commons x Earth Commons Hackathon

The FtC x EC Public Goods Hackathon brought together 356 participants globally, with 41 in-person hackers engaging in an intense 2-day sprint in Bangkok. This collaboration produced 116 innovative projects, supported by a total prize pool of $110,000.

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Key Metrics:

  • 356 online participants
    • 41 in-person hackers at the final sprint in Bangkok.
    • Key countries from analytics: Turkey, India, Nigeria, Brazil, Argentina, United States, Thailand, Philippines
    • Key demographics: 20-40 y.o, male
  • 116 projects submitted, showcasing a diverse range of solutions across public goods funding infrastructure, privacy and decentralized identity, decentralized AI, and governance.
  • 50K page views garnered during the hackathon.
  • 20+ mentors supported participants with expert guidance throughout the event.
  • 8 virtual workshops and sessions that engaged over 300 participants.
    • Sponsor workshops have been recorded and uploaded on our YouTube.
  • 9 bounty tracks, fostering innovation in areas such as public goods, identity, environmental impact, and decentralized storage.
  • 25 unique winning projects across multiple tracks, receiving recognition for their groundbreaking solutions.
  • Prize distribution happened directly, as well as through platforms such as OnlyDust (NEAR, Stellar, DaoStar, etc.) and Drips (FtC, Filecoin), intended to drive more engagement towards open-source software funding and distribution mechanisms.
  • Quotes:

“FtC is definitely one of the most exciting hackathons happening in that period.” - Claire, DoraHacks Team

Examples of social media traction:

Milestone 3: Funding the Commons x Earth Commons Bangkok [ Flagship Conference ]

Description: Produced Funding the Commons Bangkok, a two-day flagship conference held on November 8-9, 2024. The event was co-hosted in partnership with APAC DAO and Earth Commons, emphasizing environmental stewardship, public goods funding, decentralized science, and digital innovation. FtC Bangkok was part of the broader LabWeek Web3, a decentralized conference by Protocol Labs.

Immediate Outcome: FtC Bangkok solidified the Funding the Commons brand in Southeast Asia, further bridging the global public goods ecosystem with regional actors. The conference provided a unique platform for public goods builders, policy advocates, and funders to engage directly, explore collaborations, and incubate impactful projects.

Key partnerships and collaborations were established with entities like UNICEF, NEAR Foundation, Stellar Development Foundation, and CoalaPay. Notable speakers included Juan Benet (Protocol Labs), Illia Polosukhin (NEAR), Michel Bauwens (P2P Foundation), Kevin Owocki (Gitcoin), David Dao (GainForest), Max Song (Carbonbase), Alan Ransil (Filecoin Green), and Artem Brazhnikov (Octant).

The program included thematic focuses on:

  • Public Goods Funding Mechanisms: Exploring innovative funding tools and the challenges of impact evaluation.
  • Southeast Asian Civic Initiatives: Highlighting regional approaches to digital identity, privacy, and cooperative governance.
  • Decentralized Science and Biodiversity: Bridging technology with indigenous stewardship and environmental preservation.
  • Outcome Showcases: Featuring results from the Chiang Mai Builder Residency and Hackathon.

Event Metrics:

  • Total viewership: 875 people touched by this event programming:
    • A balanced mix of in-person (299) and livestream (497) attendees across both days, showcasing strong hybrid engagement - also includes (93 speakers + 20 staff / volunteers).
    • Conference Sessions and Panels over 2 days
      • 40 mainstage sessions
      • 37 workshops
    • Speaker Highlights included: Kolatat Phaiboonnukulkij (RIFFAI), Illia Polosukhin (NEAR), Risdianto Irawan (UNICEF), Artem Brazhnikov (Octant), Kevin Owocki (Gitcoin), Juan Benet (Protocol Labs), Melyn McKay (Coala Pay), Rashmi Abbigeri (DAOstar), Max Song (Carbonbase), Adam Advisson (University of Naples Federico II), Christopher Goes (Anoma), Shady El-Damaty (Holonym), Chi Ling (Equitech), Megan Klimen (Filecoin)
  • Demographic present: success in reaching beyond Web3 (42%), with representation from non-profits (12%), non-web3 tech industry professionals (8%), academia (7%), and other fields such as media (3%), finance (3%), and government (2%), while still engaging a majority of attendees (58%) from tehe Web3 sector.
  • Attendees joined in-person from 76 countries:
    • South East Asia (including Thailand): 28%
    • East Asia: 15%
    • India: 10%
    • Oceania: 5%
    • North America: 14%
    • Europe: 21%
    • LATAM (Latin America): 7%
    • Africa: 3%
    • Middle East: 2%
    • Other: 5%
  • Community Growth
    • 67% were first-time attendees, reflecting successful outreach and expansion of the FtC community.
    • 33% were repeat attendees, indicating sustained interest and loyalty among prior participants.
  • Accessibility & Scholarships
    • 74% of participants received complimentary tickets, ensuring accessibility and inclusivity as a true public good, while 16% utilized coupon promotions, reflecting effective outreach strategies.
    • 9 scholarships and 2 travel stipends were awarded, highlighting efforts to support underrepresented and financially constrained participants.
  • Hackathon Demo Hour: Showcased the winning projects selected from 100+ innovative builds and 340 hackers, with $110,000 in prize funding distributed. DoraHacks platform representatives joined us for the winners’ ceremony, and a number of the winning builders were present in person for the award ceremony.
  • Design Jam:
    • 23 Mentors, including
    • 5 Facilitators
    • 71 total participants
    • 3 selected projects to highlight, covering ecological and local SEA issues

In the Public Eye:

Key Outcomes:

  1. Together, our Thailand events—residency, design jam, in-person hackathon, and conference—brought over 1,070 participants into the public goods conversation.
  2. Facilitated the development and showcase of real-world use cases designed to drive innovation and attract new participants to the public goods funding conversation, fostering long-term engagement and impact.
  3. Deepened relationships with local NGOs and public goods initiatives, including ongoing collaborations with displaced Burmese communities.

This milestone underscored Funding the Commons’ ability to foster innovation, connect global and regional actors, and drive tangible impact across diverse sectors. FtC Bangkok has positioned itself as a cornerstone for public goods discourse and action in the Asia-Pacific region.

Summary video:

Milestone 4: Production of High Quality Media Content

In 2024, Funding the Commons began shifting from being solely events-focused to embracing its role as a media platform. Key efforts include:

  • Expanding Communication Platforms: Leveraging a highly engaged audience of 11k+ followers to amplify voices and ideas that advance Public Goods in Web3 and beyond.
  • Prioritizing LinkedIn: Diving deeper into engagement with governments, nonprofits, and NGOs to broaden our impact.
  • Growing on Twitter: Achieving 1M organic impressions over the past 12 months, continuing to drive awareness and engagement.
  • Creating Lasting Public Goods: Producing high-quality content, including reels, interviews, and a growing library of 100+ recorded talks, to make insights accessible and impactful long-term.
  • Reshaping Narratives: Amplifying thought leadership to expand conversations around Public Goods far beyond our events.

This approach ensures we continue to grow our reach and deliver lasting value to the ecosystem.

Amplifying FtC Community Voices Beyond Events

4 New Reels: Diverse Community Perspectives to Drive Attendance

(~50k organic views)

100+ Recorded Talks: A Growing Library of Knowledge

  • 100+ recordings of talks from Funding the Commons events since December 2023, freely accessible to all as a public good.
  • 30+ talks from Bangkok will be released before the end of 2024, continuing our commitment to making these valuable insights available to a global audience.
  • Explore the full library on our YouTube channel.

Interview Library: Thought-Leadership in Public Goods Across the Globe

27 unique interviews recorded in San Francisco, Tokyo, and Bangkok

  • Elevating the Narrative: Leveraging FtC’s unique access to thought leaders at live events, we are dedicated to creating content that uplifts and reshapes the narrative for the entire ecosystem.
  • Trusted Platform: FtC combines exclusive access to visionary voices with a trusted content distribution platform within the Public Goods Funding (PGF) community, ensuring impactful storytelling that reaches beyond Web3 audiences.
  • Emphasis on plain language: Metaphors and basic framing for maximum reach to new audiences, or as Audrey Tang said, “We hope my grandma likes it”

1. Al Smith – The Tor Project (only one on this list launched during previous epoch)

2. Audrey Tang – Plurality.net (Former Digital Minister of Taiwan)

3. Samantha Power – BioFi Project & Finance for Gaia

4. Navroop Sadev – The Digital Economist

5. Atossa Soltani – Amazon Sacred Headwaters Alliance

6. Stuart Cowan – Buckminster Fuller Institute

7. Glen Weyl – Plurality Institution & RxC & Microsoft

8. Aya Miyaguchi – Ethereum Foundation

9. Chris Szymczak – UNICEF Office of Innovation

10. Scott Moore – Public Works

11. Ken Suzuki – University of Tokyo, SmartNews Inc.

12. NounsDAO

15 New interviews have footage recorded, and currently in production

  • Anke Liu – Stellar Development Foundation
  • Anna Whitson-Diaz – Former UN System, Stellar Development Foundation
  • Artem Brazhnikov – Head of Engineering, Octant & Golem Foundation
  • Brian Behlendorf – Linux Foundation
  • David Dao – Chief Scientist, GainForest (XPrize 2024 Winner)
  • Funding the Commons & Tokyo DeSci Team
  • Grégoire Gambatto – Co-Founder & CEO, OnlyDust
  • Jarrod Barnes – NEAR Foundation
  • Kevin Owocki – Gitcoin
  • Melyn McKay – Founder, CoalaPay
  • Michel Bauwens – P2P Foundation
  • Natalie Cadranel – Open Archive
  • Shady El Damaty & Nana Nihal Khalsa – Holonym Foundation
  • Supachai Kid Parchariyanon – CEO & Co-Founder, Rise
13

Section 2: Epoch VI Update

Challenges

### **Challenges**

- **Previous Challenges**:
    - **Description**: [Did you outline any challenges in your previous submissions? If so, provide a brief reminder of those challenges.]
    - **Updates**: [What are the updates on these challenges? Have they been resolved or are they ongoing?]
    - **Resolution**: [How did you resolve these challenges? Describe the steps and strategies used.]
    - **Lessons Learned**: [What lessons were learned from these experiences? Share any insights or best practices that can benefit the community.]
  • Previous challenges:

Description:

[Did you outline any challenges in your previous submissions? If so, provide a brief reminder of those challenges.]

  • Our continued support from web3 foundations is dependent on the volatile fluctuations of the public crypto markets.
  • Balancing our mission-driven urgency to act with the demands of a rapid global event calendar remains a challenge, as we strive to be in the right place at the right time while managing limited resources and addressing the needs of diverse stakeholders.
  • Our community organizers have expressed the desire to be more empowered and given more agency and autonomy in organizing FtC events around the world.
  • Often, funders claim to support public goods, but in reality, they support “network goods,” i.e., goods that are only widely useful for their specific L1 or L2 ecosystem.
  • Measuring the results from a conference can be challenging, given that much of the impact happens weeks and months afterward, and is difficult to track and measure. Our conferences are both about public goods and serve as a public good themselves – in addition to network effects resulting from education, rigorous discourse, and centering of opportunities for funding, Funding the Commons events are a springboard for initiating and deepening impactful connections throughout the ecosystem. Many community members state that they’ve identified co-founders, future hires, pathways to funding, evaluation frameworks, sponsors/investors, etc., either directly or indirectly through the platforms we provide. This inclusive expansion of opportunities and connections is very difficult to measure, especially since it often manifests over a timescale longer than quarterly or yearly reporting.
  • Crypto is often in an echo chamber, and breaking through to a more mainstream audience can be met with resistance based on preconceived assumptions around the technology and the community behind it.

New challenges:

  • Sometimes, we are misunderstood as ‘funding the commons’ vs. being a media & event production series facilitating discourse around commons and public goods funding mechanisms.
  • A key challenge has been identifying, nurturing, and acknowledging the contributions of dedicated local partners, particularly when laying the groundwork for conferences that often require over a year of preparation. However, this level of advance planning is difficult due to uncertainties beyond 12 months of operational budget commitments.

Updates: [What are the updates on these challenges? Have they been resolved or are they ongoing?]

  • Funding Dependency: Volatile crypto markets remain a risk. However, the market outlook is significantly sunnier than pre-November 5 2024. We are building relationships with institutional philanthropists, as well as with other sectors of technology outside of the blockchain industry, namely AI and climate. Meanwhile, we continue to successfully diversify our web3 funding sources, securing both grants and sponsorships from entirely new funders in the past four months, including Holonym Foundation, Stellar Development Foundation, KlimaDAO, Kasikorn X VC, and Layer Labs.

  • Working Relationships with Local Partners: Remains an ongoing challenge for Funding the Commons. The team has had multiple feedback sessions with various local partners, and has been receiving and incorporating that feedback. Various measures currently being taken to elevate our process of community partner relationship management include: delivering precise detailed proposals and specs for venue and event requirements to avoid miscommunications, building a streamlined protocol for partner evaluation → onboarding → ongoing communication, actively seeking feedback at earlier stages in the relationship, and refined due diligence of partner capacity & presence in relevant local geographies.

  • Impact metrics for events: This challenge has largely been resolved with the support of our marketing team, onboarded this year, which has created surveys and templates to formalize and standardize impact measurement across all events, including community-led initiatives. These tools streamline data collection and analysis, ensuring consistent metrics harvesting well beyond our conferences. Additionally, the launch of our Public Goods Town Halls—monthly community calls—provides an ongoing platform for direct communication. These calls allow community members to update us on their projects and successes year-round, often uncovering impactful achievements that might otherwise go unnoticed. In qualitative terms, Funding the Commons is often described as ‘the first Web3 conference I’ve ever attended.’ This underscores the role public goods conferences play as a meaningful entry point into the industry—offering an impactful introduction to the ecosystem, distinct from its more speculative or transactional aspects.

  • Being a small team with a large workload: This year, our team faced significant capacity challenges, further compounded by the departure of two team members. As a result, the remaining team was stretched, navigating varying degrees of burnout. These constraints occasionally impacted our availability and responsiveness to local community partners, as team members managed multiple events simultaneously across various time zones. Looking ahead to 2025, we are implementing key improvements to enhance efficiency and sustainability:

    1. Strategic operations planning: Committing earlier to key events and sharing previews with sponsors, partners, and stakeholders to better align resources and foster a positive ripple effect across the ecosystem.
    2. Localized collaboration: Establishing clearer production guidelines and engaging local allies earlier to further decentralize and localize the curation process.
    3. Streamlined production practices: Automating time-intensive tasks like speaker management while optimizing design briefing, content creation, and video production to ensure high-quality outputs with reduced effort.

    Our experience in Bangkok also underscored the effectiveness of hiring temporary local production assistants who speak the native language, understand local logistics, and can negotiate with vendors. This approach proved both efficient and cost-saving, and we plan to integrate it more consistently into future events.

  • Expanding Beyond Crypto’s Echo Chamber: In 2024, we successfully drew a diverse range of participants to our community, including academics, senior public sector officials, corporate leaders, representatives from multilateral institutions, Web2 open-source advocates, and humanitarian nonprofits. Notably, 42% of attendees at Funding the Commons Bangkok were from outside the Web3 space, demonstrating the effectiveness of our outreach strategies.

    • Looking ahead to 2025, our first two conferences—focused on AI in San Francisco and climate in Zurich—are set to further broaden our audience by fostering deeper engagement with these critical themes and attracting an increasingly diverse community.
    • We will also continue to focus on showcasing the significant use cases already present within our industry to shift the narrative that such use cases are lacking. These examples demonstrate the real-world value and potential of the new models & mechanisms, reinforcing the importance of amplifying what already exists to drive broader recognition and adoption.

Resolution: [How did you resolve these challenges? Describe the steps and strategies used.]

  • Crypto as an Echo Chamber, and breaking into new audiences: Active outreach to the public sector and academia, and thematic content development designed to attract a wide range of professionals outside of web3 are creating new touch points between crypto and academia, government, climate finance, and AI. Our first two events in 2025 will focus heavily on AI and climate, respectively.
    • Demonstrated success in diversifying participants in 2024, with 42% of attendees at Bangkok events coming from outside Web3.
  • Impact Metrics for Events:
    • Largely resolved with the implementation of standardized surveys, Lu.ma event ratings, post-event impact reports, and templates created by the marketing team.
    • Public Goods Town Halls provide ongoing opportunities for feedback and uncovering impactful outcomes, ensuring consistent metrics collection and qualitative success stories.

Lessons Learned: [What lessons were learned from these experiences? Share any insights or best practices that can benefit the community.]

  • Provide Clear Specs and Local Support: Ensure partners have precise specifications for event venues, catering, and logistics. Hire local production assistants (e.g., via Upwork) to manage local sourcing, logistics, and, where needed, vendor negotiations.

  • Guidance for Remote Locations: Provide local event production partners with detailed guidance for operating in remote areas with unreliable infrastructure (e.g., water, electricity, transportation). Include contingency plans to handle crisis moments effectively.

  • Avoid Mid-Hackathon Technology Commitments: Refrain from committing to use a partner’s technology during a hackathon unless there is sufficient time to evaluate the effort required to integrate it without disrupting the event.

  • Refining Our Approach to Partnerships: We’ve identified the importance of allowing sufficient time for onboarding and alignment when forming new partnerships. By conducting thorough due diligence and ensuring partners are a strong contextual and mission-driven fit, we can create more seamless collaborations that deliver greater impact.

  • Learnings from Community Partnerships: Through our work with remunerated community partners, we’ve learned the importance of recognizing their invaluable contributions—not just as service providers but as integral extensions of our team. These partners often bring years of relationships with local actors in public goods, government, and philanthropy, along with on-the-ground outreach that is critical to our success. Treating them as true community members fosters trust, deepens collaboration, and aligns our shared mission more closely with local ecosystems. Moving forward, we aim to nurture these relationships with the same care and integration as we do within our internal team.

  • 2024 Major Strategic Learning: Funding the Commons has become a key bridge between the crypto industry and various other sectors—including the public sector, academia, Web2 companies, the AI industry, and traditional industries. This unique role enhances our value proposition for partners and collaborators within the Web3 ecosystem.

    Underlying factors:

    • Bringing Key Stakeholders Together at Conferences, Dinners, Residencies, Hackathons, and Pop-Ups
    • Developing Prototypes for Real-World Public Goods Funding Infrastructure: Integrating public goods funding infrastructure like Drips, Gitcoin, Celo, Hypercerts, Kickstarter’s crowdfunding protocol, Holonym, Hats Protocol via builder residencies and hackathons
    • Running Pilots with Leading Organizations: Collaborating with entities like Celo, Stellar, web3 startups and NGOs working on last-mile humanitarian aid distribution and grassroots entrepreneurship for marginalized communities.
14

Section 3: Epoch VI Update

Outputs and Outcomes

### **Outputs and Outcomes**

**Outputs (Last Epoch)**:

- **Output 1**: [Specific, measurable results from activities, e.g., number of users onboarded, number of features shipped, training sessions conducted]
- **Output 2**: [Specific, measurable results from activities]

**Short-term Outcomes**:

- **Outcome 1**: [Describe the short-term outcomes resulting from the outputs, e.g., increased user engagement, higher retention rates, immediate feedback from users, increase in transaction volume]
- **Outcome 2**: [Describe the short-term effects resulting from the outputs]

**Long-term Outcomes**:

- **Outcome 1**: [Describe the long-term effects and impact, e.g., sustained community growth, improved user satisfaction and loyalty, enhanced ecosystem functionality, significant reduction in costs or inefficiencies]
- **Outcome 2**: [Describe the long-term effects and impact]

Outputs (Last Epoch):

  1. Earth Commons Zurich Philanthopy & Climate 9/11 dinner
    • Description: Hosted a high-level institutional dinner featuring organizations like IMF, IBM, BIS, Filecoin Foundation, Octant, and others.
  2. Hackathon: $110k prizes, 356 participants, 116 builds.
  3. FtC Chiang Mai Residency: 40+ builders hosted, 22 projects prototyped.
  4. Funding the Commons x Earth Commons Bangkok Conference & Design Jam
    1. 1070+ participants, 110+ sessions, 80+ speakers across 4 days
    2. Showcased Chiang Mai Builder Residency and Hackathon projects
    3. Recordings that are being proofed and will be posted to YouTube within the next weeks: FtC_2024_Bangkok(8Mbps) - Google Drive
  5. Commons Fund activities [ Public Goods Funding Experiments, Grants to Builders of Open Source PGF Tech, & Real World Pilots ]

    1. Support for Builders via Builder Basic Income with Drips:

      1. Public goods builders currently receiving streaming payments: 3
      2. Total funds streamed through BBI: $25,000 (including second list)

    2. Refunite Uganda pilot:

      1. $17.5k was spent on a Uganda pilot, including $10k that was funneled through Refunite’s RelayHelp platform for funding refugee-operated music studios in Uganda. The draft of the impact report is linked below, and a documentary has been funded and is currently being produced.
      2. 173 direct beneficiaries, 8,500 indirect beneficiaries, 47 participants trained in music production to date, 2 collaborative music tracks produced (listen here!)
      3. Impact report here.

    3. Akashic - open source public goods funding infrastructure for the real world

      1. $10k grant from Filecoin Foundation, $13k from Gitcoin GG22 and $4k from Celo Real World Builders round funded initial development of the Akashic Platform, a decentralized archive and crowdfunding platform supporting refugee creators being built in partnership with Kickstarter’s crowdfunding protocol, Celo, Protocol Labs and Filecoin.

    4. Transition of Commons Fund to a DAO

      1. Created a working prototype using Hats Protocol for DAO governance
      2. Hosted multiple feedback sessions with community members on structuring
  6. Media Assets created
  7. New Partnerships
    • Holonym, NEAR Foundation, Stellar Development Foundation, OnlyDust, DoraHacks
  8. Monthly Public Goods Town Halls
    • 5 Town Halls successfully hosted virtually as a community building experiment and safe space for support of public goods builders between conferences.

Funding the Commons: Comprehensive Outputs and Outcomes

Earth Commons Zurich Dinner

Event Details

  • Date: September 11th, 2024
  • Location: Zurich, Switzerland
  • Type: Private Dinner for Institutional Philanthropy, Financial Sector, and INGOs
  • Number of Attendees: 32

Participating Organizations

The dinner brought together a diverse and high-profile group of organizations, including:

  1. International Financial Institutions: IMF, BIS, BIS Innovation Hub
  2. Academic Institutions: University of Zurich, ETH Zurich
  3. Corporate Sector: IBM, Dow, MSCI
  4. Web3 Foundations: Filecoin Foundation, Golem Foundation (Octant)
  5. Sustainability and Climate Organizations: Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership, MyClimate, Nature Tech Collective, NatureFinance, Green Fintech Network, Green Digital Finance Alliance (GDFA), Crowther Lab, Decoland
  6. Banking and Finance: LGT Private Banking, Liechtenstein Bankers Association
  7. Government and International Organizations: UNDP FC4S, State Secretariat for International Finance (SIF)
  8. Venture Capital and Investment: Opportuna VC, Infinitas Capital, Swiss Fintech Innovations
  9. Climate Finance Startups: SimplexDNA, Silvi, Open Forest Protocol, Gain Forest, Hyphen.Earth
  10. Philanthropy: Global Infrastructure Basel Foundation (GIB), Open Society Foundations

Outputs and Outcomes

  1. Cross-Sector Networking: Connected leaders in finance, technology, sustainability, philanthropy, and academia to foster collaboration and research opportunities.
  2. Knowledge Sharing: Advanced discussions on blockchain’s role in sustainable finance, environmental conservation, and financial inclusion.
  3. New Partnerships: Sparked collaborations between traditional financial institutions, blockchain projects, and sustainability-focused startups.
  4. Building Awareness: Highlighted blockchain’s potential to address environmental, financial, and regulatory challenges to traditional institutions and policymakers.
  5. Showcasing Innovation: Provided a platform for startups to present ideas to established institutions, potential funders, and philanthropic organizations.
  6. Climate Finance and Policy Dialogues: Explored innovative funding strategies and regulatory frameworks for climate action and sustainable technology adoption.

The event demonstrated the ability of Funding the Commons to convene high-level stakeholders (including the Golem Foundation) and position itself at the intersection of technology, finance, and sustainability. The full outcome of this event is still yet to be told, having laid the groundwork for Earth Commons Zurich 2025 by establishing key relationships with public sector institutions, philanthropic foundations, universities, climate startups, and regional climate finance trade associations and event organizers.

Funding the Commons x Earth Commons Hackathon 2024: Outputs and Outcomes

Event Overview

  • Date: October 7 - November 7, 2024
  • Location: Online (Global)
  • Theme: Public Goods, Climate
  • Total Prize Pool: $110,000

Participation Metrics

  • Total Participants: 356
  • Projects Submitted: 116

Key Outputs

  1. Tracks:
    • Decentralized AI
    • Decentralized Storage
    • Financial Inclusion
    • Environmental Impact
    • Public Goods Funding Infrastructure
    • Identity and Reputation
    • Privacy
    • Governance
    • Trust & Authenticity
  2. Notable Projects:
    • Winners viewable here.
  3. Prize Distribution:
    • 8 tracks with prizes ranging from $1,000 to $15,000
  4. Community Engagement:
    • Active participation from developers, designers, and domain experts
    • Mentorship sessions with industry leaders
    • Workshops and webinars by partners & sponsors

Outcomes and Impact

  1. Technological Innovation:
    • Development and prototyping of new tools and platforms for public goods funding
    • Integration of emerging technologies (AI) with blockchain, and ZK-based identity, with humanitarian aid use cases
  2. Community Impact:
    • Formation of new collaborations between developers, NGOs, and funding organizations
    • Empowerment of displaced communities in Africa and Southeast Asia through technology-driven solutions delivered as working prototypes
  3. Ecosystem Growth:
    • Expansion of the Funding the Commons network to new builder ecosystems, including NEAR, Stellar, Holonym, OnlyDust, and DoraHacks
    • Attraction of new talent and resources to the public goods funding space
    • Strengthening of the global blockchain for social impact community
  4. Project Continuity:
    • Several winning projects have secured additional funding and/or partnerships
    • Ongoing mentorship and support for promising teams is happening
    • Integration of successful projects into larger initiatives within the Funding the Commons ecosystem, including Doogly, Hyperstaker, Fund Pop Up Cities
  5. Knowledge Sharing:
    • Documentation and open-sourcing of all project code on Github
    • Creation of educational resources (recorded workshops on FtC YouTube)
  6. Media Coverage and Visibility:
    • Record-breaking impressions among FtC events, driven by partner networks and outreach.

Long-term Potential

  • The hackathon has incubated and seeded several promising projects, and web3 ecosystems were able to identify new builder talent. Web3 startups and venture capital funds have already been coming to us for talent referrals from the builder funnel generated by the hackathon (and residency).

Residency Projects Summary and Impact

The Chiang Mai Builder Residency served as a launchpad for several groundbreaking projects and fostered a vibrant community of public goods builders. Key outcomes included tangible advancements in tools, protocols, and platforms for public goods funding and deployment. The program featured contributions from Octant and other strategic partners, including UNICEF and GainForest, reinforcing connections between global organizations and local talent.

The residency also emphasized skills development through workshops on decentralized finance, AI ethics, and sustainable tech solutions. Interactive sessions were led by Vitalik Buterin (Ethereum Foundation), David Dao (GainForest), and Artem Brazhnikov (Octant). Two Octant team members participated in the residency.

Projects like Akashic, Impact Evaluation Service, Counterfactually, Hyperstaker, Doogly, the Commons Protocol, Fund Pop Up Cities, and Refunite Digital ID system were prototyped and advanced during the residency. Berlin Residency alumni Climate project GainForest shipped new features (and won the Rainforest X Prize!), and Ethereum Next Billion Fellow Devansh Mehta launched VoiceDeck, the first live marketplace for Hypercerts. Two Octant team members participated in the residency, making progress on Octant v2. Amongst other mentors, Vitalik Buterin visited the residency and took an hour of questions from residents on building public goods funding systems and mechanisms.

Engagement Metrics:

  • Participants: 40 builders from 25 countries
  • Projects Developed: 22 innovative public goods prototypes
  • Workshops Conducted: 18 interactive learning sessions

Key Outcomes:

  1. Talent Pipeline: At least one residency participant was hired by a sponsoring organization
  2. Innovation Incubation: Several projects have moved into pilot stages, with prototypes showcased at the subsequent FtC Bangkok conference and hackathon.
  3. Community Building: The residency fostered cross-cultural collaboration, bridging gaps between local builders in Southeast Asia and global public goods networks. This included 5 of our builders coming together to produce the FtC Community Day at ETH India 6-8 December.
  4. Funding: Projects and residency builders have received approximately $500k between the date the residency began (7 October, 2024) and 6 December 2024.
  5. Bridging Ecosystem: Diverse ecosystems were brought together, including Celo, Gitcoin, Hypercerts, Bitcoin, Filecoin, Stellar, NEAR, Holonym (ZK/privacy), hardware and networking infrastructure entrepreneurs, machine learning specialists, climate scientists, social activists & human rights defenders, filmmakers & journalists, and humanitarian NGO’s working across Africa and Southeast Asia.
  6. Prototypes for Pilots: Technological integrations that were initiated at the residency will soon be deployed in real-world last mile settings in sub-Saharan Africa

Funding the Commons x Earth Commons Conference Outcomes

Event Overview

  • Date: November 8-9, 2024
  • Location: Bangkok, Thailand
  • Venue: Rise / SeaX Ventures (22nd floor of Gaysorn Tower)

Key Themes and Focus Areas

  • Public goods funding in the context of Southeast Asia
  • Digital innovation for environmental stewardship
  • Regenerative agriculture and biodiversity
  • Decentralized science applications
  • Integration of blockchain technology with environmental initiatives
  • Local and regional commons approaches

Notable Speakers and Participants

  1. Kevin Owocki - Gitcoin
  2. Juan Benet - Protocol Labs
  3. Alan Ransil - Filecoin Green, Devonian, Cherty
  4. Ilia Polosukhin - NEAR
  5. David Dao - GainForest
  6. Max Song - Carbonbase
  7. Artem Brazhnikov - Octant
  8. Holke Brammer - Hypercerts
  9. Warin Ratchananusorn - Digital Economy Promotion Agency (DEPA) of Thailand
  10. Dr. Prapaporn Tivayanod Mongkhonvanit - Thammasat University

Conference Structure

  1. Main stage presentations
  2. 2 Interactive workshop spaces
  3. Networking lounge & cafeteria
  4. Speaker x Sponsor Dinner
  5. Gitcoin Book Launch Party: On-Chain Capital Allocation Handbook (Launch Party Photos)

Key Outcomes and Highlights

  1. Showcase of Chiang Mai Builder Residency and Hackathon Projects
  2. Regional Initiatives Spotlight: Focus on Southeast Asian academics, NGO’s, startups, and public sector officials
  3. Technology Integration Discussions: Exploration of how AI, IoT, and blockchain can be leveraged for environmental protection and restoration.
  4. Financial Inclusion Innovations: Presentations on last mile crypto and its potential impact on humanitarian aid and financial inclusion in the region.
  5. Indigenous Wisdom and Technology: Sessions on integrating traditional land stewardship practices with modern technological solutions.

Media and Documentation

Assets created:

Refunite Uganda Pilot Program (full report here)

1. Quantifiable Success Metrics

  • Direct Beneficiaries: 173 individuals from Burundian and South Sudanese communities
  • Indirect Beneficiaries: 8,500 from refugee and host communities
  • Music Training: 47 participants trained in music production, songwriting, composition, and recording
  • Music Production: 2 collaborative music tracks produced (“Unity” and “One Blood”)
  • Music Education: 22 music lessons delivered to 15 students at Nest Music School

2. Immediate Impacts on Beneficiaries and Community

  • Blockchain Literacy: 75% of pilot participants showed improved understanding of blockchain and cryptocurrency tools
  • Financial Empowerment: Increased financial autonomy through access to crypto
  • Skill Development: Enhanced skills in music production, enabling professional growth
  • Community Cohesion: Strengthened resilience and social cohesion among refugee and host communities
  • Cultural Preservation: Created a safe, inclusive space for creative expression and cultural preservation

3. Key Effects

  1. Blockchain for Financial Inclusion: Demonstrated the use case for blockchain technology in providing financial services to refugee populations
  2. Economic Empowerment: Provided pathways for artistic growth and economic opportunities through music
  3. Cross-Cultural Bridging: Fostered connections and unity between diverse ethnic communities through collaborative music projects. This includes communities and tribes that have previously experienced conflict with each other.
  4. Emotional Support: Offered a platform for emotional healing and expression through creative arts
  5. Scalable Model: Established a replicable model incorporating local networks of Refunite community leaders, smart phones, blockchain, the creative arts, and WhatsApp groups for addressing humanitarian challenges

4. Challenges Faced

  • Technology Access: Logistical challenges due to shared smartphone usage and variable internet access
  • Resource Limitations: Initial limited access to musical instruments and performance spaces

5. Qualitative Impact

Participants shared that they felt empowered and inspired to pursue music as a viable career option. This suggests a significant boost in confidence and future outlook among the beneficiaries.

6. Strategic Importance

The Refunite Uganda Pilot Program demonstrates the powerful intersection of blockchain technology, creative arts, and humanitarian aid. By combining financial inclusion through crypto with music (and digital media) education and production, the program addresses multiple aspects of refugee empowerment:

  1. Financial: Providing access to digital financial tools
  2. Educational: Offering valuable skills in music production and technology
  3. Cultural: Preserving and celebrating diverse cultural expressions
  4. Social: Building bridges between refugee and host communities
  5. Economic: Opening pathways to potential careers in music and creative industries

The success of this pilot underscores the potential of innovative, multi-faceted approaches to public goods funding and community development. It serves as a model for future initiatives that seek to leverage blockchain technology and creative expression for social impact in challenging environments.

The scalability and replicability of this model suggest that similar programs could be implemented in other refugee settings or underserved communities, potentially creating a network of blockchain-enabled, arts-focused empowerment initiatives worldwide.

Created Media Assets

In 2024, Funding the Commons began shifting from being solely events-focused to embracing its role as a media platform. Key efforts include:

  • Expanding Communication Platforms: Leveraging a highly engaged audience of 11k+ followers to amplify voices and ideas that advance Public Goods in Web3 and beyond.
  • Prioritizing LinkedIn: Diving deeper into engagement with governments, nonprofits, and NGOs to broaden our impact.
  • Growing on Twitter: Achieving 1M organic impressions over the past 12 months, continuing to drive awareness and engagement.
  • Creating Lasting Public Goods: Producing high-quality content, including reels, interviews, and a growing library of 100+ recorded talks, to make insights accessible and impactful long-term.
  • Reshaping Narratives: Amplifying thought leadership to expand conversations around Public Goods far beyond our events.

This approach ensures we continue to grow our reach and deliver lasting value to the ecosystem.

Summary of Assets Created:

Partnerships and Collaborations

Recent valuable partnerships formed (expanded upon in other sections):

  1. Holonym
  2. NEAR Foundation
  3. Stellar Foundation

Monthly Public Goods Town Halls

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Section 4: Octant Epoch VI Update

Plans for Potential Funds Raised in the Next Octant Allocation Window

  • Goal 1: Produce Funding the Commons San Francisco

    • Description: Funding the Commons San Francisco 2025 will be hosted at the iconic Internet Archive, bringing together leaders and innovators across technology, academia, the public sector, and philanthropy to explore funding and governance models for open source software. This year’s event focuses on addressing pressing challenges in artificial intelligence.

      As the rapid evolution of AI reshapes industries and societies, we aim to foster dialogue on how these technologies can be developed and governed for the benefit of all. Our themes address critical questions of governance, alignment, privacy, ethics, and sustainable funding models, with an emphasis on actionable insights and collaborative solutions.

    • Expected Outcome: Funding the Commons: San Francisco 2025 will provide a unique forum for builders, researchers, corporates and policymakers to network, collaborate, and co-create solutions for challenges at the intersection of technology and public good. The conference will provide a cross-disciplinary space for convergence of web3, the web2 open source community, AI industry participants, academia, and public sector participants. We anticipate 350+ participants and 50+ speakers. Presentations will be recorded and published on our YouTube channel, and a series of short interviews will also be produced as a result of the conference.

    • Funding Needed: $20k

  • Goal 2: Produce Earth Commons Zurich

    • Description: Reimagining Finance, Philanthropy, and Technology for the Stewardship of Our Commons

      Switzerland’s history of decentralization and reputation as a global innovation hub, with its regulatory foresight and embrace of “sandbox” innovation, make it the perfect setting to explore the intersection of finance, philanthropy, and technology.

      In partnership with the Green Fintech Network, our next conference will take place in Zürich, during June 2025, connecting local climate tech organizations, financial institutions, NGOs, and institutional philanthropic organizations. The event will focus on addressing complex challenges undermining the stewardship of public goods and Earth’s commons, while offering a unique perspective by centering “the commons” as a crucial stakeholder and guiding principle.

    • Expected Outcome: We will bring a very diverse audience—financial leaders, technologists, climate entrepreneurs, philanthropists, and creatives—to connect and co-create new pathways for addressing today’s most pressing global challenges. Earth Commons will provide a unique intersectional space for Swiss leaders across industries to create bridges. We expect 300+ participants and 40+ speakers. Presentations will be recorded and published on our YouTube channel, and a series of short interviews will also be produced as a result of the conference.

    • Funding Needed: $20k

  • Goal 3: Create high quality media pieces featuring web3 public goods funding and climate leaders for mainstream distribution

    • Description: Expand outreach beyond Web3 by producing compelling, high-quality media content. This includes interviews with global thought leaders and community-focused reels that highlight real-world use cases in public goods funding and climate innovation. Recent examples demonstrate our ability to engage diverse audiences and elevate the narrative of our ecosystem.
    • Expected Outputs:
      • 30 new interviews with global leaders.
      • 3 new reels featuring local actors.
    • Expected Outcomes:
      • Increased visibility of the public goods funding space through polished, accessible media distributed to mainstream audiences.
      • Attraction of new funders by making the public goods space more legible and compelling, with real-world use cases that resonate beyond live events.
      • Extended reach, engaging hundreds of thousands more people than possible through live events alone, amplifying our mission and impact globally.

    This focus on media production ensures our work has lasting impact, reaching and inspiring new audiences and funders alike.

    • Funding Needed: $20k

Other Funding

  • Grant Funding Received Since the Last Epoch:

    [Detail any grant funding received, including amounts]

    • Gitcoin GG22 OSS - dApps and Apps (~$13,500) for Akashic development
    • Gitcoin GG21 - Cartographer Syndicate’s Web3 Grants Ecosystem Advancement: (~$6,000)
    • Gitcoin GG21 - Celo Public Goods Real World Builders (~$4,000)
    • Celo Prezenti - For upcoming Kenya pilot with Refunite & Opera MiniPay, focused on real-world adoption ($10,000)
    • Giveth ReFi Round - Earth Commons ($1,500)

  • Other Non-Grant Funding Sources:

    [Detail other sources of funding, such as user payments, donations, staking, LP contributions, VC investments, etc.]

    • Event sponsorships from Funding the Commons x Earth Commons Bangkok, hackathon, and Chiang Mai Residency.
      • FtC Bangkok
        • Protocol Labs
        • Filecoin Foundation
        • Octant Epoch V
        • DRIPS
        • Stellar Foundation
        • Near Foundation
        • Holonym
        • Kasikorn X Ventures
        • Breadchain
        • Gitcoin
        • Metagov
        • Blockchain for Good Alliance
      • Residency
        • Protocol Labs
        • Filecoin Foundation
        • Octant Epoch V
        • DRIPS
        • Stellar Foundation
        • Near Foundation
        • Holonym
        • Talent Protocol
      • Hackathon
        • Protocol Labs
        • Filecoin Foundation
        • Octant Epoch V
        • DRIPS
        • Stellar Foundation
        • Near Foundation
        • Holonym
        • Gitcoin
        • Metagov
        • KlimaDAO
        • Layer Labs
        • Decoland
    • Event registration ticket sales from Bangkok ($5,000)

Future Plans for Financial Sustainability

It’s now been 4+ months since your initial application. Have there been any changes to revenue sources and income generation plans? Share your story on how your project plans to achieve long-term financial sustainability and the progress since the previous epoch. You may include updates on any of the following aspects:

  • Changes to your revenue sources and income generation plans since your initial application:

    • Funding the Commons was initially incubated by Protocol Labs and relied on that single entity for full support in 2022. Over the past 18 months, we are rapidly decreasing our dependence on Protocol Labs from 100% in 2022 to ~50% in 2024, thanks in part to Octant and Optimism retroPGF. Protocol Labs will continue to support us in 2025, increasingly as a matching funder that augments the funding we receive from other sources.
    • In addition to Drips and Filecoin Foundation, we have recently added the Stellar Foundation, NEAR Foundation, and Holonym to the roster of web3 foundations supporting Funding the Commons in a meaningful and longer-term way.
    • We are working on diversifying our funder community beyond web3 into open-source AI, and traditional philanthropy, including foundations, family offices, and corporate philanthropy.
    • In 2025, we plan to increase our income from individual donors through donation-based crowdfunding and QF campaigns like Gitcoin, Giveth, Clear Fund, etc.

  • Since our initial application:

    • We have continuously diversified our funding sources to include sponsorships and grants from a number of other web3 foundations, as well as becoming public goods funding recipients of Gitcoin, Giveth, Filecoin retroPGF, and Celo retroPGF. We’ve also secured a small grant to incubate a public goods funding infrastructure project (Akashic), as well as two small grants to run real-world public goods funding pilots in Africa with Refunite. We’ve also begun to earn contracts to produce high-quality short videos and media to capture the stories of leaders in the public goods funding space and have secured in-kind sponsorships from a Thai bank (for a sponsored event venue).

  • New or ongoing strategic partnerships or collaborations that support your project:

    • Key partnership: Protocol Labs. Funding the Commons is incubated by Protocol Labs and continues to receive both financial and strategic support by Protocol Labs and related ecosystem players such as Filecoin Foundation.
    • Ongoing partnership: UNICEF. Funding the Commons is partnering with UNICEF to bridge the web3 public goods funding world to real-world impact by collaborating with UNICEF Office of Innovation team members and UNICEF Blockchain Venture Fund-backed founders through our conferences and residencies. Update: UNICEF sent one builder from their blockchain portfolio to our residency, and Funding the Commons director David Casey shared the stage with UNICEF’s blockchain lead at Ethereum DevCon in Bangkok this past November.
    • New partnership: Holonym Foundation. Funding the Commons is partnering with Holonym to explore use cases of their infrastructure in the real world, including privacy-preserving identity technology in the context of last-mile humanitarian aid. Funding the Commons has connected Holonym to a number of humanitarian NGO’s, as well as startups and builders in the web3 ecosystem.

  • Plans for securing additional funding and ensuring diverse funding sources:

    • Funding the Commons has massively diversified our funding sources over the past 18 months since becoming independent from Protocol Labs. We plan to continue making an impact that will put us in a position to qualify for ongoing retroPGF rounds from Optimism, Filecoin, Celo, and other ecosystems, and is increasing its efforts in 2025 to formulate proposals on DAO forums such as Arbitrum and Public Nouns. On the quadratic funding and PGF side, Funding the Commons continues to grow its community of individual supporters across Gitcoin, Octant, and Giveth. Meanwhile, we are planning to diversify our funding sources outside web3. To this end, we’ve initiated a number of ongoing conversations with traditional philanthropic organizations, forward-thinking tech philanthropists focused on X-risk factors like AI, climate, and biotech, and finally international institutional bodies, and commercial banks in Asia with an interest in crypto.

Funding the Commons on KarmaGap

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