Quadratic funding - FAQ
Read through how QF works and something still unclear?
Find answers to common questions below.
Incubator process
How can a team get started?
View the steps to apply and get in touch
Do teams have to apply for every round?
Yes, even repeat rounds by the same organizer.
Use of grant funds
What is the grant amount available to organisers applying for the first time?
Varies, but up to $20,000 USD. Typically we provide a single “lump sum” grant for the team, who coordinates how it’s allocated e.g. across operational costs & the matching pool.
What is the grant amount available to organisers applying for a second/third time?
It depending on the size of community & projects that took part in the first round, as well as the impact of the funds on the community. However, the above benchmark of $20,000 can be used and every application’s grant request would be individually reviewed.
Can teams propose a different way to split or use the money?
Yes, it’s ultimately up to the team to propose the structure. We can provide guidance based on what’s worked in other situations, but we try to be flexible & recognise that each round is unique. The direct grant portion should be related to amount of work required.
Who is in charge of managing budget?
Once a grant is allocated, it’s up to the team to manage the delegation of the budget.
Funding rounds
Is there a limit to the number of projects that can participate in a round?
Yes, given constraints of the ZK system of smart contracts used to prevent bribery & collusion, we are capped at 125 projects and 8 votes per person. Please take this into account when organising your round!
What should our eligibility criteria be for recipient projects?
Ultimately it’s up to you to propose, but we always push to support projects working on Public Goods.
Addition criteria for projects to typically become eligible include:
- Project ownership
- The project must be yours or you must have permission from the project owner
- Free and open source
- Project code must be available to anyone to use under a free and open source license
- KYC
- People or projects must complete some basic KYC/AML requirements
- No scams
- Obviously, your project must not put anyone's funds or information at risk
What is the definition of a Public Good?
We take a broad definition: Public Good means something is open and free for anyone to use. However if people have to buy ICO tokens to enjoy its benefit, it’s not public good.
Must public goods be non-profit?
For profits can be public goods. For example early stage Uniswap was a public good. After token it feels less like a public good now and/or they have other ways of raising funds.
Must the recipient projects benefit the Ethereum community?
No, we’re open to proposals from teams here.
For example, communities have included projects that are working on projects that work to reduce the impact of climate change, such as beach clean ups, carbon offsets, helping farmers in rural areas etc.
Which chains the funding round be run on?
We would like for everything to be on an optimistic rollup on Ethereum, as it aligns with our values of decentralisation and helps us reach our goal of being able to do this at a huge scale in a decentralised way. Side chains are acceptable if situation requires it.
Case studies
What are examples of past QF rounds you ’ve helped run?
View our case studies to get a sense of different ways we’ve collaborated with communities.