Gno.land Ecosystem Funding and Grants Program

The mission of the Gno.land Funding and Grants Program is to encourage and support the growth of the Gnolang contributor community, and build out the usability of the platform and smart contract library. The program will award grants and financial contributions to teams and individuals building projects, dApps, tooling, infrastructure, products, and smart contract libraries in Gno.land.

As Gno.land is built using a new consensus mechanism, Proof of Contribution, and is still in the initial stages, this program is a way to incentivize and fund individuals and teams to use the new mechanism. The allocated amount of each grant will reflect the scope and ambition of the proposal and its priority within the Gno.land platform.

How to get involved

We're on the lookout for passionate contributors who are interested in building new projects, dApps, tooling, infrastructure, or smart contract libraries in Gno.land. If you're participating in our ongoing incentivized Game of Realms competition or contributing to PRs and issues on the Gno.land repos and you have an idea for a new project, be sure to apply! Game of Realms is the gateway to joining the Gno.land universe and being an existing Gno.land contributor is a prerequisite of the funding and grant application process. Be sure to highlight your contribution in the submission listed below.

What kind of contributors are we looking for?

Tinkerer: you want to build by experimenting and inventing. You bring a new perspective to the project and can tackle complex problems. We want to pay to see what you bring as a value add, and that is how this funding works. A tinker grant recipient is autonomous and is evaluated based on proof of delivery - its about the value of your contributions as you go.

For the tinker program, we have three categories:

• A student program run through cohorts, only with partner universities (feel free to propose yours)
• A developer program run through cohorts: this is for tinkers who have the initial background and motivation, but are still new in development or in Gno
• An advanced program for specialized and senior tinkerers or organizations: this is for tinkers with 10+ years experience in developing in web2, web3…etc.

Builder: You have an idea for an application, you are using the tech and want to work in complimentary infrastructure to support it, you have an idea for a product. You have the framework of what you want to contribute.

Researcher: you want to discover and analyze by deep diving into topics linked to the Gno.land.

What kind of proposals are we looking for?

Applications

• Surprise us with the next killer app
• Build, test, and launch a suite of Gno.land apps for the community, focusing on diverse use cases and industries such as DeFi, gaming, supply chain management, and social networks. Ensure that these apps cater to both individual users and businesses
• These apps should integrate seamlessly with existing Gno.land infrastructure, encourage user interaction, and promote the adoption of Gno.land services

Products

• Develop advanced project management software tailored to the needs of Gno.land developers and teams, with features such as task tracking, collaboration tools, and integrated Gno.land services.
• Create comprehensive documentation, including guides, tutorials, and API references, to help users understand and utilize Gno.land's features and services more effectively.
• Design and implement an event system for Gno.land contracts, allowing for real-time monitoring, analysis, and auditing of contract-related events.

Interoperability and Integration

• Implement cross-chain compatibility and interoperability, allowing Gno.land to connect and interact with other blockchain networks, thus expanding its potential user base and increasing its overall reach.
• Develop a powerful integrated development environment (IDE) specifically for Gno.land developers, with features like code completion, debugging tools, and seamless integration with Gno.land services.
• Create a framework to make it easy and powerful to build dApps with a standalone frontend that uses Gno contracts as the backend
• Add Gno support on existing tools (editors, scripts, CI/CD, frameworks, etc).

Infrastructure, DevX, and Quality

• Develop comprehensive GitHub and AWS integration for Gno.land, including streamlined deployment processes, continuous integration and delivery pipelines, and monitoring tools.
• Create Helm charts for easy deployment and management of Gno clusters, enabling users to quickly set up and scale their Gno infrastructure.
• Improve overall quality by working on the testing pipeline and improve CI/CD.
• Improve validator and developer experience, especially when developing locally.
• You can select an idea from there too: https://github.com/gnolang/hackerspace/issues

What grants qualify

We are open-minded, so any grant that is in line with some of the context listed above, or that you believe will benefit, grow, and support Gno.land Gnomes and create a healthy vibrant community is fair game. If your grant doesn’t qualify, we will do our best to give feedback, point you in the direction over how to improve it, and see if there are opportunities to get involved in Game of Realms.

How to apply

To start the process, you'll need to:

1. Fork this repo
2. Create a new .md file with your project’s name under the grants folder
3. Outline your proposal in that file as outlined in the grant application template
4. Create a Pull Request

After applying with a complete application, the grant team will review it. If the submission meets the initial criteria, a grant team member will be in touch to set up a review call to ask questions, assess the deliverables, and discuss it in more detail. Keep in mind Gno.land’s mission is to launch and support Proof of Contribution, so contributing to open pull requests, challenges and topics is important until we are completely on-chain.

Following the submission and informational session, the grant team will review the submission and follow up with more questions, status updates, and general due diligence to move to the final round. The goal is to collect as much information and feedback for the review committee to make the process as streamlined, transparent and thorough as possible for everyone.

If the grant team finds it meets the requirements and brings added value to the Gno.land ecosystem, the submission will be passed along to the review committee. The review committee will meet quarterly to review submission, and in exceptional cases, maybe sooner.

How do you get funded

We will pay primarily in Fiat or ATOM and on a milestone, or delivery basis.

Follow the journey

You can check out our grant recipients journey's on their projects and work progress on the Hackerspace repo: https://github.com/gnolang/hackerspace/issues

Conclusion

We want the funding and grant process to be as transparent and easy as possible, which is why we will conduct the majority of interaction, feedback loops, and updates on GitHub.

Application template

• Name
• Project name (if applicable)
• Team member GitHub handles (if applicable)
• Email
• Links to Twitter, website..etc.
• The title of your grant submission (how do you want us to remember you 😊)
• Grant type (from examples in Readme)- tinker, builder, researcher
• A short description of what you are proposing (applies to all submissions)
• What is the goal or the purpose of the proposed grant? (applies to all submissions)
• Contributions, issues and pull requests made to Gno and Game of Realms (links please)
• Why are you best suited/what is your background (or team’s if applicable) (applies to all submissions)?
• Milestones and overall time frame of your proposal
• Your idea for fair funding of the proposal
• What do you and the submission bring to the Gno.land platform and community?
• Share any referrals or other projects you work with

You can also email us at [email protected] with questions or if you've submitted and want to let us know!