Function X February Hash Out

A refined EGF grant application process

Function X Foundation has unveiled an improved EGF Grant application process flow, a refined set of guidelines and a committee consisting of relevant core team developers to complement certain aspects of the EGF grant program. With these, we hope to facilitate greater transparency and a more equitable process for the grant applicants,

To address the issue of reaching quorum while public validators currently do not control enough FX, and internal and institutional validators are not voting to maintain neutrality, the Function X Foundation will indirectly exercise their voting power through the team’s top 3 validators being represented by one committee member. The details:

• Designation: Three relevant core team developers forming the committee based on their skillset and the scope of the project.
• The assignment: The Foundation will designate the team’s top 3 validators to each committee member.
• Each committee member acts independently.

After receiving feedback from the community with regards to governance, proposals for EGF in particular, we acknowledge that our requirements for submitting proposals under the EGF should have been clearer. Therefore, the core team has been working diligently to improve the process for EGF applications with clearer guidelines and a dashboard for the community to track the progress of grant applicants for greater transparency and accountability.

The process is set out below:

1. Start an inquiry with the core team to let us know more about the project by filling out the inquiry form. We will provide technical assistance on the forum for the people who are unfamiliar with the process.
2. Function X core team will then identify other support opportunities beyond just financial support (for example, a business plan mentor, a developer, etc.)
3. If identified as requiring financial support, the project proposer will submit a formal proposal
4. Fork the repository on github
5. Make a copy of the inquiry form
6. Create a pull request
7. Same process as above for formal proposals but more information will be needed as denoted in the form.
8. Evaluation+Technical interviews before reaching a funding decision

*Note: Funds will be disbursed according to milestones completed.

The amounts are tiered so proposers will know the maximum amount they can request. With the maximum amount set for the following categories:

• Individuals: $10,000
• Small teams/start-ups: $50,000
• Companies/foundations with a proven track record $100,000 (soft cap) & above

We’re come up with the numbers from a comprehensive research. Here is some information about grants from Web3 Foundation (w3f), Uniswap (UGP), Ethereum Foundation (ESP) and Gitcoin. In terms of amount requested:

1. Maximum amount established companies are able to request across these 3 foundations is $100,000
2. Median amount requested across these 3 grants is $25,000
3. Notable projects to put things in perspective (established teams working on a multi-year timeline):
4. Uniswap (ESP): $50,000+120ETH in 2018 (about $120,000)
5. Ethereum on ARM (ESP): $20,000
6. Turbo-Geth (ESP): $25,000
7. V3 python wrapper (UGP): $20,000
8. Web3API — “UNI.js SDK” (UGP): $16,250
9. WalletConnect (Gitcoin): $124,565

With regards to success rate of applicants for the Uniswap Grant Program (UGP) (information as of 27 January 2022):

1. Applications for wave 5: 84
2. Rejected in 7 Days: 45 (54%)
3. Pending: 17 (20%)
4. Interview stages: 20 (24%)
5. Projected approve: 2 (2%)

As can be seen from these statistics:

• Limit of $100,000 for established teams working on a multi-year timeline and some notable projects exceeding a little more, but have brought a lot of value to the ecosystem.
• Very low success rate for grant applications
• Entire timeline for application being approved is long

For the new and improved guidelines, there are a few main areas of focus. Apart from greater transparency and accountability, the guidelines focus on:

1. How the project will benefit the FunctionX ecosystem
2. Who the team members are and whether they will be able to execute on their proposal and be able to deliver based on their track record and technical expertise
3. The current development status of the project. Projects that have already developed something instead of having just a proof of concept would have a higher chance of success
4. Milestone tracker for funds disbursement and also to track the progress of the project’s development.

The first successful grant applicant (Kronos Research) has been added to the table of grant applicants where the community can track the progress of the deliverables.

We hope that the improved EGF grant process can bring clarity and improve the success rate that allows outstanding developers / builders / partners to grow the Function X ecosystem in a more transparent way.