How to Apply to the ENF Grant Framework

Author

EOS Network Foundation

Date

Jan 5, 2023

Which projects can apply for direct grants?

There are three types of grants that the ENF considers.

New Proposal: These projects are initiated by community members and range from core chain enhancements, SDKs, tools, and applications.

Maintenance Grant: Maintenance grants are also initiated by the community to bring back support for a library, SDK or tool that has fallen out of maintenance.

RFP Response: From time to time, the ENF will propose a work request to the community in the form of an RFP. All community members, teams and companies are welcome to apply to the RFP.

In all cases, all projects must meet the following minimum requirements.

All code produced as part of a grant must be open-sourced, and it must also not rely on closed-source software for full functionality.

MIT Projects given priority, but Apache 2.0, GPLv3, or Unlicense are also acceptable.

Grants are not awarded for projects that have been the object of a successful token sale.

Grant deliverables must contribute to the EOS network first and foremost.

As a general rule, teams are asked to finish a grant before applying for another one.

Projects that actively encourage gambling, illicit trade, money laundering or criminal activities will be rejected.

All projects are required to create documentation that explains how their project works.

At a minimum, written documentation is required for funding.

How large of a grant can you receive?

Grant proposals are accepted in three levels, each having different amounts and acceptance criteria. Each level of grant comes with different requirements and benefits based on the size and scope of the initiative:

Individual / Small — $10,000
Team / Medium — Up to $50,000
Company / Large — Over $50,000

How to submit your grant application

The application process is completed through Github. You will need to fork the repository, change one of the forms, and submit it via a Pull Request as outlined in the steps below:

1. Sign in to GitHub：https://github.com/eosnetworkfoundation/grant-framework

2. Fork this repository：https://github.com/eosnetworkfoundation/grant-framework/fork

3. In your fork, create a copy of the Grant Application template (applications/application-template.md).

If you’re using the GitHub web interface, you will need to create a new file and copy the contents of the template inside the new one. Please make sure you do not modify the template file directly.

Name the new file after your project: myproject_name.md. Make sure to put it in the applications directory. Make sure your filename does not have any spaces in it and ends with the .md extension.

Within the GitHub Web interface navigate to: grant-framework—applications

Within this area of the GitHub web interface select: Create new file

Click the ”Copy new contents” in the Update application-template.md

Rename the new file with the correct format and copy the contents of the template inside the new one.

4. Fill out the new file with the details of your project.

Basic Information
Contact
Project Overview and Ecosystem Fit
Team
Development Status
Development Roadmap and Milestones
Future plans

The more information you provide, the faster the review. To get an idea of what a strong application looks like, you can have a look at the following examples: 1, 2.

5. Submit your grant application: When you fill out all the details of your project, create a Pull Request. Please note, the Pull Request should only contain one new file—the Markdown file you created from the template. Then, read through the page prompts and submit your application. When your application is complete, the ENF Committee or Evaluators will contact you for next steps.

What is the approval process?

1. Your grant application will first be reviewed by the Grant Committee.

The Grant Committee are senior members of the EOS community that know the priorities of the ecosystem and can make required initial funding decisions based upon the guidelines of the grant program. This committee is more business focused than technically focused, but they understand the technical nature of the desired future for the network.

Yves La Rose — CEO of ENF
Aaron Cox — Founder of Greymass
Dafeng Guo — Founder of EOS Asia and Strikingly
Fu Pan — Founder and CEO of TokenPocket
Peter Watt — Newdex Project Leader
Van Kai — Iconic Founder and Leader of the EOS Cannon Community
Wen Huaqiang — Veteran Developer and Initiator of CryptoKylin
Damian Byeon — Founder of WYNG, Former CCO of ITAM Games, and Founder of AcroEOS

The Grant Committee members will vote on whether the grant application is approved.

2. Once the Grant Committee has agreed that the application meets the needs of the EOS Network Community, it will be shared with the Grant Evaluators for technical evaluation.

The Grant Evaluators review applications approved by the Grant Committee for technical merit and achievability. They are more technical in nature and concerned with whether the proposal solves the problem optimally, is realizable in the specified time frame, and utilizes proper processes as required for the milestone achievement metrics.

Areg Hayrapetian — Director of Engineering at EOS Network Foundation
Matt Witherspoon — Principal Engineer at EOS Network Foundation
Bart Wyatt — CTO at EOS Network Foundation
Denis Carriere — CTO of EOS Nation

If both approved by the Grant Committee and the Grant Evaluators, your grant application is successful.

If rejected, the ENF Grant Framework staff will contact you with reasons as to why it did not meet the criteria. Then, you can modify and submit the grant application again.

About the Milestone Based Pay-out System

It is important to note that after the grant application is approved, the evaluator will monitor the project again to ensure that it is on a high-quality track by the deliverable milestone. In this way, evaluators have the right to pass or reject each deliverable milestone.

Payments are made in EOS at the time of milestone signoff, up to and including the final deliverable milestone. In other words, if a specific deliverable milestone is approved by the evaluator, you will successfully receive the grant for that stage. If rejected, the grant for that stage won’t be received.

Rejected milestones will be fed back to the developers for remediation, and then progress can continue again to receive payment or eventually stop the project.

The Framework For A Stronger Future

Supported by an all-star cast of EOS community members, business leaders, and developers, the EOS Network Foundation (ENF) launched a major new pillar of support for the EOS ecosystem, the EOS Network Foundation Grant Framework.

With access to an efficient, transparent, flexible and milestone-driven grant investment framework, the EOS Network will enter a new era of development opportunity previously unavailable to network participants.

EOS Network

The EOS Network is a 3rd generation blockchain platform powered by the EOS VM, a low-latency, highly performant, and extensible WebAssembly engine for deterministic execution of near feeless transactions; purpose-built for enabling optimal Web3 user and developer experiences. EOS is the flagship blockchain and financial center of the Antelope framework, serving as the driving force behind multi-chain collaboration and public goods funding for tools and infrastructure through the EOS Network Foundation (ENF).

EOS Network Foundation

The EOS Network Foundation (ENF) was forged through a vision for a prosperous and decentralized future. Through our key stakeholder engagement, community programs, ecosystem funding, and support of an open technology ecosystem, the ENF is transforming Web3. Founded in 2021, the ENF is the hub for EOS Network, a leading open source platform with a suite of stable frameworks, tools, and libraries for blockchain deployments. Together, we are bringing innovations that our community builds and are committed to a stronger future for all.