The Gitcoin Grants Program champions the development of Open-Source Software (OSS) across the wider Web3 ecosystem.

Our eligibility criteria aims to ensure that all participating grantees adhere to the highest standards of ethical conduct, community values, and the ethos of OSS. This framework is designed to nurture innovation and facilitate meaningful contributions to the open-source community.

The eligibility criteria for the upcoming GG20 are as follows:

Ethical and Community Standards

• No Hateful Content: We firmly stand against discrimination and hate speech.
• Deceiving Users: Prohibited is any content that could harm users or lead to unintended consequences.
• Falsification: Attempts to falsify contributions, including Sybil attacks or other manipulative practices, are strictly banned.
• Fraud & Impersonation: Projects must accurately represent their affiliation and intentions to maintain transparency and trust.
• No Quid Pro Quo & Bribery: Incentives in exchange for donations are disallowed, maintaining the integrity of the contribution process.
• Advertising Restrictions: Utilizing grants for direct promotional activities or sales is prohibited.
• Funding Caps: Projects with significant external funding may be reconsidered to ensure equitable distribution of resources.
• Legal Compliance: Mandatory is the adherence to all applicable laws and regulations for participation.

Open-Source Principles and Project Activity

• Licensing Requirement: Projects must be fully open source, offering “source available” for anyone to fork, modify, and redistribute, embodying the essence of open-source collaboration.
• Activity Metrics: Demonstrated established and ongoing development activity as evidenced by GitHub commit history.

This eligibility framework is devised to ensure that the projects we support are aligned with the foundational values of the Gitcoin Grants Program and actively contribute to the growth and integrity of the OSS ecosystem. Projects that violate these guidelines will face disqualification from consideration, underscoring our dedication to maintaining the highest standards of ethical conduct and community engagement.

Projects fulfilling the licensing requirements and displaying sufficient activity metrics will be directly approved. Those partially meeting these standards will be subject to a manual review process, while projects failing to satisfy any of the criteria will be deemed ineligible.

OSS Rounds

When applications open, the program will feature four rounds within Grants Stack. Each round will feature eligibility requirements tailored to that segment’s unique objectives and needs. These include the following:

• Hackathon Alumni