NEARIANS | Quadratic Funding Round - May 2024 Request

NEAR Digital Collective HoM direct requests
1

Overview

The following is a proposal for a direct funding request to NDC to fund a quadratic funding round (directly in contract) for May to support NEARIAN, people in NEAR that are undercompensated in the ecosystem, that are a high value add into pushing the ecosystem forward.

Objectives

  • Drive external capital outside of NEAR Foundation & NDC to stars in the NEAR ecosystem
  • Rewards individuals in the NEAR ecosystem for pushing NEAR forward and set a precedent for NEAR Evangelists
  • Pilot first quadratic funding round for individuals not just projects that help people sustain their incomes
  • Build success stories for highlighting faces of NEAR and build a more positive culture
  • SIgn up more humans and improve sybil resistance

Why?

There is no way for individuals to simply request funds for contributing to the entire ecosystem. Some people don’t attach themselves to just 1 project but believe in the whole ecosystem. Currently all quadratic funding rounds are for projects, this will be the first round tailored to individuals. Ultimately people are what makes this ecosystem great. A lot of times people associated with projects aren’t necessarily taking funds for a project and using it for a runway for their projects. We want to reward people in the ecosystem who have been around for years and highlight more sustainable opportunities in the ecosystem. These people are more likely to recirculate in the ecosystem. This circular economy of giving will build a culture about being an ecosystem and individual evangelists for public goods funding

Who

While the Potlock team and Plug will be helping facilitate and train Chefs. This will primarily be run by Marcus from NEAR Foundation as the Chef and Blaze from NDC as Admin. This is to have relatively ecosystem driven and neutral parties filter applications and alignment with pushing marketing. Potluck team will not have access to changing the pot. An additional idea proposed was to have a DAO around this which can be added for approvals later.

Additionally will be rallying the ecosystem to also contribute to the pool who want to support leading up until then.

About Potlock

Potlock is an open source protocol built on #BOS, that is the go to public goods funding platform on NEAR. Already showing marketing initiatives and $30,000 through donations and $200K+ in rounds with 140 projects onboard. AS an open source tool Potlock is continuously building.

Round Details

Applications: Open now

Announcement when NDC confirms

Matching Round Open from Monday May 13 - Sunday June 2nd (3 weeks)

Short list

Examples of NEARIANS that should be appreciated. Examples of people in the ecosystem that put their heart out into the ecosystem more than they are expected. This list is just a recommendation, NEARIANS are still expected to apply and elligible participants are not limited to these examples.

Person Justification
Joe from Sharddog Hasn’t raised for community work done for shard dog
Jared from Shardog Hasn’t raised yet, support communtieis with countless amount of drops.
AVB from Wild User Interviews Not supported for podcast
James Waugh Working with builders to make things happen
Kent from NEAR Vietnam Super active in the ecosystem
Mario from Orderly Constantly working in ecosystem with things like Shitzu and Protocol Pawns and BOS development.
Aescobar Involved in helping entire ecosystem
Rhyme Taylor Artist on NEAR support meme ecosystem
AGT Community member especially supporting in Shitzu ecosystem
Edward Open Web Academy has been putting work in for a while
Yuen Key to NDC ops.
Elliot from Everything.dev Works with builders and highly undercompensated
Didier from Pikespeak Lean founder
Starpaus OG in NFT and DAO space
Jeff Gold Supported ecosystem for years, NEAR Hub, Tomago
Krik Supporting NFT ecosystem
Wax Constantly supported for community for years
Odin Constantly supporting NEAR ecosystem for years, especially NFT ecosystem
Devbose Bootstrapped founder
Oddgems KOL and proponent of NEAR
Trophy David Writing threads in ecosystem
Naveen from NEAR NFT Supported NFT ecosystem and source and onboarded alot of talent also for Potlock
Naomi Writing on NEAR and NEAR Chan community
Nathan True NEAR ecosystem advocate and membassador now with $BEAN
Monza Carried NEAR culture on back with NEAR at Night
Dleer Co-Founder of Trove Labs, also carried NEAR Ecosystem on Back
Brandomando Co-Founder of Trove Labs, carried meme ecosystem on Back
Elliot aka Dacha One of few people who put in alot of extra effort to make NDC happen and also kept Aurora ecosystem moving
Chloe Founder of MarmaJ, OG onboarded alot of contributors to NEAR Ecosystem.
Zeitwarp Multi-disciplinary artist on NEAR
Kiskesis One of few trying to make NDC happen and stood up NEAR Ukraine hub

Applicants Requirements

  • Has been in the ecosystem for over a year and relatively active
  • Primarily spends most of his/her time in the NEAR ecosystem as opposed to alternative blockchain.
  • Substantially support the ecosystem and for free at many points
  • Not currently employee of NEAR Foundation or doesn’t have a consistent full time job subsidized by the ecosystem, yet still active in ecosystem
  • If he/she has a full time job in the ecosystem, clearly goes above and beyond the workload and is deeply engaged in ecosystem activities.
  • If applicants don’t want funding they can allocate towards their favorite projects (please be explicitly in a tweet/near social post or bio)

Funding Ask

  • $20,000 worth of NEAR (price locked on approval of proposal)

KPIs

  • 300 unique donations

  • 100,000 impressions regarding the round

  • 10 coverage pieces and content about the round

Resources

Payout Wallet

Directly into contract from NDC account via platform (nearian.v1.potfactory.potlock.near) → will be deployed at Potlock for instructions on how to sponsor PotLock

18 Likes
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I fully support this proposal and look forward to rewarding contributors who work daily to support the ecosystem. Other notable mentions are @Tarnadas and @zeitwarp. The OG Fast Track Grant was proposed to help with this. Hope HoM sees the value.

6 Likes
3

And how will these decisions be made on the back end?

Is there a plan for a DAO to be spun up so that all of these decisions are open and transparent?

Also, I’d rather see 3+ people on this decision making body instead of 2, seems more efficient incase there is some dispute over a decision to be made.

If this funding round goes well, I could envision a future where the NDC is sponsoring 75k/month for quad funding for the community (max amount for direct funding without additional VB approval). Personally it seems like an efficient way to excite and empower the community. It also helps explore sybil resistance mechanisms and allow for near based quad funding research to be conducted. For this to be implemented efficiently, I feel as though a longer term plan/roadmap would be required eventually.

I understand this is a first attempt at this, and I love the vision/direction. Would just like to see more attention to the potential issues that arise from a project like this. From what I understand, one of the major issues with gitcoin has been sybil resistance as well as admin duties for grants (verifying + taking down scams). As the project scales, it seems unreasonable that 2 members would be able to handle this. Even for the entire near community, does potlock have a system in place for managing removals in an open way? (Not that the decision has to be decentralized, but that the decisions are transparent and public)

6 Likes
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Well…this sounds like a great way to show support and acknowledgement to committed long-term Nearians who fall through the gaps in provision & or funding elsewhere for whichever reason…(personal choice, unattached, non-community, unemployable individualists, etc)

But then I would say that given that I would probably be the typical profile that would benefit from such a proposal - thanks @blaze for the nomination :pray:

So…in which case…I guess I’m just going to have to recuse myself on this one.

(oh that’s right…I don’t have to - you don’t have to recuse yourself if you haven’t got a position in the first place ! :upside_down_face: :slightly_smiling_face:)

Think About It GIF by Identity

6 Likes
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Thnx for the shout-out Blaze :+1:

4 Likes
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all sensible observations / suggestions

assume that there will be a lot more detail to follow :+1:

5 Likes
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names are just reccomendations @chloe and adding your feedback

6 Likes
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I fully support this proposal and have voted to approve. However, in an effort to remove the potential of creating a conflict of interest, I respectfully decline the potential to personally receive any funding that may result from this initiative.

5 Likes
9

I fully support this proposal, it’s a way to get projects funded through the ecosystem by the ecosystem :clap:t5: :clap:t5: :clap:t5:

1 Like
10

Honored to be on the list here! I don’t mind the OG label since it sounds cool, but the direct value I’ve provided over the last few years is being the guy that projects get referred to for hand holding whenever a NFT or DAO are mentioned :sweat_smile: I love being in people’s thoughts but since I left NF ~2 years ago my time spent consulting with projects and onboarding them to the ecosystem hasn’t been compensated.

I hope that doesn’t sound bitter, I keep contributing because I love to :heart_hands: and I’m grateful that potlock is around to shine the spotlight on overlooked parts of the ecosystem through these funding rounds. It’s a nice balance of human driven intent and digital efficiency.

3 Likes
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Just have to add that Jordan has been here walking the walk as long as I can remember…and before.

They’re exactly who should be supported to go out and do “good sh*t for the benefit of the ecosystem”

There was once a (made up / contrived) position in the UK govt called “minister without portfolio”…well that’s exactly what Jordan should be

Perfect example of what this could become :+1:

4 Likes
12

I really like the idea of ​​supporting OG.

  1. However, many OGs already have large salaries in the ecosystem.

  2. Many OGs were not added to the list, regardless of all their services to the ecosystem.

7 Likes
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Yeah, this again is just a recommendation. I just added people I thought aren’t getting paid enough or dont have consistent work. And I don’t know all the OGs, this is not the final list this is examples. I will not be running this round and agree with @chloe there should be a committee fro this.

6 Likes
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LFG :fire:

Wishing you the best :smiling_face_with_three_hearts: @Devbose @trophy
Congratulations :tada: you made to the list!
You all deserve it :white_check_mark:

3 Likes
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Made a typo, really meant in May

Matching Round Open from Monday May 13 - Sunday June 2nd (3 weeks)

and extended to 3 weeks, as from conducting rounds this is the preference for adequate campaign

6 Likes
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We have yet to be sybilled and have an internal data team looking at this. We can also dynamically adjust weights and have challenges on chain to contest this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkeoEl200Vc&list=PLJxhkGinB9L8W7wDdO712mYlDpgdlvwr9&index=7

4 Likes