TL:DR - Gitcoin is winding down its Grants Stack technology and the Grants Lab business unit as of end of May 2025.
Today I share a difficult update: we’ve decided to wind down the Grants Labs business unit at Gitcoin. This was not a move we ever wanted to make, but it’s one we feel is necessary given our current reality. In short, Grants Labs’ expenses have been exceeding its revenue for some time, the market is in a tough spot, and we need to refocus on Gitcoin’s core mission – namely, the Gitcoin Grants Program and Funding What Matters.
While the Gitcoin ecosystem continues to thrive through Gitcoin Passport (now part of human.tech), the Gitcoin Grants Program, KERNEL, Public Works, and Allo Capital, the financial overhead of Grants Lab has outpaced its financial runway in the current environment).
Why We’re Winding Down Grants Labs
In early 2024, we set out clearly that Gitcoin equals Grants. Grants Labs emerged as our ambitious effort to bring together our grant technologies, leading to successful spin-outs like Passport and Allo.Capital, which are now thriving independently. But while our technology found traction with a long-term goal of “$1 Billion in funds distributed through Allo”​, the unit itself hasn’t been financially sustainable. Expenses have significantly outpaced revenue, and with the ongoing challenging market conditions, we’ve reached a point where tough decisions must be made.
Grants Labs was our bet on accelerating growth and innovation in how communities fund public goods. The team’s mission was to "empower anyone in the EVM ecosystem to create, manage, and grow successful grants programs"​, bringing all our grants technology together to streamline efforts and spark network effects across the ecosystem​. Today that offering has transformed many programs and we’re grateful for the work alongside our partners to make their rounds a reality.
That vision hasn’t changed – we still believe in it. What has changed is the economic context we’re operating in. Simply put, Gitcoin as a whole is currently generating on the order of ~$1M/year in revenue, but Gitcoin is spending around ~$3M/year​. Grants Labs was a significant part of that burn. We always knew we’d need to either greatly increase revenue or decrease costs to survive long-term​ and with the ongoing bear market (GTC and broader crypto downturn), revenue growth has been an uphill battle. In these conditions, continuing to fund a business unit that isn’t yet self-sustaining would jeopardize Gitcoin’s overall runway. As much as it hurts, we have to prioritize sustainability. This means focusing on our proven core (the Gitcoin Grants Program) and trimming efforts that haven’t yet paid for themselves.
This decision was not taken lightly. It comes after many discussions, soul-searching, and number-crunching. We considered the current and future market conditions, our duty to Gitcoin’s treasury stewards, and our community responsibility.
What This Means Immediately:
- We’re actively engaging with partners to manage the transition, including returning grants funds where appropriate.
- Select ongoing builds will be evaluated for potential handoff to trusted partners, supporting the continued success of the Gitcoin Grants program and Gitcoin’s legacy of funding OSS and public goods.
To those who’ve been part of Grants Labs—thank you. You’ve genuinely made Gitcoin better. Your hard work in building Grants Stack, evolving the Allo protocol, and running rounds has deeply impacted our community and ecosystem.
I promise that, as your still-very-interim Executive Director, I’ll oversee this transition carefully, ensuring our contributors and partners have clear support.
Now, we’re returning to our roots: the Gitcoin Grants Program. GG24 is right around the corner, and we’re set on making it a standout—innovative, participatory, and aligned with Ethereum’s core values. Expect to see continued focus on enhancing GTC utility, driving active community involvement, and pioneering new methods of capital allocation.
Change is hard, but Gitcoin was born out of resilience and community spirit. We’ve weathered challenges before, and we’ll navigate this one too. Thank you, as always, for your unwavering support, feedback, and occasional (sometimes warranted) forum trolling.
A Difficult Decision and Taking Accountability
As the (interim) Executive Director, I want to personally acknowledge how hard this is. Decisions that affect people’s jobs and our community’s direction weigh heavily on me. Many of us have been working towards the Grants Labs vision for the past few years, and it’s painful to step back from it. I want to openly take accountability for this outcome. If you’re feeling frustrated or disappointed, I hear you and I share those feelings - my door is always open.
I also have to be accountable to Gitcoin’s long-term health. We could have tried to “just keep going” and hope the market turns, but that would be gambling with the future of the entire organization and Gitcoin’s legacy. I’m not willing to risk everything we’ve built at Gitcoin. Our mission matters too much. In the “Gitcoin Entering the End Game” post earlier last year, Kyle W put it bluntly: "Gitcoin needs to focus on what works and get to sustainability, or we won’t be around to fund public goods in the future"​. I take that to heart. Sometimes leadership means making the crappy call now so that we’re in a position to thrive later.
To the community and the Grants Labs team: I’m sorry we couldn’t make Grants Labs work the way we hoped. This isn’t the outcome we wanted. But I promise that we considered every alternative and exhausted many options before arriving here. Ultimately, this path gives Gitcoin the best chance to regroup and come back stronger. I won’t dress it up as anything other than what it is – it’s a tough cut, but one we believe is necessary for the survival and success of Gitcoin.
Celebrating What We Built
While the decision to wind down Grants Labs is undeniably difficult, it’s also bittersweet — because we’re ending on a high note. We set out with bold goals, and in many ways, we achieved exactly what we hoped to. Grants Labs has never had as much traction, and by sunsetting the business we have to unfortunately say no to a few leading ecosystems who are interested in partnering with us.
Over the last 12 months, we’ve:
- Transformed Gitcoin’s brand into a recognized leader in grants innovation, partnering with some of the largest and most forward-thinking ecosystems in Web3. Events like Schelling Point showcased that leadership by bringing together top communities across the ecosystem to discuss the future of public goods funding.
- Expanded our technical capabilities beyond Quadratic Funding. This past year alone, we deployed nine distinct funding mechanisms through Gitcoin, pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in decentralized grantmaking.
- Built trust and credibility with major ecosystems like Optimism, Base, Polygon, Filecoin, and others. We supported programs both within the EVM ecosystem and beyond, earning interest from networks looking to scale their impact through tailored, value-aligned grant infrastructure.
- Delivered real value to our partners, helping them build stronger ecosystems through thoughtful incentive design and powerful tooling. We proved that Gitcoin can help communities unlock meaningful outcomes through customized funding strategies that match their unique needs.
Despite these achievements, the economics of sustaining this level of support and innovation proved too challenging in the current climate. The path to sustainability for Grants Labs wasn’t materializing quickly enough, and continuing down this road would risk Gitcoin’s broader mission.
We’re incredibly proud of what we built, and we’ll carry those accomplishments — and the technology, relationships, and lessons learned — into the next chapter.
Support for Our Contributors, Partners, and Community
Our top priority now is making the transition as smooth as possible for everyone affected. For the contributors (teammates) in Grants Labs, we’re committed to treating everyone with care and respect during this wind-down. We’ve been communicating internally about next steps, and I’ll continue to support each person in whatever comes next – whether that’s opportunities elsewhere in the Gitcoin ecosystem or connecting them with other projects in the space. (We’re not detailing things like severance or support programs in this post, but please know those conversations are happening behind the scenes. The people are what matter most, and we want to do right by them.)
For our partners and users – We’re reaching out to affected partners and individuals for next steps. The winding down of the business unit doesn’t mean everything just shuts off overnight.
For the broader community, I want to reassure you: Gitcoin Grants is not going anywhere. In fact, this whole move is about doubling down on the program. It’s literally returning to core. You will still be able to donate in the upcoming rounds, projects will still be able to apply for funding, and we’re still here to fund what matters. The public goods funding mission of Gitcoin remains intact. If anything, you’ll see even more of our attention on it now. There may be some bumps as we absorb changes (for instance, slower feature development or some adjustments in tooling), but we are committed to keeping the Grants program running smoothly. I, along with the remaining Gitcoin team and community stewards, will do everything in our power to ensure continuity.
Looking Ahead: Gitcoin’s Next Chapter
Our north star has always been the Gitcoin Grants Program, which pioneered innovative funding mechanisms and has proven its impact by funding thousands of projects over multiple years. Going forward, we’ll concentrate our energy on making the Gitcoin Grants Program as impactful, innovative, and sustainable as possible.
Here’s the possibilities of the road ahead, as I see it:
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Doubling Down on Grants Program Innovation: Just because we’re winding down Grants Labs doesn’t mean innovation at Gitcoin stops. On the contrary, we will continue to evolve the grants program itself. We’ll improve our own grants rounds using those tools and lessons. Expect to see ongoing improvements in the user experience for donors and grantees. We’ll also keep experimenting with new funding mechanisms within the Grants Program – for example, exploring novel approaches to amplifying impact. We aim to ensure Gitcoin remains the gold standard for community-driven funding. We’ll have to be smart and scrappy with a leaner team, but I know we can continue to ship meaningful improvements.
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Community Participation and Decentralization: Community involvement becomes even more critical with fewer centralized resources. Gitcoin has always been a community-centric project, and now we’re going to lean into that more. I want to invite and empower more of you, the Gitcoin community, to help drive our mission. Whether that’s through governance, running Gitcoin Events, or spreading the word about funding public goods, there’s a place for you.
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Think of this next phase as Gitcoin Community Edition – an era where the DAO (that’s all of us) takes a bigger role in shaping Gitcoin’s future. We’ll work on improving our coordination tools, communication channels, and contributor pipelines so that anyone who cares about Gitcoin’s mission can pitch in. Gitcoin started as a community of builders and funders long before a formal org chart existed.
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GTC Utility and Governance: I know many of you are wondering about $GTC (our governance token) and how this fits into the picture. Grants Labs was tasked with exploring increased GTC utility this quarter, and that remains a priority—even if the team structure changes. I welcome ideas on this front. Whether it’s figuring out ways to use GTC in the grants rounds or broader tokenomics improvements, let’s collaborate on it.
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Renewed Focus on Ethereum and Public Goods Impact: By slimming down to our essence, we’re positioning Gitcoin to have a broader impact on Ethereum and web3 in the long run. Gitcoin’s mission is to fund what matters – to be a driver of growth and sustainability for the open-source and decentralized ecosystem. That mission is unchanged. We firmly believe (and have always believed) that grants programs are a key component for the success of Ethereum and the communities built within it.
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The Ethereum community needs effective funding mechanisms for its public goods, now more than ever. Focusing on our core grants program ensures that Gitcoin remains the go-to platform for public goods funding, aligned with Ethereum’s values. We’ll continue collaborating with Ethereum foundation folks, ecosystem projects, and other public goods initiatives to amplify our combined impact. Just because we’re winding down one business unit doesn’t mean we’re pulling back from the ecosystem – in fact, we want to integrate even more with other efforts.
Gitcoin Leadership
I also want to address my role and Gitcoin’s leadership moving forward. As many of you know, I stepped into the Executive Director role on an interim basis back in 2024. In the original announcement of that transition, it was noted that I’d serve as interim ED “until such time a token vote can ratify the new Exec Director”​. Well, several months have passed and technically I am still interim. Formalizing the ratification structure hasn’t moved as swiftly as planned due to capacity of myself and the team.
I want to reiterate and affirm: I serve at the community’s pleasure. If the community feels it’s time to hold a ratification vote on my role, I wholeheartedly welcome that. If there is someone else that the community believes would be better suited to lead Gitcoin into this next chapter, I am more than happy to facilitate a smooth transition. I took this torch because I care deeply about Gitcoin’s mission and felt I could help steer the ship through stormy waters. That mission and the community come first, always.
I remain fully committed to leading Gitcoin through this transition period and setting us up for success. But I invite everyone to give feedback on my performance, on the leadership needs of Gitcoin, and on any candidates or processes we should consider. Whether I continue in this role or am voted to pass the torch to another, I’ll be here to support the mission in whatever capacity makes sense.
Closing Thoughts
I appreciate your patience in this lengthy update. To wrap up: We’re sunsetting Grants Labs at the end of May 2025 - the current technology stack will not be maintained and we’ll be working over the next few weeks to preserve all data. We’ll also carry forward the lessons and technology from Grants Labs in service of our core mission.
I’m sure you have questions, concerns, and ideas. I invite all of you to share your thoughts in this thread. If you think we got something wrong, want clarity on next steps, or have suggestions to make the best of this transition - book time with me here.
I truly believe in Gitcoin and in all of you who power it. Through every challenge in our history, the Gitcoin community has shown up with resilience, creativity, and mutual support. I have no doubt we will navigate this challenge the same way. 
