Following up with an updated proposal with a shorter scope of work after chatting with @meglister @Viriya @Sov and Ben West. Let me know if I can share any other info for now.
Summary (TL:DR):
The goal of this project is to do a review of and to produce a report on grant programs and their impact. The data collection and analysis will seek to capture information on the desired impact of grant programs, the way that impact is measured, the nature of operations of the grant program, and the mechanisms available to those structuring grant programs. The final output of this project will be a report that will be publicly available
Abstract:
This project would entail: selecting a list of around 10 grants programs, conducting interviews and running surveys with those who both structured/ran the programs or applied for/received grants from them. Gitcoin will definitely be included in the analysis while the other programs are TBD (potential programs to explore include: Ethereum Foundation, Aave, Uniswap, Web3 Foundation, NSF, Gates Foundation, Knight Foundation, and Experiment Foundation, amongst others).
Questions to explore and compare will include: desired impact of the grants program, how impact is measured, volume of grants (quantity, funds), team size, review process, number of reviewers, post issuance process, general operations structure, focus of grants, as well as the user experience of applying for and receiving the grants. It is important to explore the journey of users as part of this research to better understand the perceived desire and impact from the perspective of those applying for grants.
In order to gain the right level of insight, a series of surveys and interviews will be conducted with at least ~20 or so individuals. These interviews will explore how the grant programs were created, structured, managed, and what kind of impact they have had, or will focus on the user journey of applying for grants.
Budget & Milestones:
The requested budget for this report is $17,500 over 10 weeks, which will cover costs relating to:
- Conducting ~20 interviews pertaining to grant programs
- Conducting 8-10 interviews with Gitcoin stakeholders
- Research, data collection, and analysis of data from grant programs in web2 and web3
- Producing a report with the results
- Marketing the results of the report, including presenting at a conference in mid-to-late 2023
Milestones include:
- Overview of programs explored - week 3
- Interviews and surveys captured - week 6
- Report produced - week 10