Empowering Decentralized Science and Art in Psychedelics: Summer 2024
Our Summer 2024 grant round aimed to support and cultivate decentralized science and artistic projects related to psychedelics. Partnering with Gitcoin’s Community Funding round, we created a space where research and creativity could come together, fostering innovation and community growth in the field of psychedelics.
Objectives
Funding Decentralized Science:
We focused on supporting qualitative studies and research efforts that dive deep into the science of psychedelics, exploring areas such as therapy, history, cultural practices, and spirituality. These studies aim to provide insights that can guide future projects and inform public policy.
Supporting Artistic Creations:
We wanted to empower artists whose work is inspired by psychedelic research and experiences. By offering financial backing and a supportive community, we aimed to bring to life unique and impactful artworks that reflect the richness and diversity of psychedelic experiences.
Grant Round Overview
• Total donations: $3,812.44
• Number of contributions: 33
• Participating projects: 8
• Average grant size: $3,750
This was our first time organizing a grant round, and while we faced a steep learning curve, we successfully funded eight exceptional projects aligned with our goals. We used the Quadratic Funding model, with management handled by a team of three board members from the Psychedelic Puppet Show Non-Profit.
Challenges and Solutions
• Alignment with Objectives:
To ensure the projects we funded met our goals, we established clear eligibility criteria. This allowed us to find and support eight outstanding projects that aligned with our mission.
• Round Setup and Problem-Solving:
The quick turnaround from our acceptance notification to the round’s launch was challenging, and we made several avoidable mistakes due to time constraints. While we identified many of these issues, getting timely responses from Gitcoin was difficult. For future rounds, we’ve secured a more direct line of communication with Gitcoin’s support team to ensure smoother operations.
• Building Community:
While Gitcoin and other operators primarily use Twitter/X for engagement, our community’s primary platform is Instagram. Although this limited our reach during the round, we did hold a successful Twitter Space and plan to increase our presence on Twitter/X moving forward.
Lessons Learned and Improvements
• Learning from Mistakes:
We’ve learned a lot from this first round and feel confident that we won’t repeat the same challenges in future rounds.
• Stronger Support from Gitcoin:
We will ensure quicker and more effective collaboration with Gitcoin when addressing issues during future rounds.
• Expanding Community Engagement:
Although we didn’t reach as many people as we had hoped, we are refining our social media strategies to better connect with a wider audience, including strengthening our presence on Twitter/X.
• Adding Fiat Currency Donations:
Since many in our community are not part of the web3 space, we faced some limitations in gathering donations. In future rounds, we plan to offer more accessible donation options, such as PayPal.
Conclusion
This grant round was a valuable learning experience. Despite some setbacks, we ran a successful round and built strong collaborations with our grantees. The importance of our work was highlighted mid-round when the FDA denied an MDMA therapy application, making our mission to combat the stigma surrounding psychedelics even more crucial. The projects funded through this round will continue to shift narratives around psychedelics and their benefits. There’s still a lot of work to be done, but we’re excited about what lies ahead.
Next Steps
• Grow our online community
• Share content created from the funded projects
• Prepare for the Retroactive Funding Round
• Build a web3 community for a DAO launch