BioFi Pathfinders Round
The Bioregional Finance (BioFi) Pathfinders Round is a partnership between The BioFi Project, Open Civics, The Design School for Regenerating Earth, and Regen Coordi-Nation to support the most sophisticated Bioregional Organizing Teams around the world in developing, clarifying, and enhancing their BioFi vision, strategy, and capabilities. The round is aimed at advanced teams that are already practicing or actively developing their approach to Bioregional Finance (BioFi), with a focus on building Bioregional Financing Facilities (BFFs) or related approaches to bioregional funding ecosystems more broadly. This will serve as a key moment for advancing the practice of BioFi and demonstrating the potential for participatory capital allocation to drive the transition to regenerative, bioregional economies. The team behind this effort believes that BioFi can serve as a powerful lever to decentralize economic power. This round has the potential to better connect the bioregional movement and web3 community to enable the application and development of web3 technologies to serve the bioregional movement.
Social Handles
BioFi Project: @BioFiProject & LinkedIn
In addition, Regen Coordi-Nation & Open Civics, will help to lead marketing, comms and coordination support for the round and Ma Earth will help promote.
Regen Coordi-Nation: @RegenCoordinate, OpenCivics: @OpenCivics
Eligibility Criteria
Eligible grantees will be selected through a carefully curated and transparent process, where those invited by the core team will be eligible to apply. These teams will be part of an ongoing effort to stay connected beyond the round itself, engaging in learning exchanges facilitated through the BioFi Community of Practice (CoP), Design School for Regenerating Earth, Regen Coordi-Nation, and other collaborative spaces.
Chosen grantees will demonstrate:
- Coherent Bioregional Identity: Grantees must have a well-defined Bioregional Organizing Team, whether thatâs a robust network of individuals, organizations, or bioregional learning centers, or a âkeystoneâ organization that actively engages broad community participation in its vision, mission, and strategies.
- Strong Connection to Place: Grantees should demonstrate a deep, committed relationship to their bioregion, including a well-developed understanding of its geographic, geological, ecological, cultural, and multi-capital characteristics, flows, and boundaries.
- Commitment to Inclusivity: Teams must prioritize working in right relationship with Indigenous peoples, marginalized communities, and diverse local stakeholders, ensuring inclusive and participatory approaches to bioregional organizing.
- Established Financial Practices: Grantees should either:
- Already have clearly defined practices for managing financial capital to support their internal efforts and/or to fund external bioregional regeneration initiatives (such as learning centers, regenerative projects, venture studios, or key leaders and organizers), or
- Have a clear, grounded vision for how they will deploy financial capital toward bioregional regeneration, with an understanding of the challenges, needs, and support required to bring this vision to life.
- Alignment with BioFi Philosophy and BFF Objectives & Attributes: Granteesâ visions and operations should align with the broad BioFi philosophy and the 3 objectives and 12 attributes of Bioregional Financing Facilities (BFFs) (laid out in the BioFi book), focusing on long-term, place-based, and participatory approaches to resource governance and biocultural regeneration.
BFF Objectives
- Drive decentralization of financial resource governance
- Organize synergistic portfolios of projects
- Catalyze the transition to the regenerative economy
BFF Attributes
The 12 principles of Bioregional Financing Facilities (BFFs), from the 2024 book Bioregional Financing Facilities: Reimagining Finance to Regenerate our Planet
Marketing Plan, Community Size & Engagement
We will promote the BioFi Pathfinders Round through a variety of channels to ensure widespread visibility and engagement. Our efforts will focus on leveraging the existing networks of key communities and individuals involved in the round:
- Community Engagement: We will activate our networks, including the BioFi Community of Practice (CoP), ReFi DAO, Design School for Regenerating Earth, Open Civics, Regen Ecoweaving, and Ma Earth, to drive interest and participation. Samantha Power will also share the round through her personal LinkedIn account (with 15,000+ followers) and Instagram (2,000+ followers), expanding reach to her engaged audiences. The BioFi Project will also promote the round through its newsletter. Joe Brewer will also share via LinkedIn (12,000) and Twitter (13,000).
- Support from Key Partners: We will host a dedicated Twitter space via the Open Civics, Ma Earth, Regen Coordi-Nation Twitter accounts, spotlighting the round and featuring projects selected for participation. ReFi DAO will also promote the round across their channels, including their Twitter (11.1K followers) and newsletter (reaching over 4,000 subscribers). Celo Public Goods (CeloPG) will support the marketing efforts by tapping into their network within the Celo ecosystem. Regen Network will also share across their socials. Their presence on Web3 and ReFi platforms such as Telegram, Discord, and Farcaster will further amplify the campaign.
- Enhanced Accessibility: To increase the ease of participation, we plan to use ViaPrize to accept fiat donations via PayPal. This will allow us to reach and activate a broader audience, particularly those in the BioFi and environmental sectors who may find Web3-based contributions more complex.
Round History
Further sparked by tweets of encouragement from Kevin Owocki, the BioFi Pathfinders Round is a new initiative, marking the first time that Bioregional Organizing Teams will come together to receive financial support for advancing their Bioregional Finance (BioFi) strategies. While this is the inaugural round, it is designed with the intent of becoming a recurring event that nurtures the development of bioregional financial systems. BioFi projects from this round will also have the opportunity to join the Regen Coordi-Nation network to participate in their planned upcoming Retro Round, further expanding reach, collaborative potential, and funding to support the development of Bioregional Finance Facilities (BFFs).
Core Team
The BioFi Pathfinders Round is being operated by a diverse and experienced team, each brining strong respective expertise across regenerative finance, bioregionalism, web3 and community organising:
- Tyler Wakefield LinkedIn - Regenerative Culture Facilitator & Community of Practice Steward, BioFi Project. Tyler is an ecosystemic facilitator, movement builder, and community heart tender whoâs worked to bridge regenerative Web3 design efforts with the needs of âon-the-groundâ regenerative leaders, land-based projects, and bioregional initiatives.
- Samantha Power LinkedIn â Co-founder and Director, BioFi Project. Samantha is a Regenerative Economist, Futurist, and Bioregionalist. With experience working at the World Bank and in the financial sector, she co-founded the BioFi Project with an aim to create a new financial layer that decentralizes capital flows and supports place-based regenerative efforts. Samantha co-authored the book âBioregional Financing Facilities: Reimagining Finance to Regenerate Our Planet,â launching the BioFi Project and bringing BioFi to place-based communities around the world.
- Benjamin Life LinkedIn â Co-Founder of OpenCivics, 2x QF round operator, collaborative network designer and organizer.
- Monty Merlin Bryant Linktree â Founder, ReFi DAO. Board, Trusted Seed. Co-lead Celo Public Goods. Core team, Regen Coordi-Nation. His leadership has helped to build a global network of communities focused on regenerative finance and he has significant experience in operating Gitcoin rounds.
- Joe Brewer @cognitivepolicy, LinkedIn â Co-founder of the Design School for Regenerating Earth and steward of The Story of Bioregional Earth with on-the-ground expertise in the creation of bioregional funding and governance ecosystems in Barichara, Colombia.
Advisors
- Edward West LinkedIn â Co-founder and Deputy Director, BioFi Project. Edward designed the Edge Prize, a participatory grant allocation model, and his expertise in regenerative finance and ecosystem building is key to the BioFi Pathfinders Round.
- Luuk Weber LinkedIn â Founder at Kolektivo Labs and lead steward of Celo Public Goods. With over 5 years of experience in local regeneration solutions and onchain networks, Luuk brings a deep understanding of blockchain-based financial mechanisms and decentralized finance innovations.
- Scott Morris LinkedIn â Core steward at ReFi DAO. Scott is a globally recognized expert in regenerative systems design, specializing in place-based investment structures, community currencies, digital marketplaces, and participatory governance systems.
- Will Szal LinkedIn â President, Regen Foundation. Will is both a member of the Regen Foundation team and an active participant in bioregional organizing. He brings a unique perspective on bridging bioregional and Web3 ecosystems. Should his team apply for the round, he will recuse himself from providing input on their project.
- Matthew Monahan - LinkedIn â Co-instigator, Ma Earth. Co-steward, Biome Trust. Co-steward, Mongaroa Farms. Host of the Regeneration Will Be Funded Interview Series on Ma Earth. Philanthropist, technologist, systems designer
Alignment with Gitcoinâs Intents
Allo GMV
The BioFi Pathfinders Round will ensure strong participation and meet Gitcoinâs GMV requirements by leveraging the marketing reach and community strength of the many organisations involved in supporting the round. This will provide a robust foundation for attracting significant donations and expand the roundâs visibility across Web3, ReFi, and environmental communities.
To further ensure the accessibility of donations, we aim to utilize ViaPrize to accept fiat donations through PayPal. This will help attract a broader audience, including those new to the Web3 ecosystem, ensuring high engagement and a diverse donor base. We anticipate that this combination of strong networks, comprehensive outreach, and easy donation access will drive a high volume of contributions, meeting or exceeding the 20% crowdfunding requirement relative to any matching provided by Gitcoin.
Scaling and Growing the Ethereum Ecosystem
This round will serve to demonstrate Web3âs capacity to support innovative, place-based financial systems and draw attention to how decentralized finance can be used to support bioregional regeneration. This will not only expand Ethereumâs use cases but also introduce new donors and actors from traditional finance, philanthropy, and environmental spaces into the ecosystem.
Match Funding
The matching pool confirmed commitments for the BioFi Pathfinders Round is currently at $35,000, which is being secured through a multisig wallet on Celo. The funds have been raised from the following partners:
⢠$5,000 from The BioFi Project
⢠$10,000 from Ma Earth
⢠$10,000 from Celo Public Goods (CeloPG)
⢠$5,000 from Regen Foundation
⢠$5,000 from Design School for Regenerating Earth
The funds are being collected in a multisig SAFE at this address: 0x8769d1A0440E1036099c7926acbE7A0869caA056
We are actively seeking additional matching funds from other partners, with discussions underway to further increase the pool e.g. Kevin Owocki. We have a clear plan in motion for future fundraising, with ongoing efforts to bring in further support from aligned partners within the regenerative finance, environmental, and Web3 spaces.
In addition to GG22, CeloPG has pledged an extra $15,000 to be allocated towards the Regen Coordi-Nation Retro Round and opened this up for participants of the BioFi Pathfinders Round. This future round will leverage EasyRPGF, built on the Allo protocol.
We would also like to utilise ~ 5-10% of the raised matching pool to support the operations of the round, ensuring smooth execution, marketing efforts, and high-impact outcomes for all stakeholders.
Funding Mechanisms
The BioFi Pathfinders Round will primarily leverage Quadratic Funding as the core funding mechanism. This approach ensures that smaller individual contributions are amplified, allowing community-driven projects to receive more funding based on broad support rather than just large individual donations. This is critical for ensuring a participatory and decentralized allocation of resources across bioregional projects. Furthermore, to enhance sybil protection and reduce the potential impact of coordinated clusters, we will also implement Passportâs Model Based Detection and leverage Connection-Oriented Cluster Matching (COCM). These additional layers will help prevent gaming of the system by ensuring that funding flows are not overly influenced by sybil attacks or tight-knit groups, thus maintaining fairness and transparency throughout the round.
However, we are also mindful that Quadratic Funding, Passport and COCM, in their current configurations, may favour those with greater Web3 technical literacy and privilege. We recognize this challenge and are actively exploring and seeking to implement additional mechanisms and adjustments to ensure that bioregional regeneration initiativesâespecially those from marginalized and less Web3-savvy communitiesâhave equitable access to funding. This includes creating more inclusive participation pathways and possibly adjusting the matching parameters to better serve a diverse range of contributors and grantees.
Type of Projects to Fund
We aim to fund 10-20 projects that demonstrate a strong and coherent bioregional identity, whether through a network of individuals, organizations, or as a keystone organization within their bioregion. Eligible projects will be committed to enhancing their Bioregional Finance (BioFi) systems and capacities, with a clear vision toward developing or refining a Bioregional Finance Facility (BFF).
The projects we are looking to support must show:
- A deep commitment to place-based regeneration, grounded in their bioregionâs ecological, cultural, and community-based realities.
- A coherent and mature identity as a Bioregional Organizing Team â whether thatâs as a network of individuals/orgs, or as one âbackboneâ or âkeystoneâ org with allies, and are working towards the development of a BFF in a participatory and inclusive manner with their community (actively involving local stakeholders, Indigenous peoples, and marginalized communities).
- A readiness and commitment to sharing their journey and learning experiences with the broader bioregional and regenerative finance communities, fostering cross-pollination of ideas and best practices.
- Clear strategies for deploying or experimenting with bioregional financial capital, whether through investing in regeneration projects, organizing community assemblies, supporting legal or governance infrastructure, or developing storytelling and pitch materials to attract further investment.
These projects will be diverse in approach but united in their commitment to bioregional regeneration.
Impact Assessment Plan
Our approach to impact assessment for the BioFi Pathfinders Round will focus on both quantitative and qualitative self-assessment, with an emphasis on minimizing potential challenges of Web3-specific requirements for grantees at this stage. We aim to gather deep insights into how the funds distributed through the round are utilized, and what each project learns as they move towards building Bioregional Finance Facilities (BFFs).
We will work closely alongside grantees, using surveys, interviews, and other participatory post-round research to assess the impact. Our primary focus will be on the learning process, examining how effectively grantees are telling their story and progressing towards their vision. Key questions include:
- Are they clearly articulating where they are now and where they want to go?
- Who or what has influenced their vision and values?
- What resources or support do they need to move forward?
- How is their community involved, and what role do investors play?
- What participation and governance structures are in place?
- How would larger sums of money (e.g., $1M or $100M) impact their system or break it?
We will also encourage grantees to create flow diagrams or visualizations that map how the funding from this round is moving through their team or network. This will help track:
- Where funds might have stalled.
- Plans for deploying remaining funds.
- How much has directly impacted regenerative projects, community assemblies, or learning experiences on the ground.
By focusing on this âlearning out loudâ approach, we can gather meaningful insights into how the round has helped projects move toward building more sophisticated BioFi systems.
Regen Coordi-Nation Impact Integration
In addition to the above impact assessments, we will offer grantees the opportunity to voluntarily participate in the Regen Coordi-Nation impact assessment and retro program, leveraging the Common Approach framework. This system is being designed to track impact across cosmo-local networks of autonomous but interconnected local nodes, creating a flexible yet interoperable impact data standard. It is built around five core practicesâdescribing intended change, using indicators, collecting useful information, gauging performance, and communicating results. Grantees who opt into this system will be able to report on their activities, outcomes, and impact in a way that suits their local context, while also contributing to a global, interoperable layer of impact data.
Regen Coordi-Nation is working with partners like Karma GAP to integrate these impact reports into their platform using Ethereum attestations (EAS). Furthermore, the use of Hypercerts is being explored to tokenize specific impact claims. This opens the door to retroactive funding opportunities, as participating projects will be eligible for the upcoming Regen Coordi-Nation Retro Round, which will further reward impactful bioregional projects.
Shaping Regenerative Futures
The BioFi Pathfinders Round represents a pivotal moment for advancing Bioregional Finance (BioFi) and the development of Bioregional Finance Facilities (BFFs). By connecting the most advanced bioregional teams with innovative Web3 funding mechanisms, this round aims to decentralize economic power and catalyze the transition to regenerative, place-based economies. Through a combination of inclusive funding strategies, collaborative networks, and robust impact assessment & follow up, the BioFi Pathfinders Round will help lay the foundation for a new financial architecture that prioritizes people, planet, and long-term biocultural regeneration.
