Gitcoin d/acc 2026 Funding Initiative: Restructuring the Grants Program
Author: Mathilda DV.eth Status: Draft for Community Feedback Date: Q1 2026
Thank you to a number of community members who have given valuable feedback on the program, which directly influenced this renewed strategy.
TL;DR
This proposal recommends a structural overhaul of Gitcoin’s grants program. Not an iteration, but a deliberate rebirth. The core change: sunset Gitcoin Grants in its current form – large rounds run 1–2x per year – and replace it with a single, yearlong campaign focused on one domain, made up of targeted monthly campaigns at the subdomain level.
Why Now
With the ecosystem’s landscape changing rapidly, and our shift into the Gitcoin 3.0 era, we believe that it’s time to honour our history and how far we have come with our program to date. But it’s time to adapt and change. In order for us to make an impact and help define the focus in a more valuable manner, we have to be prepared for change.
Continuing as a generalist grants program is not a neutral choice. It can be a drift toward irrelevance.
What We’re Proposing
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Sunset Gitcoin Grants naming deliberately. This is not quiet abandonment. Q1 2026 includes a formal narrative separation announcement, a clear communication of the “why,” and an aggressive launch of the new program, with May as our target go live.
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2026 domain focus as d/acc. We believe this is the current meta within the Ethereum ecosystem, and are focusing our efforts in 2026 to fund various verticals within this domain.
The above map is an evolution to our sensemaking process.
The map organizes the d/acc landscape into core subdomains, surfacing where builder activity is clustered and signaling where funding gaps may be most acute. It’s a living document, meant to be updated as the d/acc domain evolves, and serves as the sensemaking layer beneath the proposed 2026 Funding Initiative structure: each monthly campaign targets a subdomain identified here as both underfunded and high-opportunity – the intersection where Gitcoin’s capital can have the most leverage.
- Launch a flagship annual program with focused campaigns. Structure:
- One umbrella program per year (e.g., D/ACC Funding Program 2026)
- 3–5 campaigns (formerly “rounds”) within that domain, each targeting a specific subproblem
- Curated entry, explicit evaluation criteria, milestone-based disbursement, required outcome reporting
- Work with partners to co-design, co-fund and co-run each campaign
- Include an accelerator-style structure alongside each campaign that can nurture, support and produce dealflow back into Gitcoin
- Fund it with yield and coalitional funding, instead of drawing down the matching pool.
- Get upside in the things that we fund, not just give $$$ away.
Capital & Governance
The new model cannot rely solely on community matching. The capital stack should include coalitional partners, with us aiming for at least a 1:1 ratio of funding per campaign.
Governance options under consideration: an internal selection committee, a domain expert council with Trust Graph structure, or a hybrid DAO vote + expert filter. Each has tradeoffs in legitimacy, speed, and signal value. Community input on this is welcome.
d/acc Campaign Strawmap
The below is an example of what the campaigns may look like through the remainder of this year.
Alongside each campaign, we are planning activities that will balance and complement by the ways of accelerator-style programs. With each campaign being smaller than what we’ve run before, it will allow us to bookend each campaign more effectively and outline the strategies that will inform further impact evaluation and results.
Iterating on:
- Intro of convertible notes to the funding mix
- Define project types w/i sub domain that align w/ d/acc principals
- 1-3 month to realize different campaign ideas
2026 OKRs (High Level)
- Establish domain leadership: raise matching capital, secure institutional co-funders, attract high-quality builders
- Increase capital efficiency: improve $ impact per $ deployed, reduce grant churn, track milestone completion
- DPI - how much $$$ can we return to tokenholders/LPs?
- Complete narrative repositioning: retire GG references across all channels by Q2, publish domain-specific thought leadership, secure strategic partnerships
What We’re Asking From the Community
- Feedback on the strategic direction: do you agree it’s time to restructure the program this way?
- Input on d/acc vertical selection: which categories within d/acc do you believe is most underfunded and highest-leverage for Gitcoin to own?
Final Thoughts
The alternative is deliberate reinvention: one tightly scoped domain, one clear capital thesis, one measurable outcome framework, multiple focused campaigns, and a governance model built for accountability.
Not evolution. Rebirth.
Feedback welcome!