Gitcoin DAO 2026 Budget Request
TL;DR
This seeks funding for DAO operations through January 2026 - December 2026, funds released in two tranches. The DAO 2026 Strategy presents an integrated approach to governance, builder engagement, and ecosystem growth, focusing on progressive decentralization and global expansion. We are requesting $1,053,469 from the treasury to execute this vision. We did not spend the reserves from the 2025 budget, therefore it will carry forward to the 2026 budget request.
Note: Grants Lab dissolved mid-2025, and in H2 of 2025 we moved into the Gitcoin 3.0 era; this request represents our evolved strategic direction.
Vision: A future where Ethereum funds its foundations and future through ecosystem coordination.
Mission: Fund What Matters.
Current State & Progress
The DAO navigated significant organizational changes throughout 2025, focusing on stability, restructuring and financial sustainability:
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Maintained and took over essential organization operations through the Grants Lab spindown mid 2025
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Sustained Gitcoin Grants builder satisfaction rate at +80%
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Achieved our first domain-led GG round with minimal resources
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Initiated governance structure experiments
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Structurally adapted to meet a more financially sustainable model moving forward
These accomplishments, while modest, provide a foundation for our more ambitious 2026 plans. Gitcoin deliberately hit the brakes in 2025. We spun down burn, shed organizational debt, and returned to a founder-stewarded, lean network.
Organizational Context
With the dissolution of Grants Lab mid-2025, and a shift towards Gitcoin 3.0 in H2 of 2025, the DAO has continued to operate on minimal resources within budget constraints, while restructuring for greater efficiency. The key changes that were made since the last budget request is as follows:
- Dissolution of Gitcoin’s business unit, Grants Lab
- A renewed focus on the Gitcoin Grants program
- A return of Kevin Owocki, leading the organization as Executive Steward
- A shift towards Gitcoin 3.0, building the infrastructure for pluralistic, domain-driven funding. The first pilot was run in GG24
- After three prior eras (PMF → QF scale → DAO/enterprise overreach), 2025 marked a reset: no organizational debt, lean core team, and strategic optionality.
Gitcoin’s next era in 2026 is organized around activating three reinforcing legs:
- Alignment
Build coalitions that align technology, capital, and human thriving (e.g. public goods, d/acc, privacy, open source). - Alpha
Attract top-tier builders, founders, and funders — and develop the capability to spot early, high-upside opportunities. - Accelerate
Return to Gitcoin 0.1 velocity: lean teams, fast iteration, high-quality execution.
2025 Achievements
In the DAO’s last budget request, these key goals were outlined and tracked:
Key Goals for 2025
Governance
| Goal/Milestone | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Updates to Governance Handbook: Define core principles and decision-making frameworks to guide progressive decentralization. |  |
Not completed as it was not set as a priority when the team restructured. |
| Introduce a DAO Coordinator to oversee governance, context-sharing, and operational alignment. |  |
The DAO coordinator introduced operational alignment. Eventually the role was reduced in order to save on operational overhead. |
| Attract and support builders through improved governance and community engagement. | |
GG24 saw a steady 80% satisfaction from builders, and an increase in high quality applications. |
| Decentralize governance processes, with 50%+ community-driven decisions by year-end. | |
Gitcoin’s 3.0 model is largely community-driven and we saw a significant increase in community participation during sensemaking szn for GG24, with 20+ proposals driven by the community. We plan to continue this community-led model in GG25. |
| Onboard high-caliber stewards while fostering stronger DAO-to-DAO relationships. |  |
We experimented with paid delegates for the majority of 2025, which increased governance participation, but did not bear DAO-to-DAO relationships as we had aimed for. We dissolved this initiative. |
| Execute a 2025 events strategy targeting APAC, SEA, and LATAM to expand builder engagement. | |
We made the decision to reduce our engagement to only Devconnect in Buenos Aires, where we hosted Schelling Point and participated at the main event. We will revisit a wider events strategy in 2026, depending on budgetary constraints and expected outcomes. |
| Execute a new governance strategy that includes engaging 5 high-context ecosystem-savvy paid delegates. | |
An experiment that increased governance participation with leading ecosystem delegates. It, however, did not lead to the fruitful business goals we set out, therefore we spun down the initiative in 2025. |
Builder Engagement
By engaging and supporting builders, we’re directly increasing adoption and activity on Allo and within our GG rounds to support Gitcoin’s North Star.
| Goal/Milestone | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Expand Builder Community: Onboard 500+ new builders globally, with a focus on LATAM, APAC, and SEA. | |
Our focus was mainly focused on attracting and onboarding high quality builders in GG24, deciding not to actively expand our scope yet to certain global areas. This can be revisited in 2026. |
| Promote Accessible Funding: Encourage 100+ Gitcoin Community Proposals (GCPs) and Requests for Proposals (RFPs). | |
We no longer actively encourage GCP’s and RFP’s due to budgetary constraints. |
| Support Innovation: Enable MVP development through hackathons and bounties to showcase Allo’s potential. | |
Allo’s strategy intertwined with Gitcoin was not followed through as the Allo team took on its own goals internally instead. |
Our strategy was adapted to the shift into a Gitcoin 3.0-led GG24, which was predominantly domain-led. In order to attract and retain high quality builders, we sought the correct domains to fund first. We achieved a coalitional funding goal of having +50% of gitcoin.eth’s matching being matched by outside funders.
Regional Events
| Goal/Milestone | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Host 3+ Regional Events: Engage builders in LATAM, APAC, and SEA through hackathons, workshops, and community meetups. | |
We hosted Schelling Point in Buenos Aires during Devconnect, participated in the main event where we were able to create some IRL time builders and community members. We decided to keep our engagement to one event for budgetary reasons. |
| Amplify Ecosystem Awareness: Ensure 70% of attendees understand Gitcoin’s broader ecosystem. | |
Launched Gitcoin 3.0 at Devconnect main as well as Schelling Point in Buenos Aires, focusing on amplifying the new direction of Gitcoin. |
| Promote Local Innovation: Partner with local organizations to co-create impactful funding experiments. | |
Ran a partnership with Funding the Commons in Buenos Aires, co-hosting an impactful PGF-focused event in LATAM. |
The budget requested for January 2025 - December 2025 was $808,098 from the treasury ($673,415 + 20% reserves) to execute this vision. The DAO’s spend for 2025 was $617,434.
We are not requesting 20% reserves for 2026, as we still have it leftover in the SAFE from the 2025 budget.
Budget Request
The DAO remains focused on stewarding Gitcoin 3.0’s brand, community and governance in support of the overall growth and financial sustainability of the Gitcoin ecosystem.
We are requesting $1,053,469 from the treasury to execute this vision. We did not spend the reserves from the 2025 budget, therefore it will carry forward to the 2026 budget request.
We will post updates and progress on the forum every quarter to ensure that the DAO is staying on track with accountability and progress throughout H1.
A full breakdown of the budget can be found below.
NOTE: The below budget is in addition to a $250k slush fund to be allocated to Kevin Owocki’s discretionary budget and quarterly reporting.
Budget Breakdown and Team Structure
| Role | Status | Focus Area |
|---|---|---|
| Chief of Staff & Head of Ops | Full-time | Operations |
| Strategic Partner | Part-time | Strategy |
| Security Consultant | Part-time | Technical Security |
| Individual Contributors | Part-time | Community |
Additional support includes:
- Marketing & design consultation
- Team Tiger strategic support
- Regional coordination resources
- External contributor incentives
Venture Scale Bets above covers funding allocated towards Kevin Owocki’s credits for various bets throughout the year, and campaigns supporting those bets, in line with the 3.0 strategy, where he will articulate business case, KPI’s and do a retro on each bet and how the funds were spent.
Detailed Cost Categories
Head Count - Core Team ($404,170)
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Full-time leadership and coordination roles
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Part-time specialized expertise
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3.0 Execution and oversight
Consultants ($60,186)
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Strategic advisory services
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Marketing and design expertise
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Technical infrastructure support where needed
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Regional coordination
Software and Subscriptions ($80,097)
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Governance tools and infrastructure
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Community engagement platforms
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Security and compliance tools
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Program management resources
Travel ($9,000)
- Event attendance
Note: We will be moving to a GCP model for larger event budget requests - holding ourselves accountable to the community for one-off events and rationale.
Venture Scale Bets ($500,000)
- Funding allocated towards Kevin Owocki’s venture scale bets for various bets (and campaigns that support the venture scale bets) throughout the year in line with the 3.0 strategy, where he will articulate business case, KPI’s and do a retro on each bet and how the funds were spent.
Quarterly Budget Distribution
The budget allocation reflects our strategic priorities across four quarters:
- Q1: $241,029
- Q2: $296,445
- Q3: $281,921
- Q4: $234,075
Total Annual Request: $1,053,469
The budget will be released in two tranches.
The amount of GTC requested and the value of the reserves will be adjusted based on the current market value at the time this proposal is moved to Tally using the lower of the current price or the 20 day moving average, whichever is lower.
Program Integration & Support
The DAO budget directly supports the execution of the Gitcoin 3.0 AAA Tripod Strategy:
Gitcoin’s next era is organized around activating three reinforcing legs:
- Alignment
Build coalitions that align technology, capital, and human thriving (e.g. public goods, d/acc, privacy, open source). - Alpha
Attract top-tier builders, founders, and funders — and develop the capability to spot early, high-upside opportunities. - Accelerate
Return to Gitcoin 0.1 velocity: lean teams, fast iteration, high-quality execution.
Success requires activating all three legs together, with major activation points at:
- ETHBoulder (Q1)
- Gitcoin Grants 25 / GG25 (Q2)
- Devcon (Q4)
The North Star (2026)
Attract builders, founders, and teams that create real impact and build sustainable businesses — and tell that story well enough that outside funders choose to fund Gitcoin.
Key 2026 KPIs
- Coalitional funding ratio:
- Baseline (GG24): 54% outside funding
- Target: 60–70% funded by external partners
- Network growth: +50% net new builders and funders
- Value capture (early):
- Yield-driven funding (e.g. Octant vaults)
- Paid partnerships / cost-covered builds
- Laying groundwork for longer-term upside participation
Reporting Framework
We will provide quarterly updates focused on:
- Progress against 2026 goals
- Budget utilization metrics
- Gitcoin 3.0 milestone updates
- Community feedback synthesis
- Treasury management status
Feedback is welcomed on this budget request!
Voting Details
Once ready for a vote, this proposal will use the following options:
1 - Yes, fund the DAO
2 - No, fund the DAO
3 - Abstain
Should this vote be passed by GTC token delegates, funds will be deposited in two tranches into EC’s multisig, which has been repurposed as the DAO’s multisig.
