TEMP CHECK – Coalitional Funding as a Big Opportunity for Gitcoin
TLDR
Coalitional funding—multiple ecosystems teaming up to co-fund the same public goods—is a natural next step for Ethereum’s modular, plural future, and Gitcoin is uniquely positioned to be the Schelling point that makes it happen. It means bigger pots, stronger signals, and more legitimacy for builders and funders alike.
Why
Open source and Ethereum infrastructure are shared dependencies. Every ecosystem—L1s, L2s, appchains, and service protocols—relies on the same OSS projects, libraries, tooling, and community capacity. Today, each ecosystem often runs its own siloed funding efforts. This creates duplication, smaller pots, and weaker signals.
Coalitional funding—where 2, 3, or more ecosystems team up to co-fund the same projects—offers a way to break that cycle. It makes efficient use of capital, shows legitimacy to builders, and creates a stronger Schelling point for funders and grantees alike.
Gitcoin is uniquely positioned to catalyze this pattern. We already serve as the bridge between ecosystems, the neutral coordinator, and a provider of capital allocation infrastructure and momentum.
What
Coalitional funding means:
- Shared grants rounds: Domains where key ecosystem players and Gitcoin (for example) all pool capital into one round.
- Joint funding: Multiple protocols rewarding the same public goods together, meaning treasury drains for each individual is less.
- Aligned operator programs: Domain operators who can bring in funders from across ecosystems to support their domain.
- Stronger signals for builders: Instead of chasing 3–4 different grants programs, they see one combined pool.
The result is larger pots, more credible commitments, and more sustainable public goods.
How
Gitcoin can move toward coalitional funding in GG24 and beyond by:
- Piloting joint domains – Encourage domain operators to bring in external ecosystems as co-funders.
- Legibility of emergent coalitions - make it easier to see what coalitions are forming, so that ppl can ape into the coalitions.
- Tracking & reporting impact – Demonstrate to funders how much more leverage and legitimacy comes from co-funding.
- Building repeatable templates – Make it easy to replicate coalitional funding structures for GG25 and beyond.
- Sales collateral + playbooks – Provide operators with resources on how to pitch coalitional rounds and recruit funders.
- Shared governance experiments – Explore ways multiple ecosystems can share decision rights in a round (delegations, attestations, or voting).
Summary: Coalitional funding is a natural evolution of modularity, plurality, and shared OSS infrastructure. If Gitcoin embraces it, we can become the Schelling point for ecosystem-aligned public goods funding in the next cycle.