Community Treasuries and Grants for Small Projects

Large protocols run grants programmes with committees, reviewers and multi-million dollar budgets. Small projects can run grants too, on a much smaller scale. A modest community treasury funding translations, tools, guides and events can build a surprisingly active ecosystem around a young project. What matters most is clear rules, small steps and transparency.

Start with a realistic budget

Decide how much the project can commit without risking its runway. For small projects, a grants budget might be a small fixed amount per quarter rather than a large pool. Consistent, modest funding builds more trust than a big announcement followed by silence.

Hold the grants budget in a separate multisig wallet with published signers, so everyone can see what is available and how it is spent.

Define what you fund

Focus grants on work that clearly benefits the community:

Grant category	Examples
Education	Guides, tutorials, videos in different languages
Tools	Dashboards, bots, integrations, open source libraries
Translation	Docs, announcements and interface text
Events	Local meetups and workshops
Research	Analysis of protocol data or user needs
Community projects	Art, memes and creative campaigns

Publishing categories helps applicants understand what fits and helps reviewers stay consistent.

Keep the application simple

Small grants should not require long proposals. A simple form can ask:

1. Who you are and how to contact you
2. What you want to build or create
3. Why it helps the community
4. Estimated time and cost
5. Milestones and deliverables
6. Links to past work

Offer a short response timeline, such as two weeks, and stick to it.

Pay by milestones

Paying the full amount upfront invites abandoned projects. Milestone payments protect both sides:

• A small portion at approval for larger grants
• Payments on completion of defined milestones
• A final payment when the work is published or delivered

For very small grants, paying entirely on completion is often simplest.

Review fairly

Use a small review group, ideally mixing team members and trusted community members. Guidelines for fair review:

• Score applications against published criteria
• Declare conflicts of interest and step aside when relevant
• Record decisions and short reasons
• Give rejected applicants feedback where possible

Fair, visible processes prevent accusations of favouritism.

Publish everything

Transparency is the strongest trust signal a grants programme can offer:

• A public list of approved grants with amounts
• Links to delivered work
• Treasury balance and spending reports each quarter
• Changes to rules announced in advance

Community members who see real work funded and delivered are more likely to apply and contribute.

Involve the community over time

As the programme matures, give the community more say. Options include community votes on larger grants, rotating community reviewers or a governance process for setting quarterly budgets. Move gradually, since governance adds overhead that small projects should introduce carefully.

Avoid common pitfalls

• Funding vague ideas without deliverables
• Grants going mostly to friends of the team
• No follow-up after payment
• Budgets announced but never used
• Paying in illiquid tokens that recipients cannot use

Handle unfinished grants

Some grants will stall. Recipients get busy, projects prove harder than expected or priorities change. Agree in advance what happens: a reminder after a missed milestone, an extension if the recipient asks early, and cancellation of remaining payments if work stops completely. Handle these conversations privately and kindly. Most recipients appreciate a clear, respectful process, and a fair approach keeps the programme's reputation intact.

Celebrate funded work

Highlight grant results in announcements, community calls and newsletters. Recognition motivates recipients and shows others what is possible. Some projects celebrate their grants cohort by planting a shared pin on the Proud Globe, with a tagline listing the work funded that quarter.