Introduction and Program Overview
The Human Grants Program is here to fund the development and deployment of applications that use HUMAN Protocol as a core part of their functionality. The Program exists to help and support those with great use cases for the protocol with funding, technical expertise, ecosystem support and a marketing push.
We are here to support big ideas or help existing applications adopt Human into their tech infrastructure. We make fast and efficient job markets easy to create.
The Grants Program sits along side our Dev Bounty, Bug Bounty, Ambassador Program and RFP Programs, as another way our community can engage in the Human Ecosystem.
1. Guidelines
Anyone is welcome to apply for a grant. We look for:
Well-researched or tested concepts, for which ideally you are able to show some prior work.
Projects that will continue after the grant has been completed. Either through an onward commitment from your side, additional funding sources or revenue.
Teams with the relevant experience to achieve its objectives. We have a strong preference for technically able teams. The program will fund third party support from Vendors and domain experts for specialist requirements, but we expect that the majority of the build will be completed by your team.
Applications that are rich in details and demonstrate a thought out approach to solving the problem.
Additionally, it must fulfil the following requirements:
All code produced as part of a grant must be open-sourced. Any other code produced by the applicant can remain private, however, we encourage an open-sourced approach to applications in our ecosystem.
We do not fund projects that actively encourage gambling, illicit trade, money laundering or criminal activities in general.
In addition to the information provided on your application, note that your project will need to comply with our Terms and Conditions.
Finally, we take licensing and the right of all teams in and outside the ecosystem to be recognised for their work very seriously. Using others' work with no attribution or indication that this was not your own work as part of a milestone delivery will lead to immediate termination.
Please reach out to us before submitting if you have any doubts on how to comply with a specific license and we'll be happy to help.
2. Project ideas
Projects funded through our programs are broad in scope. Generally they will fit into one of four categories:
1: An existing application, business or project with turnover that would benefit from using Human or any of its apps and requires funding to fund the integration with Human.
2: A new project idea that has huge potential and requires minimal funding for some exploratory work
3: A venture with a validated use case that requires funding to help implement Human and launch
4: An ecosystem partnership project that funds a collaboration between Human and another established blockchain application, ecosystem or chain.
We will publish details of successful applicants on a quarterly basis in a dedicated Notion Page.
The grants covered by this program specifically relate to building applications the use Human i.e. to drive transaction numbers and volume across the Human Protocol network.
We do offer specific grants to build on Human Functionality. We refer to these as Requests for Proposal or RFP grants. These are published through the Open Source Network and our Open Source page can be found here.
If you are looking to assist Human in a non-technical capacity, you learn more about our Ambassador Program here.
If you have a good concept of the technical challenges that your idea entails and would like feedback before applying, you can send us an email and tell us about it.
3. Grants level
We offer three levels of grant funding:
Explorer Grants
For individuals and small teams to build proofs-of-concept and small improvements to HUMAN Protocol’s functionality. Value: Up to $10,000.
Benefits: Access to the Human Grants Community. Applicant only events. Tech Support.
Builder Grants
For start-ups and larger teams. For high-potential use cases at an early stage of development, with a plan to create an MVP or beta version. Approval to this tier is a prerequisite for a gold-tier grant if the application is pre-product.
Value: Up to $50,000
Benefits: As above + marketing support, dedicated tech support, access to third party vendor support and mentorship from senior Human advisors.
Innovator Grants
For existing successful teams with a proven track record. For high-potential use cases with a clearly specified delivery plan and evidence of traction.
Value: Up to $250,000
Benefits: As above + dedicated marketing push, high profile exposure, listed as core project in Human communications.
Applicants may apply as many times as they wish. A successful explorer grant applicant may apply for additional funding through the builder or innovator grant. Where we believe a grant has potential, we may refer an applicant to one of our VC funding partners.
We prefer to wholly fund grant projects in HMT, however, we acknowledge there are differing costs and hence will pay part of the grant in USD or a tokenised equivalent.
4. Support
We offer applicants
Dedicated tech support from the Human Team
Access to Human quality assurance and test environment
A pre-deployment security review
Marketing advisory and launch comms for Builder and Innovator grants
Mentorship from senior ecosystem advisors
Introductions to other grant programmes and connections within Human ecosystem
Access to the Human Grants Programme community on Discord
For any questions about the program, see our
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