Solana Foundation Funding

Solana Foundation Funding is sponsored by Solana Foundation. The Solana Foundation supports projects that generate public goods for the Solana community and ecosystem.

Grants and Funding | Solana: Build crypto apps that scale The Solana Foundation Funding Program aims to connect builders, creators, and founders to the best source of funding for their work. This may be through the Solana Foundation or other ecosystem sources.

Solana Foundation Funding In the Solana ecosystem’s open-source spirit, the Solana Foundation supports projects that generate public goods for the community and give other ecosystem participants the opportunity to learn from and build on your work.

The Solana Foundation primarily provides funding in the following ways: Milestone-based grants for public goods Milestone-based convertible grants for public goods with a commercial component Requests for Proposals ( RFPs ) for specific ideas the Foundation is looking to fund Please note that the following are a set of guidelines for the Solana Foundation funding application only.

Ecosystem sources of funding may have different processes. All funding applicants for Solana Foundation standard and convertible grants are required to fill out the application here .

In the application, make sure to: Provide a brief project overview Clarify how your project provides a public good for the Solana network Lay out a well structured budget proposal, and include thoughtful milestones Application Review (~1 week) All applications are reviewed on a rolling basis. If an application warrants an in-depth review, Solana Foundation subject-matter experts (“SME”) will reach out to schedule a call.

The due diligence process can include technical due diligence, market research, and other analyses to determine the project’s fit and usefulness to the Solana ecosystem. Decision & Contacting (~3 weeks) Applicants will be notified via the email provided in their application whether their proposal has been accepted or not. Approved applicants work with the Solana Foundation Legal Team to finalize the grant agreement.

Guidelines for Evaluation While the Solana Foundation appreciates a broad diversity of ideas in grant applications, there are a few common threads that the team always looks for. Public Good We typically consider a project to be a public good if it either makes a significant open-source contribution to the Solana ecosystem, or if it has a meaningful free community offering.

Depending on the circumstances, we may also consider a novel proof of concept to qualify. Projects that are primarily commercial in nature usually won’t qualify for a standard grant from the Solana Foundation, and should consider a convertible grant. Open Source Not all projects require code, but they should be built in the spirit of open-sourcing your learnings for everyone to learn from.

Projects should benefit the community at large, and while not all parts of the project should be open source, the usable parts should be available to all. Only Possible on Solana The proposal should make it clear why the project is building within the Solana ecosystem, as opposed to other places or other ways. Why Solana?

How does the Solana protocol help the team or project achieve its goals in ways that are not possible elsewhere? Clear Use of Funds We encourage you to be thoughtful about how much you’re requesting and present a clear plan for how the funding will help you accomplish your goals. Set clear, measurable funding milestones, and make sure the funding you request is correlated to the impact to the community your project is providing.

Please note that this criteria list is not exhaustive, and grant approvals are at the discretion of the Solana Foundation Capital Team. Beyond the Solana Foundation, there are a broad array of funding options available to projects in the Solana ecosystem. Depending on your project’s stage of development, geography, or vertical, some of these options might suit your needs.

The Solana Foundation works with Colosseum to run online hackathons. These competitions enable anyone with an internet connection to jumpstart their next project on Solana and join the fastest ecosystem in crypto. Select hackathon winners have the opportunity to join Colosseum's accelerator program where they will receive pre-seed funding, mentorship, technical resources, and more.

Ecosystem Grants Programs There are numerous grants programs run by teams within the Solana ecosystem. Generally, these programs are focused on a specific vertical or area of expertise, catering to certain applicants. The following ecosystem teams run their own grants programs.

Superteam offers quick microgrants ( $10k) to early-stage Solana builders in emerging markets like India, Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe, and Africa.