Securing the Bag while making Impact

Why you should donate to Gitcoin Rounds

Aug 25, 2023

Hello fren,

As the sun rises over our diverse and vibrant continent, it casts a golden glow on the horizon of funding possibilities. Today, we stand on the precipice of an evolution that promises to reshape the very foundations of funding as we know it, Gitcoin Grants.

Let’s delve into the significance of funding public goods and why your participation in the current Gitcoin Grant round matters more than ever.

In this issue💯

🎯 Public Good Funding & Gitcoin Grant 18

🎯 Blocscribe → Crossing the bridge, L2 onramping in Africa📝

🎯 Newsflash → Curated crypto news across Africa📰

🎯 On Air → Cool podcast episode to listen to🎧

🚨 Action Zone → Action pronto!⚡

The Crucial Need for Public Good Funding in Africa

Public goods are essential resources or services that benefits society as a whole and are often provided by government or through community efforts. These goods are non-excludable, meaning that once they are available, everyone is free to benefit from them, and they are non-rivalrous, implying that one person’s benefiting from it does not diminish its availability to others. Examples include clean air, public parks, open-source software, digital media and information goods such as this newsletter.

In Africa, public goods play a critical role in improving the quality of life for millions of people. From basic infrastructure like roads and sanitation to education, healthcare, and environmental conservation, these resources and services are the bedrock upon which progress is built. Unfortunately, most African governments have struggled to provide these resources and services to citizens consistently and sustainably, necessitating a new era where citizens have decided to build and provide some of these resources/services via community driven initiatives. And Crypto stands to help in this regard.

Due to the fact that crypto is in a unique position to help solve some of the most pressing challenges faced by Africa, the continents need lots of builders tackling most of these problems while innovating for a better future. unfortunately, getting access to funding as an African builder has been a total nightmare. traditional funding sources have failed while web3 native funding sources havn’t lived to potential yet. In fact, it seems anytime there’s a central body determining who and where funding should be allocated to, Africa is mostly seen as an after thought if considered at all. So what if everyone including Africans can determine how a global funding pool gets distributed to projects across the world, Africa included?

Enter!!! Gitcoin and the new public good funding metanarrative powered by web3!

Gitcoin is an impact and protocol DAO that creates and governs solutions that empowers communities to fund, build and protect what matters. Established in 2017, Gitcoin has shaped what it means to fund and catalyze change. since it inception it has enabled the funding of over 3,715 projects with over $3.8 million unique donations leading to over $50 million allocated to public goods! 🤯🤯. pretty amazing right? What’s more amazing also is how the allocation of these funding pools work. instead of a centralized body determining how and where funds are allocated, Gitcoin enables a decentralized and community based fund allocation through it’s grant platform while optimizing for impact through quadratic funding. Quadratic funding is a democratic way of allocating resources where people donate to projects which doubles as voting. Here’s a TLDR of how Gitcoin works.

👉🏾 Every quarter, Gitcoin runs a grant round!

👉🏾 They raise funding from various sources to create a matching pool. In the current round(GG18), a funding matching pool of $1million has been raised to fund projects.

👉🏾 The Grant core round consist of various categories with a portion of the total matching pool allocated to each. Here’s the current core round with their respective allocations.

Web3 Open Source Software(OSS) → $300,000
Web3 Community and Education → $250,000
Climate Solutions → $250,000
Ethereum Infrastructure → 106.9 ETH <> $175925(current market value)

👉🏾 There’s a call for projects building public goods and making impact anywhere in the world to apply.

👉🏾 Once a project applies and gets approved, its eligible to receive a portion of the matching pool for which it falls under.

👉🏾 And guess who determines how much a project receives? YOU, yes.. YOU. the principle here is that people who are impacted by these projects are in the best position to determine how they should be funded. Hence the Gitcoin round is a donation and voting exercise to determine how much of these matching pools should be directed to the participating projects. And it’s open to everyone to come donate and vote for projects. And the more donors a project has, the more they get a portion of the matching pool, since more donors is a vote of approval for the impact the project is making.

So What’s in it for donors?

Money, literally(nfa)
Some of the most iconic airdrop in the crypto space has included donors of Gitcoin rounds as eligibility criteria. Gitcoin has become a breeding ground of innovation where lots of projects are bootstrapped. some of these projects go on to become big and reward early supporters such as donors. Uniswap is a typical example. Others include Optimism and BanklessDAO!

Power to direct global pool of capital
Participating and donating to projects in Gitcoin rounds means deciding who and which projects get funded. This is why it is absolutely crucial for Africans to start engaging and participating to help direct funds to projects that are building and making impact across the continent.
Contribute to decentralization
By participating in Gitcoin rounds from different parts of the world, donors help decentralize and widen the distribution of funds. It’s also a way of making your voice heard.

So How can you fund projects in the Current Gitcoin Grant 18 round.

To fund projects, you need a gitcoin passport, a way to authentic and identify as a human. Sign up here. After that head over to Gitcoin to donate. Public Good Africa has a curated list of many impact projects in Africa participating in the round.

We are excited to announce that Bankless Africa has been recognized for the immerse value and impact we provide. We are part of the current round. So consider donating to us. We have a big ambition to accelerate capacity building, economic empowerment and financial sovereignty in Africa through decentralized media. Your donation of atleast $1 will go a long way to help us continue to build towards this ambition for Africa!

Donate here🤗👇🏾

Bankless Africa Gitcoin Grant

pidgin parlour Grant

Blocscribe → Crossing the bridge, L2 onramping in Africa📝

Layer 2 blockchains are in full swing and are helping to make blockchain use accessible to everyone. We have a practical guide to help any African learn how to get unto any L2 and start taking advantage of the various opportunities available on L2s. Find the guide here. Also consider minting the article as NFT on Optimism.