Grants Program

⚠️ The grants program is currently operating in its pilot phase.

Following community feedback on this pilot, we’re committing to:

• Publishing an RFC-style post 2–3 weeks before each new wave
• Involving delegates and external experts in future rounds via a grants committee
• Extending this Pilot Wave application window to June 11 to give applicants more time
• Maintaining limited scope and budget during the pilot to reduce risk and enable fast iteration

These changes aim to strengthen community trust, increase transparency, and enable broader governance participation over time.

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Purpose

The Obol Grants Program (pilot) aims to support projects that advance the strategic goals of the Obol Collective by providing milestone-based funding to builders, educators, and contributors working on public goods aligned with the Distributed Validator (DV) ecosystem.

This program is specifically designed to address the execution of the strategic SQUAD Goals outlined in OIP-3 that require community involvement. Each grant proposal must clearly align with one of the grant tracks, which reflect these goals. The grant tracks help ensure that funds are directed toward work that directly contributes to the Obol Collective's mission.

To ensure proposals are aligned with these objectives, each track has a dedicated sub-page with:

• A self-assessment checklist to help determine if the proposal is in scope
• Guidance on the types of contributions and initiatives encouraged
• Detailed evaluation criteria used to assess submissions

Structure

• The program will operate in 8-week waves:
  • Application window: 2 weeks
  • Review & approvals: 2 weeks
  • Pause to keep track and provide guidance to the new projects: 4 weeks
• Milestone-based funding: Grants are approved as a full proposal, but funds are released per milestone, once validated by the committee. Each proposal must define its expected milestones in advance. Applicants will have the opportunity to clearly outline their milestones during the application process. This includes describing the deliverables for each stage of the project and the success criteria for unlocking the next tranche of funding. A step-by-step guide to structuring and submitting milestone-based proposals is provided in a dedicated sub-page. These milestones serve as checkpoints for disbursement and accountability.
• Grant tracks aligned with OIP-3 SQUAD Goals:
  • Boosting Obol DV Adoption
  • Establishing OBOL Token’s Role in DeFi & Governance
  • Strengthening the Collective: Operators & Community Growth

Funding Disclaimer:
The OBOL token amount will be calculated based on the USD value of your grant request using the market price of OBOL at the time your proposal is approved. That means the number of tokens may vary depending on the price at the time of approval.

Pilot Wave Timeline

Phase	Dates	Notes
Applications Open	May 14 – June 11	Anyone can apply during this period
Review & Approval	June 12 - June 25	Committee reviews proposals and approves based on milestone scope. Publish recap of selected proposals and next steps
Pause & Monitoring	June 26 - July 23	Publish recap of selected proposals and next steps

Platform

The program will be managed via Questbook, with future integrations possible (Tally, etc). All proposals, reviewer activity, and milestone tracking will be transparent and publicly viewable.

Review Process

• Initial pilot approval committee: 2 members from the Obol Association (Leo & Toma)

• Later stages may expand to a formal committee & Tally-based voting

• Reviews are rubric-based, and public by default within Questbook. These are structured scoring frameworks that help reviewers assess applications consistently across several criteria, such as:

  • Alignment with grant track and SQUAD goal(s)
  • Feasibility and clarity of the milestones
  • Potential impact and relevance to the Obol ecosystem
  • Team capacity and track record

  Each grant track sub-page includes the specific rubric and criteria relevant to that category.

Budget

• All funding will be disbursed on a milestone basis only (see above disclaimer)
• Future quarterly or annual grant budgets to be approved by DAO governance
• The first pilot wave (Wave #1) will not specify any max budget.

Communication

• Public recap of each wave will be posted on the Obol Forum

Future Upgrades

• Governance voting integration via Tally
• Expanded grant committee with delegate participation
• AI-assisted review workflows if shown to increase efficiency

Transparency

• The Obol Grants Program is currently hosted under Questbook's open-source plan
• All activity will remain publicly accessible through Questbook