Note: This is in preparation for an incoming proposal next week from CeloPG
Authors: @Wade | @MayaRB | @Thylacine
Looking back: Prezenti H1
Coming to the end of H1 2024 we want to provide an update on the latest round of funding by Prezenti, and and review how Prezenti continues to fit into the new governance model [Celo Governance Guidelines and Public Goods Funding Strategy H1 2024] which was successfully voted on in January this year.
Prezenti officially re-opened its grants on 30th March after another successful temperature check from the Celo community and a successful vote passing on the 7th March. As we write this we have only be running for 2.5 months (rather than the planned 6 months); in this short period we have achieved:
- 57 new applications reviews
- Granted 5 (out of 24) successful Micro Pool grants
- Granted 4 (out of 12) successful Pilot Pool grants
- Granted 5 (out of 6) successful Growth Pool grants
- Of the successful above there are: 7 African projects, 3 European and 3 from LATAM
- Increased some of our marketing
- 2 members attended Celo Gather in Berlin
Statistics - inception to date
- 80% of grantees still have active/relevant websites
- 198 Applications reviewed
- 56 grant contracts signed
- Over $1M cUSD granted
- 28% grant success rate
- 64% of grantees still active on Twitter/X
- 51 different projects funded
- 40 grants completed
H1 Spend Breakdown
Due to the delay in starting funding in H1, our data only shows spending for 2.5 months, not the full 6 months. To give a more accurate spend account we have also included below a 30% spend uplift which is our predicted spend until 30th June 2024.
Also worth noting the disbursement of grants actually contracted vs spend out of our multi-sig differs as grants have up to 4 months to complete.
| Grant pool | Est. Grants | Total Requested | Actual Spend (Apr - Jun) | Remaining Grants to date | Expected grants (June 30th) | Predicted Spend (+30%) | Remaining funds after 3 months (Apr - Jun) | I |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Master pool [admin] | $25,000 | $18,459 | $9,176 | - | $27,635 | $(2,635) | ||
| Micro | 24 | $48,000 | $10,000 | $38,000 | 7 | $14,000 | $34000 | |
| Pilot | 12 | $120,000 | $40,000 | $80,000 | 5 | $50,000 | $70000 | |
| Growth | 6 | $150,000 | $125,000 | $25,000 | 6 | $150,000 | 0 | |
| Total | $343,000 | $193,459 | $152,176 | 18 | $241,635 | $101,365 |
Retrospective Findings
- Our new 3 tiered pool structure works well, guiding applicants into their respective buckets and allows us to allocate capital more thoughtfully and efficiently.
- Our narrowed focus on sustainability and income-generating products significantly decreases the surface area for grants that are not suitable while bringing more value to Celo for the long term.
- We have realized there is more of a need to compare ‘apples to apples’. Our current rolling application round with a steady stream of grant applications decreases the neutrality of applications.
- There is an abundance of capital across ecosystems, and talent/loyalty is the scarce resource.
- A need to stop funding projects that have been extensively funded via various sources within the Celo ecosystem to allow them to concentrate on income generating opportunities.
- The ongoing need to be more collaborative within the ecosystem to ensure there is more sharing and understanding of projects coming in and out.
What next?
Where does Prezenti fit into Celo?
Prezenti has always been at the essence of Celo. Taking the reins of the community led grants programme, created with CCF1 to the ongoing adjustment of our strategy, changing with the inevitable volatile swings of the industry. Its stewards started the same way we envision our grantees. From eager enthusiasts interested in Celo’s mission to contributing meaningfully to the protocol, community and its success. We are a rock, stable and reliable aiming to help direct some of the community fund flows to the thoughtful visionary people and products that need it.
There has, and always will be a need for small/medium sized grants within a blockchain ecosystem. We believe that to achieve this it takes context from the blockchains history, from other ecosystems and market trends while having a vision for the long term future of the industry as a whole.
Prezenti achieves this for Celo.
H2 2024 and Onwards
We would love to continue disbursing grant funds, with the community’s consent. We plan to utilize the remaining/unspent funds from H1 [$101,365] while requesting a replenishment of the grant ‘pools’ with a top up from the next Public Goods Funding Strategy budget. Here is an outline:
| Grant pool allocations | Grants | grant amount | Carried Over | Requested |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Master pool [admin] | - | $58,365 | -$2,635 | $61,000 |
| Micro | 9 | $18,000 | $34,000 | -$16,000 |
| Pilot | 5 | $50,000 | $70,000 | -$20,000 |
| Growth | 9 | $225,000 | $ - | $225,000 |
| Total | 23 | $351,365 | -$101,365 | $250,000 |
This would make our total budget for 2024 to $505k cUSD, comparable to previous Prezenti rounds; this is within the scope of the Celo Public Goods H2 budget.
Admin Spend
We believe it is super important to have transparency around administrative spend and with pride believe that we are one of the most cost efficient grant programs within the industry.
- We have a spend of less than 10K $cUSD per month that consists of 3 stewards working various hours at a rate of $134 per hour (unchanged since inception of the program).
- Due to the nature of the program and the fact that grants last at least 4 months from contract (often with further delays) we need a contingency to cover our support of all grants in the eventuality that future funding from the community fund ceases. This is to fulfill our responsibilities with current grantees and ensure we continue to be financially and legally compliant. Currently we have an account that contains 62.7K $cUSD to facilitate that. This was carried over from the previous Prezenti ask and is outside the scope of Celo PG. This represents our emphasis on being as lightweight as possible allowing most of the value to accrue to grantees while also being transparent.
- If Prezenti isn’t successful in replenishing future grant funding, after the last current grant ends and our Canadian LLC has been dissolved, any remaining unspent funds would be given back to the community .
Changes
While we believe the changes we have made in our last iteration have benefited all stakeholders there is always room for improvement. The majority of Prezenti processes will stay status quo, we are proposing some changes to be implemented considering our retrospective findings. Most notably:
Grants will now be offered in rounds.
- There will be 2 rounds each lasting for 3 months.This will be as follows
- Month 1: Applications for round 1 open (1st /early in month)
- Month 2: Applications for round 1 close (end of month)
- Month 3: Processing round 1 applications
- This is repeated for round 2
- This reallocation of time can help us focus on another aspect we think will contribute to a more successful program: outreach.
- We plan for more proactive outreach and marketing to networks to help us identify talent funnels and allow us to access them via different marketing initiatives.
- Plan to conduct more outreach in Asia as we notice a lack of quality applications coming from this side of the globe.
- Ongoing plans to collaborate with another Celo entity- more to come
Conclusion
In short, Prezenti proposes to continue offering the only ongoing, non specific grants program for Celo builders. We are requesting a total of $263,635K cUSD.
We believe that we are a valuable piece of the current Celo landscape and provide thoughtful intentional capital to move the protocol forward.
Resources
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Website: https://www.prezenti.xyz/
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Our initial proposal: Reopening of the Celo Community Fund
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Our second funding proposal: Prezenti follow-on funding request
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Our third proposal and pool structure: Prezenti Pool Structure
