Gimbalabs - Regional Cardano Student Society Playbook

[Proposal setup] Proposal title

Please provide your proposal title

Gimbalabs - Regional Cardano Student Society Playbook

[Proposal Summary] Budget Information

Enter the amount of funding you are requesting in ADA

60000

[Proposal Summary] Time

Please specify how many months you expect your project to last

6

[Proposal Summary] Translation Information

Please indicate if your proposal has been auto-translated

No

Original Language

en

[Proposal Summary] Problem Statement

What is the problem you want to solve?

Cardano lacks clear guidance and resources to onboard university societies. Local builders struggle to form sustainable, student-led chapters, limiting community engagement and ecosystem growth.

[Proposal Summary] Supporting Documentation

Supporting links

• https://www.gimbalabs.com/gimbalgrid
,
• https://x.com/gimbalabs
,
• https://x.com/NealSIDAN

[Proposal Summary] Project Dependencies

Does your project have any dependencies on other organizations, technical or otherwise?

No

Describe any dependencies or write 'No dependencies'

No dependencies

[Proposal Summary] Project Open Source

Will your project's outputs be fully open source?

Yes

License and Additional Information

All deliverables will be open source and published in public repositories with clear licenses:

• Code (bots, scripts): Apache-2.0
• Playbook and other written materials: CC BY 4.0
• Templates, checklists, and datasets: CC0 1.0 where feasible

Each repository will include LICENSE/NOTICE files and attribution guidance. Logos and trademarks are excluded.

[Theme Selection] Theme

Please choose the most relevant theme and tag related to the outcomes of your proposal

Education

[Campaign Category] Category Questions

Who you’re targeting, how you’ll reach them, and why this matters for Cardano.

Target:

• university and college students who want to start Cardano societies, plus local community builders as mentors; secondary: faculty advisors and student unions.

Reach:

• partner with regional builders, tap their networks, run campus info sessions, publish an open call, and pilot with 1–2 campuses using a starter kit and mentorship.

Why it matters:

• creates a repeatable path to sustainable student-led hubs, building a pipeline of developers and leaders to grow Cardano.

Provide a list of key activities of your project?

• Gather community intelligence from google meeting discussion
• Prepare and curate the playbook including society cycle, executive member formation, activities plan, budgeting, society branding etc.
• Conduct a trial run of the playbook with a local community builder.

What are your success metrics?

Implementation:

• Complete all modules; count improvements from pilot feedback; collect student and mentor reviews.

Adoption:

• Track views and downloads; record updates and community contributions.

Community:

• Measure Discord activity and cross-regional connections.

Long-term:

• Follow ongoing participation in Cardano and Catalyst.

External:

• Count requests from other universities or groups to adopt or adapt the playbook.

[Your Project and Solution] Solution

Please describe your proposed solution and how it addresses the problem

Gather community intelligence – Engage with regional Cardano builders and student leaders to learn how local university clubs operate and what resources are already available. Capture best practices, challenges and potential mentors to inform the playbook.

Prepare and curate the playbook – Use the insights gathered to build an open, adaptable guide covering club set‑up, governance, budgeting, event planning and partnerships. Include templates and translations to make it accessible globally.

Pilot and refine – Launch one or two trial student societies with mentoring support. Conduct a structured interview with each club to collect detailed feedback on what worked and what needs improvement, then refine the playbook accordingly.

Facilitate cross‑regional community building – Set up a moderated Discord channel where students from different regions can exchange ideas, make friends and collaborate. The channel will contain key information, resource links and event announcements, and will encourage participants to ask questions and share projects

[Your Project and Solution] Impact

Please define the positive impact your project will have on the wider Cardano community

Localized Communities Growth – Forming student‑run Cardano societies at regional universities will create local Cardano communities, fostering grassroots adoption and enabling region‑specific projects, and encourage new forces to join us worldwide.

Developing student leaders – The program aims to train future Cardano legends by giving students hands‑on experience in organizing, educating and promoting Cardano within their communities, boosting sustained engagement.

Sustained ecosystem growth – A regional playbook will guide consistent efforts, establishing decentralised, community‑led hubs that continually contribute to Cardano’s growth and visibility.

[Your Project and Solution] Capabilities & Feasibility

What is your capability to deliver your project with high levels of trust and accountability? How do you intend to validate if your approach is feasible?

At Gimbalabs, we have built one of the best technical learning technologies in the Cardano ecosystem, with the ability to extract the fundamentals of complex topics (protocols, tooling, infrastructure, design patterns, etc) and package them into skills. That is our know-how.

Trust and accountability:

• Talented developers, today founders of renowned Cardano startups (JPG store, MeshJS, Gods of Blocks, Loxe inc, Ekival, others), trusted us to take their first steps in the ecosystem: to know everything they needed to know, without restrictions, and from there, build their own path. We did not let them down.
• Gimbalabs is an infrastructure builder: Dandelion, Andamio.
• Gimbalabs is consulting: Joey's Hot Sauce, challenge "Spend ADA in your local community!", OneUpOneDown, Oxford University, Handshake, Blink Labs, MeshJS, SingularityNET, and others.

Approach validation:

• Gimbalabs started with this successful Fund2 Proposal: https://gimbalabs.com/fund2.pdf (and scored the leading vote tally in Fund1 - before there was real funding)
• Has delivered 4 iterations of Plutus PBL Course, with 5th iteration, Plutus PBL 2024, launching now, in May 2024
• Host of weekly Playground sessions for 3+ years
• Host of twice-weekly (and now more!) Live Coding sessions for 2+ years
• Gimbalabs YouTube is a helpful archive: https://www.youtube.com/c/gimbalabs

Feasibility of implementation:

• Talents: Gimbalabs consists of a group of educators and diverse professionals. The budget would be easily justified by the collective professional hours contributed to deliver one of the best courses on the Cardano ecosystem we strive to be.
• Approach: With the 4+ iterations of Plutus PBL Course, Gimbalabs is proven the expert of delivering such education materials.
• Platform: Gimbalabs founds Andamio, which is a highly effective education platform built on Cardano, natively as the best platform of delivering Cardano education materials.
• Know-how: Gimbalabs gathers a group of expert software engineer with extremely deep knowledge in the course content to be produced.

References:

• Messari's "State of Cardano" report (discussed each quarter by C. Hoskinson) highlighted the role of Gimbalabs every quarter of 2023 as community-run project for education and developer tools, in the section "Community".
• Gimbalabs is part of the CBIA alliance (Cardano Blockchain Infrastructure Alliance) along with recognized names in the ecosystem: Maestro, TxPipe, Koios, Blink Labs, among others.
• Gimbalabs is part of the Certification working group coordinated by Intersect. An example of Gimbalabs' contribution is the document "CTI-2023-ADA-11-04: Multiple Satisfaction" authored by Professor M. Ali Modiri, Gimbalabs instructor and recognized ecosystem developer.

[Milestones] Project Milestones

Milestone Title

Preparation and Organization Setup

Milestone Outputs

Establish a solid foundation for the project by setting up the necessary infrastructure, assembling the team, and defining project management practices. This includes creating public repos and docs, configuring access and licenses, selecting collaboration tools, onboarding contributors and advisors, and agreeing on milestones, reporting cadence, and decision-making norms.

Acceptance Criteria

• Set up legal and administrative frameworks — Entity registration, treasury wallet/banking, vendor onboarding, IP and licensing recorded, basic compliance and privacy notices prepared.
• Confirm core team members and advisors — Roles, responsibilities, time commitments documented; bios published; communication channels opened; conflict-of-interest checks done.
• Establish project management setup to track the progress — Roadmap and milestones captured in the tool; backlog created; issue templates and “definition of done” added; dashboards enabled; reporting cadence agreed.

Evidence of Completion

• Legal entity established and operational.
• Public announcement on core team members and advisors.
• Project management tools and systems set up.

Delivery Month

1

Cost

16000

Progress

20 %

Milestone Title

Gather Intelligence from Community and Students

Milestone Outputs

Identify, connect, and collect community intelligence about hosting a discussion session. Gather thoughts on the student society — through interviews, surveys, and roundtables across regions; map pain points, incentives, and existing practices; capture what works/does not (logistics, roles, risks); and compile a raw insights pack with key themes to inform playbook structure.

Acceptance Criteria

• Connect with different regions' community builders /educators /students and brainstorm
• Prepare the materials on the brainstorming result
• Organize the information to set as the backbone for the playbook
• Create a discord as a communication channel for different region students

Evidence of Completion

• Announcement in Gimbalabs discord about community event collaboration
• All information and materials organized in a public link

Delivery Month

2

Cost

16000

Progress

50 %

Milestone Title

Prepare Cardano Student Society Playbook

Milestone Outputs

Prepare the well-curated Cardano student society playbook for local builders—clear, region-agnostic, actionable; accessible online/offline; versioned, translation-ready; reviewed via pilot feedback & stakeholder review.

Acceptance Criteria

A full version of the playbook with necessary components including:

• Guidance on society cycle (length of terms)
• Guidance on society executive member formation (e.g. number of members and position)
• Guidance on year plan & budgeting
• Guidance on society branding guidelines
• Guidance on benefits to be provided to students participating in the society as executive members
• Guidance on partnership between student society and the local community builder entity

Evidence of Completion

• The public link of the playbook including all the necessary components — hosted in a public repository with version tags, license files, and clear access instructions.

Delivery Month

2

Cost

14000

Progress

80 %

Milestone Title

Trial run the playbook, Documentation and Closeout Report

Milestone Outputs

• Connect with one community builder to pilot the playbook; recruit ≥3 pioneering students; complete initial setup, onboarding, and planning; collect feedback to refine the playbook.
• Closeout report prepared per official Catalyst closeout report guidelines
• Closeout video produced per official Catalyst closeout video guidelines

Acceptance Criteria

• Trial run the student society with one local community builder, recruiting at least 3 pioneering students to conduct early preparatory work; capture issues and feedback in an accessible logTrial run the student society with one of the local community builders with recruiting at least 3 pioneering students to conduct early preparative works
• Final closeout report and video meet Catalyst format and submission requirements and are published with public links.Final close-out report and video

Evidence of Completion

• Public announcement naming the student pioneers and partner community builder Public link on announcement on the student pioneers participated
• Public link on the preparatory report produced by the students
• Final close-out report and video summary.

Delivery Month

1

Cost

14000

Progress

100 %

[Final Pitch] Budget & Costs

Please provide a cost breakdown of the proposed work and resources

Milestone 1: Preparation and Organization Setup

Activities:

ADA 5,000 - Set up legal and administrative frameworks.

ADA 3,000 - Confirm core team members and advisors.

ADA 8,000 - Establish project management setup to track the progress

Total Budget: ADA 16,000

Milestone 2: Gather Intelligence from Community and Students

Activities:

ADA 6,000 - Connect with different regions' community builders and brainstorm

ADA 5,000 - Prepare the materials on the brainstorming result

ADA 5,000 - Organize the information to set as the backbone for the playbook

Total Budget: ADA 16,000

Milestone 3: Prepare Cardano Student Society Playbook

Activities:

ADA 14,000 - A full version of the playbook with necessary components

Total Budget: ADA 14,000

Milestone 4: Trial run the playbook, Documentation and Closeout Report

Activities:

ADA 10,000 - Connect with any one of the community builders to trial run the playbook

ADA 4,000 - Prepare close-out report and video

Total Budget: ADA 14,000

[Final Pitch] Value for Money

How does the cost of the project represent value for the Cardano ecosystem?

High leverage, low cost: Student-led delivery with local mentors keeps delivery costs low while expanding reach on campuses.

One-time build, infinite reuse: The playbook, templates, and guides are open source (CC BY/CC0/Apache-2.0), translation-ready, and region-agnostic—so any new campus can adopt with near-zero marginal cost.

Reduces duplication: Standardized guidance replaces ad-hoc attempts, saving time for community builders and students.

Uses existing infra: Andamio, Discord, and public repos minimize tooling spend.

Milestone-gated and auditable: Clear acceptance criteria, public links, and a closeout report/video ensure accountability.

Ecosystem upside: Creates a durable pipeline of developers, founders, and contributors—compounding returns across future Catalyst rounds and Cardano projects.

[Required Acknowledgements] Consent & Confirmation

Terms and Conditions:

Yes