Cardano Open: Ecosystem

Overview

This category focuses on building the creative capacity of our passionate global community. It will fund non-technical initiatives that drive grassroots ecosystem growth, education, research and community engagement to broaden Cardano’s reach and on chain adoption. The goal is to support local and global campaigns that bring awareness and attention to Cardano from the hearts and minds of the community collective.

Budget & Constraints

• Total Budget: $ADA 2,500,000 
• Proposal Range: From $ADA15,000 to $ADA 60,000

Areas of Interest

Proposals may focus on non-technical initiatives, such as:

• Cardano Community Hubs: Creating or maintaining a local Cardano presence in cities or regions worldwide.
• Community Events: Organizing community hackathons or builder outreach events.
• Content Creation: Producing educational videos, articles, or tutorials on Cardano’s features.
• Mentorship & Skill-Sharing: Organizing workshops or programs that connect experienced community members with newcomers to share skills in marketing, content creation, or project management within the Cardano ecosystem.
• Educational Advancements: Developing a university course or workshop with Cardano case studies.
• Local Advocacy: Authoring a policy paper on Cardano’s role in regional finance for local authorities.
• Research: Producing a whitepaper, litepaper, or other foundational research to advance a body of knowledge related to Cardano.

Core Eligibility: Who Can Apply?

This category is for the community builders: educators, marketers, content creators, and event organizers. To be eligible, you must meet the following criteria:

• Non-Technical Focus: You must be proposing a non-technical project. If your proposal focuses on software or hardware development, please apply to a different category. You may not allocate more than 20% of your budget towards supporting technical development work needed to execute your proposal. For clarity, 'technical development work' refers to activities like software programming, smart contract creation, or hardware engineering. It does not typically include routine project-support activities such as building a basic informational website, graphic design, or video production for your content.
• Demonstrate Relevant Experience: You must provide verifiable proof of the skills needed to deliver the project. Simply listing names and roles is not enough. Evidence must be provided in the proposal (e.g., a portfolio of past campaigns, links to created content, or reports from previous events).
• Maintain Good Standing with Catalyst: The lead proposer and all named team members must be in full compliance with commitments for any previously funded Catalyst projects. Proposers can verify their compliance status by reviewing their reporting dashboard on the Project Catalyst platform. All milestone reports for previously funded projects must be submitted and approved on time prior to this fund's submission. Learn more about it here.

Proposal Requirements

All proposals must adhere to the following standards for community-focused initiatives.

• Define Clear Goals & KPIs: You must clearly articulate your goals and how you will measure success using Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). Strong proposals will focus on action-oriented metrics (e.g., 'number of articles published,' 'new active members in a community hub,' or 'attendees who complete a workshop') over passive metrics (e.g., 'social media impressions').
• Demonstrate Community Value: The proposal must explain how the initiative will grow Cardano’s ecosystem, expand its global footprint, or onboard new users. Proposals without clear demonstration of value will be deemed ineligible. 
• Demonstrate Pathway to Adoption: Applicants must articulate a credible and logical pathway showing how their non-technical initiative encourages and enables future on-chain activity. Instead of requiring direct, immediate attribution for transactions, this should explain how the project moves participants or consumers of the content through the adoption funnel - from awareness and education to direct engagement with the Cardano ecosystem.
• Strong proposals will:
1. Identify a Target Action: Clearly state the ultimate on-chain action(s) you are preparing users for (e.g., creating a first wallet, minting an NFT on a specific platform, staking ADA, or interacting with a DeFi dApp).
2. Map the User Journey: Describe the steps a new user would take from discovering your content/event to being capable of performing that target action.

• Provide a "Call to Action": Explain how your project provides clear, compelling, and actionable next steps. This could be a link to a wallet guide, a tutorial on staking, or a direct introduction to a dApp. Your project should lower the barrier to entry for these actions.
• Detail Verifiable Team Credentials: Simply listing names and roles is insufficient. The proposal must include verifiable references (e.g., comprehensive LinkedIn profiles, project portfolios, public repositories) that clearly demonstrate each key team member's specific experience, accomplishments, and suitability for their role in the project. 
• Set a Realistic Timeline: The project delivery timeline must not exceed 12 months and must include clear milestones for key activities.
• Commit to Public Outputs: Proposals must commit to making outputs (e.g., educational content, event reports, research papers) publicly accessible. If any outputs are intended to remain private, a clear justification must be provided.
• Detail a Compliant Budget: Your budget must be for future activities only and allocated exclusively to the project's execution. Proposals seeking retroactive funding are not eligible. Funds may not be used for:
• User incentives, ADA or token giveaways, unless part of an approved hackathon or bounty program with clear governance structure in place how these are administered to avoid misuse.
• Creating sub-treasuries or re-granting funds.
• Primarily for merchandise. For proposals involving events, merchandise should be a supporting element and not constitute a significant portion of the budget (e.g., typically not to exceed 15% of the total requested funds).
• Funds cannot be used for purchasing digital assets, providing liquidity or used in other financial instruments.
• Please review Fund Rules for further details in addition to above.

Self-Assessment Checklist

Use this checklist to ensure your proposal meets all foundational and content requirements before submission.