Solana Foundation

Grants and Funding

Learn more about different grant and funding opportunities within the Solana ecosystem.

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    The Solana Foundation Funding Program aims to connect builders, creators, and founders to the best source of funding for their work. This may be through the Solana Foundation or other ecosystem sources.

    Solana Foundation Funding

    In the Solana ecosystem’s open-source spirit, the Solana Foundation supports projects that generate public goods for the community and give other ecosystem participants the opportunity to learn from and build on your work.

    The Solana Foundation primarily provides funding in the following ways:

    • Milestone-based grants for public goods
    • Milestone-based convertible grants for public goods with a commercial component
    • Requests for Proposals (RFPs) for specific ideas the Foundation is looking to fund

    How to apply

    Please note that the following are a set of guidelines for the Solana Foundation funding application only. Ecosystem sources of funding may have different processes.

    Application

    All funding applicants for Solana Foundation standard and convertible grants are required to fill out the application here.

    In the application, make sure to:

    • Provide a brief project overview
    • Clarify how your project provides a public good for the Solana network
    • Lay out a well structured budget proposal, and include thoughtful milestones

    Application Review (~1 week)

    All applications are reviewed on a rolling basis.

    If an application warrants an in-depth review, Solana Foundation subject-matter experts (“SME”) will reach out to schedule a call. The due diligence process can include technical due diligence, market research, and other analyses to determine the project’s fit and usefulness to the Solana ecosystem.

    Decision & Contacting (~3 weeks)

    Applicants will be notified via the email provided in their application whether their proposal has been accepted or not.

    Approved applicants work with the Solana Foundation Legal Team to finalize the grant agreement.

    Guidelines for Evaluation

    While the Solana Foundation appreciates a broad diversity of ideas in grant applications, there are a few common threads that the team always looks for.

    • We typically consider a project to be a public good if it either makes a significant open-source contribution to the Solana ecosystem, or if it has a meaningful free community offering. Depending on the circumstances, we may also consider a novel proof of concept to qualify. Projects that are primarily commercial in nature usually won’t qualify for a standard grant from the Solana Foundation, and should consider a convertible grant.

    • Not all projects require code, but they should be built in the spirit of open-sourcing your learnings for everyone to learn from. Projects should benefit the community at large, and while not all parts of the project should be open source, the usable parts should be available to all.

    • The proposal should make it clear why the project is building within the Solana ecosystem, as opposed to other places or other ways. Why Solana? How does the Solana protocol help the team or project achieve its goals in ways that are not possible elsewhere?

    • We encourage you to be thoughtful about how much you’re requesting and present a clear plan for how the funding will help you accomplish your goals. Set clear, measurable funding milestones, and make sure the funding you request is correlated to the impact to the community your project is providing.

    Please note that this criteria list is not exhaustive, and grant approvals are at the discretion of the Solana Foundation Capital Team.

    Ecosystem Funding

    Beyond the Solana Foundation, there are a broad array of funding options available to projects in the Solana ecosystem. Depending on your project’s stage of development, geography, or vertical, some of these options might suit your needs.

    Hackathons

    Solana Hackathons allow anyone with an internet connection to jumpstart their next project on Solana and join the fastest ecosystem in crypto. Hackathons can be hosted by the Solana Foundation or other teams within the Solana ecosystem.

    Past prizes have exceeded $20,000,000 in total and have been distributed to projects in DeFi, DePIN, games, NFTs, and public goods.

    Moreover, teams that have participated in these hackathons have often attracted the interest of investors keen on supporting strong new projects — even if they were not ultimately selected for a specific prize.

    For more information on the latest Solana Foundation Hackathon, see the Hackathon Hub.

    Ecosystem Grants Programs

    There are numerous grants programs run by teams within the Solana ecosystem. Generally, these programs are focused on a specific vertical or area of expertise, catering to certain applicants. The following ecosystem teams run their own grants programs.

    • Superteam helps projects in the Solana ecosystem in emerging markets such as India, South East Asia, Eastern Europe, and Africa. Superteam microgrants (<$10k) are generally for early-stage builders on Solana and have a quick turnaround.
    • BuildWithMonkeDAO is a grants program run by MonkeDAO for Solana projects building products and services for everyday users. In addition to funding, MonkeDAO offers grantees marketing support and broader visibility within the Solana ecosystem. Apply here!
    • Dean’s List DAO runs a grants program called DecentraGrants for individuals who are pushing DAOs and governance on Solana forward. The program aims to support DAO builders in the Solana ecosystem who are developing open-source governance tools and innovating in DAO security, governance mechanisms, tokenization, and more. Apply here!

    Community Public Goods Funding

    There are a number of community initiatives that also provide funding to public goods within the Solana Ecosystem. Examples include:

    • Cubik: Cubik is a platform that leverages community contributions and quadratic funding to support up and coming projects from the entire Solana ecosystem. You can submit your proposal for inclusion in the next funding round.
    • RPGF (Retroactive Public Goods Funding): RPGF aims to fund public goods that have already demonstrated real impact. A number of delegates chosen from the community vote on what projects have had the biggest impact and a matching pool of funds gets distributed accordingly. Follow our social media accounts for updates on the next round.

    The Solana ecosystem is an active, constantly-changing community, and there will always be new initiatives for teams to find funding. For the latest funding opportunities including the ones listed on this website and beyond, please see our actively managed database of different funding sources. To be added, please contact grants@solana.org.

    Solana is an open-source, public blockchain. Anyone can apply for funding from the Solana Foundation or other sources. That includes individuals, independent teams, governments, nonprofits, companies, universities, and academics.