Community Grants: Q1 Grantee Announcement, Q2 Nominations Open, and Future Improvements

We are excited to announce the Q1 2022 Community Grant recipients! Every quarter, Mina Foundation awards grants to members of the exceptional Mina community to recognize their contributions to advancing and supporting the Mina ecosystem. 

We received about 200 nominations and were incredibly impressed by the work that was put forward. Many of the community-led projects are focused on the development of new educational resources and tools, in addition to creating new community-led events. Here are a few of the contributors which are receiving grants this quarter (please note that these are community-led efforts that are unaffiliated with Mina Foundation):

niuniu | Bit Cat #9001 has updated the Auro Wallet to support zkApps. Other features include Devnet support, hardware wallet support, and more.

flushthefashion#5369, creator of MinaCrypto.com, has consistently engaged and updated the community on all things within the Mina ecosystem. Their contributions include a zkApp directory, 50+ blogs, events such as World Mina Day, sharing Mina updates with a group of 2k+ subscribers, and more.

trivo#0001 and @Makalfo#7996 are two community contributors and developers who are always extremely helpful on Discord, educating others on Mina’s technology and zkApps. 

Boston Mike #0643 is a community leader who has provided unwavering support on Telegram and Discord, helping to ensure a safe and productive space for the community.  

See a full overview of the grantees here.

Nominations Now Open For Q2

As the grants program expands and more amazing contributions are added each quarter, we need your help to keep track of all of the valuable projects within the community.

If you have made contributions to the Mina ecosystem during Q2, please consider nominating yourselves for a quarterly grant. Community members may also nominate each other. We want to make sure you and your fellow community members are recognized for your efforts. Nominations for Q2 grants close on July 11, 2022. Nominate someone or yourself for a Q2 Mina Community Grant here.

Improved Grants Evaluation Process

The Mina Foundation is also committed to continuously improving its programs, including the quarterly grants program. We will implement a new, more streamlined process for the community grants for Q2 2022. These are some of the improvements for the upcoming round:

• The nomination form will remain open in an effort to make the nomination process easier to access at all times for community members. 
• The nominees who pass an initial eligibility check will gain more ownership in surfacing all their contributions and the positive impact that they have made by completing the nominee questionnaire. We want to make sure your contributions will not be missed and will be recognized.
• The high-level process, evaluation criteria, expected timelines, etc. are all published here for transparency.
• Updates will be shared throughout the process in the #grants channel so the community can easily follow the status and progress.
• On a regular basis, the Mina Foundation holds an internal retrospective session to collect learnings for the next iteration and to further improve the program. Please stay tuned for a feedback form where community members will be able to anonymously leave thoughts and suggestions about the grants program.

Please check out the full overview of the process and let us know in the #grants Discord channel if you have any questions or comments!

We truly appreciate the community for being on this journey with us, and the time and effort put into the individual projects and the nominations that were submitted.  We’re looking forward to awarding more grants for Q2 — Every contribution to the Mina community is crucial to growing Mina and its ecosystem!