About the Direct Grants category

Direct Grants
2

Direct Grants — Network Engineering SPE

A third funding lane alongside RFPs and Retroactive Grants. Direct Grants fund work where the scope is clear and the right builder is obvious.

Who it’s for

All three must hold. The scope is clear, meaning deliverables, acceptance criteria, and timeline fit on one page and have reached lite community consensus. There is a defensible reason you’re the right builder, such as prior work being extended, domain context, unique expertise, or time-criticality. And the work is bounded: total award ≤ $20,000, with anything above the cap routing to an RFP.

Who it’s NOT for

This isn’t the right lane when multiple credible builders could do the work, which should run as an RFP. It also isn’t right when scope is exploratory or impact is uncertain, which suits a Retroactive Grant, or when the amount exceeds the $20k cap, which routes to an RFP.

Areas we fund

Direct Grants fund work in the Network Engineering priority areas: the Developer Dashboard, the Explorer, and Orchestrator Tooling. Anything outside these is out of scope, so route it to an RFP or Retroactive Grant.

Funding & payment

Payouts are milestone-based: you come in with the milestones defined, and each tranche unlocks on verified deliverables, the same shape as an RFP. The total award is capped at $20,000, and 10% is reserved for the retroactive post and community engagement, the same requirement as the RFP process, covering documentation, the retro write-up, and engaging the community on the outcome. Grants are paid in LPT, converted from the USD-equivalent amount using a 7-day rolling average.

Ongoing requirements (all grants)

Every Direct Grant must post a monthly progress update to the forum, maintain a public GitHub milestone page that surfaces the work in progress, and publish a retroactive post on completion documenting what was delivered and its impact.

Process

  1. Step 1: Apply. Submit your application to this forum under direct grants category with full details (scope, deliverables, milestones, pricing). The GitHub milestone page must already be set up and linked in the application. Examples: Explorer, Cloud.
  2. Step 2: Ecosystem support. At least one other known ecosystem contributor publicly supports the application on this thread (same as the Retroactive Grant requirement).
  3. Step 3: AI review. The application is first screened by AI against the rubric and eligibility criteria.
  4. Step 4: Human review. If it passes, it goes to the Technical Director + 1 Reviewer.
  5. Step 5: Approved → move forward. Once approved, the builder starts work and begins posting updates against the milestones.
  6. Step 6: Deliver and report. Maintain a public GitHub milestone page for tracking progress to the forum, and publish a retroactive post on completion about the impact and community’s engagement with the output, which is worth 10% of the total award.

Apply using the template

Fill this in to apply: Direct Grant Application Template. Duplicate it, complete every section, and reply to this forum post with your link.

Application must include

Your application should fit on one page: a clear scope (deliverables, acceptance criteria, and timeline), a milestone breakdown mapped to payment tranches, and pricing in USD-equivalent within the $20k cap with 10% allocated to retro and community engagement. Include a link to the GitHub milestone page (already created before applying) and a short justification of why you’re the right builder.

Questions? Reach out to me, @Mehrdad Sadeghi.

Pre-Proposal: Network Engineering SPE