Reference: Developer Funding
If you are working on a NEAR ecosystem common goods projects and seeking funding from DevHub, this guide will serve as a helpful resource. DevHub plays a major role in facilitating technical projects and fostering a decentralized NEAR developer ecosystem. Our platform connects individuals, organizations, and projects, allowing them to propose their ideas and connect with potential sponsors.
DevDAO Funding
Guidelines
DevDAO is the primary organization behind DevHub, and we offer sponsorships to contributors and projects that align with our goal of fostering a self-sufficient community of developers for a thriving NEAR ecosystem.
Areas of Funding
We are building an open-source developer community on NEAR that owns all aspects of its success. Below are examples of categories we support:
Content (podcasts, guides, tutorials)
Developer Tooling
Developer Relations (repos, documentation, community calls, social channel support)
Strategic Initiatives (zero knowledge)
Events & Local Presence (meetups, hackathons, brand-focused events)
Education (campus)
Marketing & Branding (marketing materials, swag)
Evaluation Criteria
DevDAO supports a broad diversity of ideas. But as a general principle, we look for contributions that provide value to the NEAR developer community in meaningful ways. When evaluating proposals, we encourage applicants to consider the following key criteria:
Developer First: We strongly support proposals that prioritize the needs of developers and help growth and retain the number of active developers on NEAR. Show us how your solution will make it easy for developers to succeed, whether through tools, libraries, education, or other initiatives.
Open Source: Not all proposals require code, but they should follow the spirit of knowledge sharing and collaboration.
Public Good: We want to see clear benefits to the NEAR & broader community.
Execution Ability: Demonstrate your ability to to deliver by sharing your team’s track record of success and available resources.
Clear Use of Funds: We expect to carefully consider the factors that influence your funding amount request and present clearly how the funding will enable your goals.
Funding Process
The funding of projects is a collaborative and transparent effort between the applicant, various Work Groups in the community, and the DevDAO Moderators. It involves several key stages that the applicant should consider:
Ideation: Post your idea on DevHub’s activity feed and request feedback from the community. At this point, you do not need to provide specific details for all the activities but an overall proposal description with an optional preliminary budget (see funding considerations).
Application: Once an idea is validated by the community, post a solution on DevHub’s activity feed, referencing the original idea post. In this submission, include detailed information about the activities you seek funding for and the amount of funding required (see funding considerations).
Community Review: Proposals are open for community comments and attestations. DevDAO Moderators evaluate proposals on a rolling basis that align with DevHub’s mission and focus areas. The moderators may coordinate and consult with communities and working groups covering multiple technical and operational areas such as infrastructure, zero knowledge, documentation, among many others.
Funding Approval: DevDAO Moderators collate reviews from evaluations and community feedback, and is ultimately responsible for making a final decision to approve/reject proposal based on the evaluation criteria and factors such as priorities, budget limitations, and risks.
Payment Processing: Once your proposal is approved, DevDAO Moderators will reply with a sponsorship post and contact you with the next steps, including KYC clearance, invoicing, and disbursement of funds.