Hello!
I’ve been speaking with a number of community members since August and one common item that’s come up from these conversations has been a need for clearer communication around the governance practices of the Grants Program.
And so here is a collection of all information related to the Grants Program Governance:
Governance Structure: The Grants Committee
Proposals are posted publicly on the Forum for open discussion among the community by the Wednesday before the Committee meeting.These proposals are then reviewed by a Committee that convenes every 2 weeks, barring holidays or any other conflicts.
The Committee itself is structured to consist of at least three members, which may be appointed by the Sia Foundation Board (‘The Board’) or recommended by the Sia Foundation team. And at least one Board member serves on the Committee. The Board may appoint, remove for any reason, or replace members of the Committee at its discretion.
Committee members shall serve for a term of 2 years and are currently eligible for reappointment for up to two additional consecutive terms. Terms run August 1st - July 31st. Members are able to apply for a grant but they must recuse themselves from the approval process and any milestone review processes.
The following individuals currently serve as members of The Committee:
Foundation Members:
- Luke Champine
- Nate Maninger
- Chris Schinnerl
Sia Community:
- Mike76
- Redsolver
- Manasi
Governance Policies
The Grants Committee reviews all proposals and evaluates them based on the following criteria:
- Mission Alignment: Does the proposal address a recognized need in the developer or user community? Is the need consistent with The Sia Foundation’s mission of “user-owned data”?
- Proposal Organization: Are the goals and objectives clearly written? Can the desired outcomes be easily tracked?
- Potential Impact: Will the successful execution of this project make a meaningful impact on the decentralized storage sector, data privacy community in general, and the Sia community in particular? (Could be indicated by community involvement with the proposal on the Forum.)
- Technical Feasibility: Is the project feasible and the risk reasonable for the timeline provided?
- Team Capabilities: Is it clear that the applying individual or organization has the technical capabilities to deliver on their proposal?
- Budget Justification: How well does the applicant justify the budget? Is the budget aligned with the technical difficulty and potential impact of the project?
Aside from this criteria, the Committee also broadly considers:
- History: If they are a prospective or returning grantee, how was their previous performance (i.e. quality of their development work), and how might this impact their current application?
- Community Involvement: Are they already active community members? Do they show a willingness to be involved in the broader community?
- Technical Alignment: Is the project aligned with the Foundation’s technical roadmap?
- Status of Current Grants: Has the returning grantee successfully completed their current grant before applying for another grant?
Holiday Notice - Dec. 24, 2025 - Jan. 4, 2026 inclusive
Given the Foundation will be closed from December 24th to January 4th inclusive, there will be a pause in operations for the Grants Program and the Committee. This means the last Committee meeting of 2025 will be on December 9th, and meetings will resume in 2026 on January 20th.
For any active grants, this also means there will be no monthly reviews at the end of December so progress and final reports will not be expected until the next review period starting January 25th.
Individuals looking to submit proposals before the end of the year should be sure to post on the Forum by December 3rd at the latest to be considered at the December 9th meeting; and by January 14th to be considered at the first meeting of 2026.
If there are any questions or concerns, feel free to list them below or reach out over email at [email protected]. And, as always, looking forward to seeing your grant proposals!