Gitcoin Grants To Advance DEI in Web3

Since 2019, Gitcoin has been an invaluable tool for communities seeking to build open source software, with over $60MM in funding going to thousands of projects.

Not only does Gitcoin help builders and creators in Web3 ecosystems, but it also harnesses the power of quadratic funding to support Cause rounds which have included Climate, Support for Ukraine, and Crypto Advocacy.

For Grants Round 14 (GR14), we’re excited to take the success of quadratic funding and use it to power another cause that we deeply believe in: Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Web3. Web3 has the opportunity to rebuild not only the financial and technology infrastructure of our world, but also re-create an inclusive, representative working environment from first principles.

With that in mind, the DEI Cause Round for GR14 seeks to showcase and empower initiatives and organizations committed to ensuring that individuals from all backgrounds have an equal opportunity to participate in Web3 – with diversity in gender, race, geographical location, and other facets of identity.

The DEI Cause Round has raised $150K+ in matching funds to allocate to projects whose missions are to advance DEI in our Web3 community. We coordinated with notable DEI leaders in the Web3 space like Chase Chapman, Stefen Deleveux, Madam En, Manasi Vora, Tony Douglas, and Michail aka Opium Hum in order to vet 18 projects that satisfy the criteria of having DEI as a core tenet in the purpose of the organization, and having, at minimum, gender and racial parity and an overrepresentation of marginalized identities.

We’re proud to showcase the list of grantees here:

• 40ACRES to create self-sustaining communities of color using blockchain technology.
• Boys Club to
• Burning Sissy Valley to support a 1-day QTIBIPOC (Queer, Trans, Intersex, Black, Indigenous, People of Color) pride event celebrating the queer people of West Valley (Greater Salt Lake City).
• Caribbean Blockchain Alliance to grow a nonprofit dedicated to promoting crypto adoption within the Caribbean region, where it’s strongly needed.
• DreamDAO to invest in the future of the web3 x social impact ecosystem by providing diverse Gen Zers around the globe with the training, funding, and mentorship they need to leverage the power of web3 to secure a brighter, more solarpunk future for humanity.
• DSWF to to fund Web3 education initiatives for students at historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs).
• Hibiscus DAO to create a participant-owned system of producing clothes that uses consensus-driven blockchain technology to verify that products are being made ethically.
• Meta Gamma Delta to create an inclusive and empowering society supporting women-led projects in the blockchain space.
• Mintfund created with the sole purpose to build a support network for artists interested in bringing their art into the world of crypto as NFTs.
• pactdao to create a sustainable mutual aid model starting with NYC.
• she256 to increase diversity and break down barriers to the blockchain space.
• shefi to empower women to unlock financial freedom through crypto education, experimentation, investing and a global community.
• Surge to focus on educating, on boarding, and securing women’s place in Web3.
• Values Index to build open source data on social and environmental impact in web3.
• Void DAO to build a vast creative ecosystem to support and showcase diverse Web3 artists through immersive experiences online & offline.
• Women Build to build an accelerator for female and nonbinary engineering talent.
• Women in Blockchain (WiB) to onboard women to Web3.

Web3 is touted as the reimagination of the future of work, where work is intermixed with playfulness, and we can bring our true, authentic selves into the workplace. Unfortunately, the combination of Web3 being a nascent technology that benefits risk-seeking individuals, a technically dense subject matter, and a topic often related to financial services has led the Web3 community to skew towards overrepresented groups and mimic the representation of Web2 and other traditional industries.

As a result, many participants cannot be their true selves while participating in Web3; instead, they encounter the same issues that have plagued traditional workplaces and Web2, stemming from a lack of inclusion of diverse voices and backgrounds.

Many amazing groups have dedicated themselves to remediating this issue in Web3, and the Gitcoin Grants funding platform firmly believes in leveraging the power of quadratic funding to accelerate the advancement of Diverse, Equity and Inclusion within the Web3 community.

Gitcoin Grant Rounds evoke excitement from people, turning donating to important causes into a game of coordination and a feeling of being a part of a generous and impactful community. It also capitalizes on a core benefit of crypto – removing the intermediary counterparties in order to simplify the process of getting money directly to where it can be most useful.

For DEI, this means that organizations can secure project resources in proportion to their support from the community – no matter their country, their education or their background. Innovative projects are supported through crowdsourcing as well as through the magic of quadratic funding as a way to harness the wisdom of the crowd: the number of contributions that projects receive serves as a measuring stick for the impact that they are creating against their mission and for their communities.

We’re excited to utilize quadratic funding for GR14 in order to support high impact projects that are working tirelessly on advancing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and building a better community for all in Web3.