Commitment Pooling is a funding mechanism where participants signal their willingness to contribute to a shared cause before money actually moves. If enough commitments align, the pool is triggered and funds are collected. If not, nothing moves. It solves the coordination problem: many people support a cause but hesitate to act without confidence that others will too.
How It Works
Commitment Pooling reduces coordination failure by allowing conditional pledges.
- A cause or project is proposed with a defined funding threshold and timeframe
- Participants signal commitments — non-binding or soft-binding pledges of specific amounts
- Commitments are tracked transparently — everyone can see how close the pool is to activation
- If the threshold is reached — the pool activates and funds are collected from all participants
- If the threshold is NOT reached — no funds move, and participants have risked nothing
Advantages
- Eliminates up-front financial risk through conditional pledges
- Reveals true community preferences by gauging authentic support
- Prevents over- or under-funding by activating only when critical mass is reached
- Enables collective action across fragmented actors with low friction
Limitations
- Not suited for urgent funding needs that can't wait for pledge accumulation
- Ineffective with low-engagement communities where thresholds are rarely met
- Poor fit for projects requiring guaranteed funding regardless of community response
- Unnecessary for simple one-off grants where a single funder can decide
Best Used When
- Multi-DAO ecosystem coordination where multiple actors need to align
- Public goods funding initiatives testing community support before committing capital
- Climate or cause-based campaigns that need coalition building
- DAOs assessing treasury deployment intentions before committing resources
Examples and Use Cases
Multi-DAO Climate Coalition
Ten DAOs align on a reforestation initiative — each pledges $10k, but funds only move once all ten have committed.
Community Threshold Funding
A local DAO funds a food sovereignty project only if $20k+ is pledged by community members, ensuring genuine community support.
Retroactive Contributor Funding
A protocol signals retroactive contributor funding that activates once $50k in community commitments is reached.
