Grant Ships are modular, self-contained funding rounds designed as plug-and-play mechanisms. Each ship operates independently with its own scope, team, governance rules, and budget, while leveraging shared infrastructure like Allo Protocol. Multiple ships can run simultaneously as a "fleet," scaling grantmaking horizontally.
How It Works
Grant Ships distribute grantmaking authority into parallel, autonomous units.
- Define the ship — each Grant Ship has a thematic focus, eligibility criteria, review process, budget, and timeframe
- Appoint local stewards — teams or individuals manage reviews and allocation decisions within their ship
- Launch on shared infrastructure — ships deploy on shared tooling (Allo Protocol, dashboards) for consistency
- Ships operate independently — each ship runs its own review process, accepting and funding proposals within its mandate
- Fleet coordination — multiple ships can communicate, share data, and report to a shared dashboard while maintaining autonomy
Advantages
- Horizontally scales grantmaking across communities, regions, and domains
- Maintains local autonomy while ensuring system-wide alignment
- Reduces centralized funding bottlenecks — no single committee reviews everything
- Enables experimentation — different ships can use different mechanisms (QF, retro, RFP)
Limitations
- Inefficient for small teams with single funding streams
- Requires standardized, composable tooling to avoid fragmentation
- Poor fit for contexts requiring strict centralized oversight
- Designed for recurring use, not one-time funding events
Best Used When
- Ecosystems have multiple funding needs across geographic regions or domains
- Large DAOs need to serve varied contributor groups without bottlenecks
- Delegated or distributed funding programs want consistency with local autonomy
- Organizations need reusable grant infrastructure that scales
Examples and Use Cases
Regional Education Rounds
Web3 education collectives launch regional Grant Ships for localized content creation — each ship serves its language and cultural context.
Parallel Domain Ships
A protocol ecosystem runs parallel Dev Tools, Governance, and Community ships, each with its own reviewers and criteria.
Bioregional Steward Councils
Regenerative networks deploy bioregion-specific Grant Ships with local steward councils managing allocation for their area.
