Proposal Inverter flips the traditional grants model: instead of builders writing proposals to seek funding, funders post needs (with attached budgets) and builders choose which funded proposals to fulfill. This inversion reduces the overhead on builders, who no longer need to write speculative proposals, and allows multiple funders to pool resources behind shared priorities.
How It Works
- Funders identify needs — organizations or DAOs articulate what they want built, researched, or delivered
- Funding is attached — one or more funders commit capital to the proposal, pooling resources if multiple parties share the priority
- The proposal is published — builders can browse funded proposals and assess which ones match their skills and interests
- Builders opt in — teams or individuals claim proposals they're equipped to deliver
- Work is delivered and verified — builders complete the work, and funders verify delivery
- Payment is released — funds flow from the pooled proposal budget to the builder(s)
Advantages
- Reduces builder overhead — no speculative proposal writing
- Enables funder coordination — multiple organizations can pool resources behind shared priorities
- Market-based matching — builders self-select into work they're best suited for
- Clearer scope — funders define needs upfront rather than evaluating diverse proposals
- Reduces duplication — shared funding prevents multiple organizations from funding the same need independently
Limitations
- Requires funders to articulate needs clearly, which isn't always possible for exploratory work
- May miss innovative proposals that funders haven't imagined
- Power shifts to funders — builders work on funder priorities rather than their own ideas
- Coordination overhead for multiple funders to align on shared proposals
- Less suited for novel or paradigm-shifting work that doesn't fit existing funder categories
Best Used When
- Multiple funders share common infrastructure or public goods needs
- Builder communities are well-established and capable of self-selecting into work
- Needs are well-defined enough to specify upfront
- Reducing duplicative funding across organizations is a priority
Examples and Use Cases
Cross-DAO infrastructure — multiple DAOs need the same tooling (e.g., a shared governance dashboard). A proposal inverter lets them pool funds behind a single specification, with qualified builders opting in.
Ecosystem public goods — Ethereum L2s with shared infrastructure needs can use proposal inverters to coordinate funding for cross-chain tools without each independently running grants programs.
