Plurality Labs Milestone 1 Impact Report

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Plurality Labs Milestone 1 Impact Report

Introduction

In August 2023, Arbitrum DAO passed Plurality Labs’ AIP-3, “Fund the Arbitrum Grants Framework”, with the goal to create the first milestone for a pluralistic grants program in Arbitrum.

In March 2024, Arbitrum DAO passed a continuation of this work by Plurality Labs (which had since been acquired by Thrive): “Proposal to fund Plurality Labs Milestone 1B(ridge)”.

As part of Thrive’s commitment to complete accountability and transparency, we are excited to share a comprehensive impact report for Milestones 1A and 1B. In it, we will overview all of our impact and learnings from our work and deliverables.

This is a long Impact Report. There were many deliverables that were promised, especially in Milestone 1A - and it was important for us to do whatever it took to deliver on all of them. To make this lengthy report as readable as possible, we’ve separated it into three sections:

Deliverables

In Milestones 1A, Plurality Labs promised a “comprehensive plan to build an Arbitrum DAO Pluralistic Grants Program.” Connected to this plan was an ambitious set of 20 wide-ranging deliverables separated into 4 categories.

In Milestone 1B, Plurality Labs proposed to deliver on all Milestone 1A deliverables, build on winners and cut under-performers with our initial and subsequent grants allocations, continue to drive experimentation, and leverage Thrive Protocol technology to support and scale.

We’ve listed below our work connected to all of the deliverables from Milestones 1A and 1B below. To review impact and supplementary documentation, please expand the sections.

Milestone 1A

1. Discover | Facilitate DAO native workshops

1a. Conduct DAO native sense-making to find the Arbitrum DAO Vision, Mission, Values, and Goals.

Toggle for details about 1a.

In September, 2023 Plurality Labs launched “GovMonth,” a 30-day campaign to crowdsource Arbitrum DAO’s mission, vision, values, and strategic goals.

We gathered input from over 15,000 respondents across eight platforms through contests, polls, surveys, and community X/Twitter Spaces and calls. Platforms included:

  • Thrive Protocol Incentives dApp was used to incentivize community participation with Push Protocol, JokeRace, Snapshot, Ethelo, Gitcoin, and X/Twitter initiatives, with a total spend of 89,707 ARB.

    • Impact:
      • In Milestones 1A (including GovMonth) and 1B, Thrive Protocol’s Incentives dApp proved to be a scalable and efficient solution, streamlining the creation and distribution of rewards to over 15,000 participants.
      • In Milestone 1B, Thrive Protocol’s Reviewer Network played a crucial role in maintaining the program’s integrity, ensuring that rewards were only allocated to genuine human participants and effectively mitigating Sybil attacks.

  • Ethelo was used to support the development of strategic priorities and constitutional values for Arbitrum DAO, and align them to funding decision-making.

    • Results/Findings: Over five rounds, 804 valid participants completed sense-making surveys related to DAO strategic priorities and constitutional values. The main findings were:
      • There is high support for Arbitrum’s established constitutional values
      • Mission survey results: “Make crypto easy to use” and “Catalyze decentralized innovation” received the most support.
      • Vision survey results: “Ensure the Ethereum ecosystem is strong and cooperative” received the most support.
      • Short term priorities: “Developer resource” and “Security and Auditability” received the most support.
      • Long term priorities: “Security and resilience” and “Blockchain investment” received the most support.
      • The complete findings are here.

  • JokeRace was used for gamified community engagement. Four distinct campaigns were initiated to gather insights from Arbitrum community members related to the DAO’s short and long-term priorities, and vision and mission statements.

    • Result: We asked the community to submit their ideas for Arbitrum DAO’s mission, vision, values, and strategic priorities. This yielded 20,000 submissions from 3,000 participants.
      • Mission Statement: The winning Mission Statement was: “Create a decentralized and transparent ecosystem”.
      • Vision Statement: Winning ideas consistently focused on security, efficiency, and good user experience.
      • Values: Top values were: Security, User Focuses, Sustainable
      • Growth & Innovation Priorities: Top priorities were: reduce gas fees and enhance community engagement.

  • Gitcoin was used for governance, grant distribution, and as a voting tool during GovMonth. The Arbitrum community was asked to allocate funds as votes in five domains: Education & Community Growth, Gaming, New Protocols, Developer Tooling on Nova, and Open in order to rank them by importance.

    • Result/Findings: With over 1,600 votes across 870 unique voters, the Arbitrum community ranked 5 domains in this order of importance: New Protocol Ideas, Developer Tooling on Nova, Gaming, Open, and Education & Community Growth

  • Snapshot was used for community voting. The community was asked to rank statements in order of value to the Arbitrum ecosystem.

    • Results/Findings:
      • Arbitrum community’s top priorities in regards to reducing friction, as per the Snapshot vote with 41,213 votes cast, were “make Arbitrum more accessible and easier to use for developers,” “Prioritize fostering growth and innovation,” and “Optimize Arbitrum gas fees”.
      • Per a second Snapshot vote with 41,564 votes cast, these top DAO priorities were identified: “Incentivize users and builders to come to Arbitrum” and “Evolve governance capabilities”.

  • Push Protocol was used to communicate with Arbitrum wallet holders.

    • Result: We secured 14,424 Arbitrum subscribers in four weeks, the third largest Push Protocol subscriber base.
    • We then used Push Protocol as part of our communication strategy to add another touchpoint through which the Arbitrum community can receive updates about important initiatives and events.

  • X/Twitter was used to host live feedback-gathering community spaces and report on the GovMonth initiative in real time. Spaces were hosted weekly and featured guests from partner platforms (listed above) and members of the Arbitrum Foundation.

    • Results: Over 1,500 Space participants, +4,000 Thank ARB X/Twitter followers (formerly Arbitrum Grants), and hundreds of thousands of impressions and engagements.

  • Other: We held over a dozen workshops and delegate calls, both formal and informal, through Google, Discord, and Zoom to gather community input. We also used OmniAnalytics for data assessments.

Additional data:

After completing the sense-making initiative, our responsibility was to report our findings back to Arbitrum DAO, so that the community could then take steps integrating them into the DAO’s strategic planning documents.

We delivered the report in this forum post and published the Ecosystem Objectives and Goals Survey.


1b. Clearly define funding priorities, including short and long-term goals and boundaries.

Toggle for details about 1b.

Defining funding priorities was achieved through the sense-making initiatives described in Deliverable 1a., published in this forum post, and the Ecosystem Objectives and Goals Survey.

Examples of one of our surveys measuring delegate perceived importance of a series of outcome metrics that might be valued by the DAO:

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Based on GovMonth findings, we established that funding priorities for Milestone 1A were as follows:

  • Attract more builders and developers
  • Grow and engage the community
  • Make governance more transparent and efficient
  • Make Arbitrum more secure and auditable
  • Reduce gas fees

Six months later, based on the evolving needs of the DAO uncovered through continued sense-making sessions and, then in Milestone 1B, ongoing feedback from our newly-established Plurality Labs Board, we established funding priorities for Milestones 1B:

  • Testing increased number of verticals and modalities
  • Rapidly deploying capital to address urgent DAO needs
  • Increase onchain activity, including dApps and protocols launched on Arbitrum
  • Support Open Source Software (OSS) development

1c. Establish and confirm key success metrics for the Grants Program

Toggle for details about 1c.

In the above-mentioned workshops, surveys, and then, for Milestone 1B, weekly board meetings with Arbitrum delegates, we discussed how to address the top ecosystem success metrics connected to the ongoing sense-making we were doing.

In Milestone 1A, we took the feedback that Arbitrum DAO wanted to experiment with full decentralization (including decentralizing what metrics are considered “success”).

To accomplish this, we initiated a Request for Proposal (RFP) process soliciting program proposals and allowed applicants to define their measures of success (quantitative impact metrics) as long as they supported the ecosystem goals that were clarified in our sense-making process.

In Milestone 1B, based on emerging feedback, shifting DAO needs, learning from Milestone 1A, and feedback from the board, we continued to allow program managers to define metrics—as had been previously clarified in sense-making. But we made one major change:

We leveraged the Thrive Protocol tech to have decentralized reviewers evaluate whether milestones were achieved. Once Thrive Reviewers validated milestone achievements, the Programs were paid. This was an important innovation, as it brought an additional layer of integrity, transparency, and decentralization to grants funding.


1d. Scope out requirements for a Gitcoin Grants round on Arbitrum

Toggle for details about 1d.

In Milestone 1A, we established requirements for a Gitcoin Grants round on Arbitrum, and published them in this forum post. We then funded Arbitrum rounds in GG20 and GG21.

Based on that work, Gitcoin selected Arbitrum as the canonical network for Allo V2 and the default network for GG20 and GG21.The impact was that tens of thousands of new active wallets and hundreds of new dApps were driven to the ecosystem that wouldn’t have otherwise been there. Source

Impact: published here.


1e. Establish clear communication cadences and channels for all key stakeholders to engage with the program:

Toggle for details about 1e.

Establishing clear communication cadences and channels for key stakeholders is imperative to run a successful Pluralistic Grants Program. There are many important constituencies in Arbitrum, including: delegates, builders, creators, DeFi users, program managers, grantees, and more.

It was important for us to reach all of them, so we took a comprehensive approach, using a variety of platforms and tools to engage the community. Our results:

  • 30+ X/Twitter Spaces, reaching over 10,000 participants
  • Multiple surveys using a variety of tools, comprising over 15,000 respondents
  • Multiple meetings for specialized groups on Discord, Meetup, and more
  • 25+ forum posts
  • 20+ board meetings with top Arbitrum delegates
  • Established an Arbitrum group on Push Protocol with over 14k members that turned into over 10k new wallet signups

Additionally, we received feedback from delegates, board members, and Arbitrum DAO members via calls and workshops, and on Discord, the forum, X/Twitter, at conferences, and in many meetings over the past year.

The outcome of this process was a deep understanding of the DAO’s overall needs, which we integrated into our commitments to Programs funded in Milestones 1A and 1B. For a more detailed explanation, please see Deliverable 1a.


2. Design | Construct best in class Pluralistic Grants Program

2a. Identify suitable tools and technology to support a robust, secure and efficient grants program

Toggle for details about 2a.

Below is a list of tools and technology we employed in Milestone 1A and 1B

Thrive Protocol: Thrive is the top protocol for efficiently allocating capital in crypto. We exist to redefine trust, foster innovation, and build a stronger, more transparent crypto future. We power top decentralized ecosystems, including much of the current L2 environment. Thrive powered and supported much of the work in Milestone 1A and 1B.

ArbitrumHub: ArbitrumHub is the central hub for real-time updates and comprehensive resources within the ArbitrumDAO ecosystem. It streamlines information and simplifies engagement for a more cohesive DAO experience.

Ethelo: Ethelo provided an advanced tool for monitoring and assessing grant programs. This project engaged Arbitrum stakeholders, capturing community insights and enhancing transparency.

Forse Analytics: Forse Analytics, a DAO intelligence platform, enhances governance by evaluating incentive initiatives via data-driven dashboards. Forse built dashboards to help evaluate our work in Milestone 1B.

Gardens: Through Plurality Labs, Gardens established a v2 Community using $ARB, a Council Safe of experts, a program Covenant, and 5-10 Conviction Voting pools.

Gitcoin: Plurality Labs provided matching funds in several Gitcoin grants rounds, amplifying community-driven innovation. Through Plurality Labs, Gitcoin GG20 ran entirely on Arbitrum, and was the preferred (most used) network in GG21.

Grant Ships: Grant Ships enhances the Arbitrum ecosystem by fostering decentralized governance and community-driven funding, enabling transparent and efficient capital allocation. Plurality Labs provided starting funding in Milestone 1A.

Hypercerts: Hypercerts enables platforms like Voicedeck to access Arbitrum, lets public goods developers fundraise, and supports over 50K hypercerts from 28K users, enhancing funding integrations.

Open Source Observer: Open Source Observer (OSS) builds technology to measure the impact of open source projects in web3.

Oxcart Delegation Engine: Oxcart ran the Delegate Redelegation Incentive Program (DRIP), a weekly lottery rewarding redelegated delegates for useful activity.

Passport XYZ: Passport is a leading Web3 Proof of Humanity solution enabling the Arbitrum ecosystem to generate onchain humanity proofs, enhancing security and trust.

Polity GRADE Program: The Polity GRADE Program integrates Ethelo’s advanced decision-making tools into the Arbitrum DAO ecosystem, providing a customizable platform for efficient, transparent, and consensus-driven grant evaluations.

Web3 Grants registry (Cartographer’s Syndicate): The Web3 Grants Registry is a collaborative partnership that leverages free, public datasets to help funders measure the impact of OSS contributions to their ecosystems.


2b. Design and process map the end to end grant funding flows.

Toggle for details about 2b.

In Milestone 1A we mapped the end-to-end grant funding flow, including three processes:

  • Compliance & Contract Drafting Flow
  • Grants Router/Application Flow
  • Impact Measuring Flow

This resulted in an organized template for subsequent Pluralistic Grants Programs, that includes process flows for Ecosystem Allocators, Foundations, Program Managers, Grantees, Reviewers, and Tool Providers. Link to Mural Board

Our recommendations for these processes going forward include:

  1. Standardize and Refine the Process Flows:

Build on the process maps created in Milestone 1 by standardizing and refining the grant funding flows to ensure consistency and efficiency across all future Pluralistic Grants Programs.

  1. Establish Clear Roles and Responsibilities:

Clearly define and communicate the roles and responsibilities of each participant and stakeholder to ensure a seamless and effective grant funding process.

  1. Develop a Knowledge Hub:

Create a knowledge hub that houses the process flows, templates, and best practices developed in Milestone 1, and make it accessible to all stakeholders to facilitate collaboration, transparency, and continuous improvement.

  1. Continuously Monitor and Evaluate:

Regularly review and assess the effectiveness of the grant funding flows, and make adjustments as needed to ensure that the process remains efficient, effective, and aligned with the program’s goals.


2c. Design approach, process, and channels for sourcing high-impact grants.

Toggle for details about 2c.

In Milestones 1A and 1B, the role of approaching, processing, and sourcing high-impact grants was assigned to each Program Manager, with support from the Plurality Labs team, the Thrive team, Arbitrum DAO, the Plurality Labs Board, and the Foundation.

While recruitment was technically the responsibility of Program Managers, we supported them by hosting best practices workshops for running impactful grants programs, and sourcing impactful grants. Forum post.

We also helped Program Managers recruit grantees through our social channels and email lists. Plurality Labs, in collaboration with Arbitrum DAO delegates on our oversight board, assessed Milestones 1A and Milestone 1B Programs based largely on their ability to deliver high-impact grants. Here are the assessment results. For more information, please see this M1B section below.

In Milestone 1B Programs were assessed by badged, decentralized reviewers via the Thrive Protocol. The reviews were based in part by the impact created by each Program’s grantees, which led to recommendations on whether to cut, coach, or grow the Program. They were then reviewed by the advisory board of top Arbitrum delegates. Source


2d. Design Grantee Registration process and grant pipeline management structure.

Toggle for details about 2d.

In Milestone 1A, we developed a streamlined registration process (deliverable 2b) that utilized an intuitive application to effectively match grantees with the most suitable Program, ensuring a more targeted and efficient allocation of resources. This application flow is visualized here.

To further enhance the grant management process, the Plurality Labs team leveraged Airtable to capture, categorize, and manage grantee data, and to track pipeline flow. By integrating every application field into Airtable, we enabled seamless reporting and data visualization, while also populating the public dashboard with up-to-date information.


2e. Design Grant Program manager application process and assessment criteria.

Toggle for details about 2e.

In Milestone 1A, the Plurality Labs team initiated a Grant Manager RFP process, and in partnership with the Advisory Board internally vetted the applicants based on the criteria included in this assessment rubric.

The rubric was then simplified and used to retroactively assess Program Manager impact at the end of 1A.


2f. Work with Gitcoin to set up and launch a Gitcoin Grants round on Arbitrum.

Toggle for details about 2f.

Plurality Labs launched a total of 21 Gitcoin Grants rounds in Milestones 1A and 1B. Because of Plurality Labs’ work, Gitcoin selected Arbitrum as the canonical network for Allo V2 and the default network for GG20. Arbitrum remained the preferred (most used) network during GG21. Source

Overall results from Gitcoin Rounds during Milestone 1A

Plurality Labs launched 21 Gitcoin Grants rounds, contributing significantly to establishing Arbitrum as a key network for Ethereum public goods funding. A total of 109,445 ARB was deployed to Arbitrum ecosystem projects, spanning 16 rounds:

This program successfully deployed Gitcoin’s Grants Stack on Arbitrum One, enabling users to launch grant programs and fostering a thriving public goods ecosystem. In doing so, Arbitrum solidified its position as a hub for Ethereum public goods.

The program sparked significant community engagement, with the Arbitrum Domain Round garnering 420 votes and the Grant Funding Fest attracting over 2,500 donors. Quadratic Funding (QF) proved to be an effective tool for Arbitrum, directing funds towards projects that impacted the DAO, and providing valuable insights into community priorities, such as protocol innovation.

Notably, the program highlighted the importance of robust Sybil detection, successfully mitigating detected attacks by excluding malicious donations from matching calculations. Through these efforts, the program elevated Arbitrum’s profile, onboarded new users, and demonstrated the value of decentralized grant-making in promoting a vibrant and diverse ecosystem.

Overall results from Gitcoin Rounds during Milestone 1B

GG20

  • Gitcoin selected Arbitrum as the canonical chain for Allo v2
  • Since Plurality Labs support began with GG20, nearly all of the transaction activity has shifted from OP and Polygon
  • 35,473 total addresses transacting on Arbitrum, contributing over 600,000 USDC-equivalent to 522 grantees
  • Including matching funds from Gitcoin, more than $2M transacting on Arbitrum during GG20.
  • Rounds supported: Open Source Software Rounds (e.g. Hackathon Alumni Round, dApps & Apps Round, Web3 Infrastructure Round, Developer Tooling and Libraries Round)

GG21

  • 20,000 new active Arbitrum wallets
  • 600 new smart contracts deployed on Arbitrum
  • Full-time developers: 103 ( +3 % from GG20) (Commits on 10 or more days in a month)
  • Part-time developers: 558 (+64% from GG20) (Commits between 1 and 10 days of the month)
  • Rounds supported: Thriving Arbitrum Summer

2g. Design credibly neutral grant funding evaluation criteria, reporting structure, and cadence.

Toggle for details about 2g.

Evaluation

In Milestone 1A, programs were hand-selected by the Plurality Labs team based on their assessment of the needs of the DAO. In Milestone 1B, based on feedback from delegates and DAO members that selection needed to be more decentralized, we employed Thrive Protocol’s review capability to allow decentralized reviewers to select the Programs and Program Managers, and give our Plurality Labs board of top delegates the opportunity to veto any Program they believed didn’t fit the needs of the DAO.

The assessments for both milestones employed a Likert scale to rate eight points of performance for each Program. This resulted in the recommendation to continue funding two of the first twelve programs. Source

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In Milestone 1B we leveraged Thrive Protocol’s technology, and its decentralized, credibly neutral reviewer network to support the assessment process:

  • Created a program application rubric, used to screen program applications. Source
  • Created a program manager rubric, used to review program managers. Source
  • Onboarded dozens of high-context reviewers from Arbitrum DAO. Source
  • Held weekly reviewer office hours from June through July, 2024.
  • Designed outcome and impact assessment criteria (on Thrive App with at least 3 Reviewers per Milestone):
    • Relevance & Quality of Deliverables: scale of -3 to +3 :
      • The submitted updates align with the project’s purpose and goals, are well justified if different from what was originally scoped, and suggest that funds were effectively utilized. Sufficient evidence is provided to support these conclusions.
    • Arbitrum Impact: scale of -3 to +3 :
      • The project clearly adds value to the Arbitrum ecosystem by driving progress for at least one of these top-line DAO goals: total value locked, number of transactions, number of active (sticky) users, developer activity, or asset price. If a top-line goal isn’t directly or indirectly affected, the project still demonstrates significant benefit to the Arbitrum ecosystem that is easy to justify.
  • Resulted in a Cut, Coach, Grow recommendation for all Programs, and the top 50 grantees. Please see this section of Milestone 1B for more details.

Reporting and Cadence

In both Milestones, Program Managers and Grantees were required to submit monthly updates that populated the Plurality Labs Dashboard, which is a public grants portal viewable by the community. We then summarized Program progress into monthly forum posts, ensuring Plurality Labs grants funding remained transparent to the Arbitrum community.

Impact: Grant funding evaluation and reporting became more and more transparent and credibly neutral throughout Milestone 1, which allowed us to surface impactful projects and programs, and legitimately recommend whether or not programs and projects should be cut, coached, or grown.


3. Facilitate the successful execution of Pluralistic Grants Programs

3a. Onboard and coach Pluralist Program Managers in grant program best practices.

Toggle for details about 3a.

In Milestone 1A, we created the Program Manager onboarding process here, and we created the Program Manager application here.

We ran an RFP process to find qualified applicants, and hosted two workshops providing applicants best practices on running impactful grants programs, and how to source impactful grants. Forum post.

We then onboarded 12 programs and their managers, who we believed would significantly impact Arbitrium DAO, based on the strategic priorities defined in GovMonth.

In Milestone 1B we continued our onboarding process from 1A, and hosted four Program Manager workshops, providing best practices for running a grants program. The workshops occurred on:

  • April 30, 2024
  • May 16, 2024
  • May 23, 2024
  • July 24, 2024

Workshop slide deck

May 16, 2024 meeting recording


3b. Deploy a total of 2.8 million ARB in funding to programs selected via the Pluralist Program Managers

Toggle for details about 3b.

Milestone 1A

  • Total funds received: 3,360,000 ARB

  • Service fee: 336,000 ARB

  • Total grants spend: 2,163,432.13 ARB

    • Deployed to pluralistic grants program managers: 169,671 ARB (7.8% of grants spend)
    • Deployed to grantees: 1,993,761.13 ARB

  • Rolled over into M1B: 860,567.87 ARB

Milestone 1B

  • Total funds received from treasury: 2,846,000.00 ARB

  • Funds rolled over from M1A: 860,567.87 ARB

  • Total budget for milestone: 3,706,567.87 ARB

  • Service fee: 560,000.00 ARB

  • Total grants spend: 2,427,961.25 ARB

    • Deployed to pluralistic grants program managers: 125,516.00 ARB (5.2% of grants spend)
    • Deployed to grantees: 2,302,445.25 ARB

  • Additional spend: 117,043.90 ARB

    • Participation Incentives: 64,273.90 ARB
    • Reviewers (Grant Impact Index): 34,770 ARB
    • Oversight Board per diems: 18,000 ARB

  • Leftover funds: 601,562.72 ARB

Milestone 1A Budget

Milestone 1B Budget


3c. Deploy 300,000 to Gitcoin Grants round recipients.

Toggle for details about 3c.

In Milestone 1A, Plurality Labs allocated 110,000 ARB to Gitcoin matching pools, through Arbitrum Domain Round (on Eth mainnet), Arbitrum Grant Funding Fest, Arbitrum Retro Citizens Round, and Arbitrum Matching Fest, as well as 115,000 ARB to Questbook Support Rounds on Gitcoin source source source

In Milestone 1B, Plurality Labs allocated 390,000 ARB to matching pools, 240,000 ARB to Gitcoin GG20 grantees and 150,000 ARB GG21 grantees. Source Additionally, we ensured Arbitrum was the canonical network for GG20 which resulted in the vast majority of transactions using the Arbitrum network for GG20 and GG21, shifting transactions from OP and Polygon to Arbitrum. Source


3d. Oversee grants rounds to ensure they are free from fraud or abuse

Toggle for details about 3d.

To safeguard the integrity of the grant funding process, we implemented robust measures to prevent fraud and sybil attacks. Our decentralized reviewer network, a key component of the Thrive Protocol, played a crucial role in detecting and deterring suspicious activity.

To further bolster our defenses, we partnered with Trusta Labs, a leading provider of blockchain-based trust and safety solutions. Their technology enabled us to identify and flag suspicious patterns of behavior, adding an extra layer of protection against Sybil attacks and fraudulent activity.


4. Evaluate | Report back on grant funding outcomes

4a. Publish financial & analytics reports on grant funding value, volume, outcomes and other relevant metrics requested by the community

Toggle for details about 4a.

Here are financial and analytical reports published across Milestones 1A and 1B:


4b. Share key learnings and grants program best practices with Arbitrum DAO and the wider web3 community.

Toggle for details about 4b.

Through Milestones 1A and 1B we published these reports with learnings and best practices:

For more information please see the Findings section below.


4c. Collate community feedback and input on grants programs efficacy and success

Toggle for details about 4c.

In Milestone 1A, we solicited and received community feedback through surveys, workshops, office hours, and community calls. We used that feedback to determine DAO priorities, and thus what programs to fund in Milestone 1B to address those priorities. Please see Section 1a for more details.

Please also see: Milestone 1B Mid-program Retro & Learnings & Final


4d. Evaluate, review, and iterate based on this feedback to continually improve the overall impact of the Arbitrum DAO grants program

Toggle for details about 4d.

Plurality Labs prioritized community feedback, soliciting input from delegates, applicants, reviewers, and grantees to inform its evaluation, review, and iteration processes. This ongoing feedback loop enabled the program to adapt and refine its approach, ultimately amplifying its impact and better serving the needs of the Arbitrum ecosystem.

Community Feedback Collection

  • In Milestone 1A, we Identified funding priorities in workshops with top delegates and used insights to identify DAO priorities, guiding funding decisions in Milestone 1B. We continued this initiative in Milestone 1B.
  • We collected feedback through DAO sense-making activities from applicants, grantees, and reviewers and the DAO through surveys, workshops, office hours, community calls, weekly and monthly forum posts, and direct messages in Telegram

Transparency and Communication

  • We increased transparency by making application details publicly accessible, while protecting applicant anonymity by removing identifying information.
  • Additionally, we provided unsuccessful applicants with AI-generated summaries, offering actionable insights into the decision-making process.
  • We also clarified the program’s intent and guidelines, ensuring that applicants understood the program’s purpose and scope, and that it was not a seed funding initiative.

Application and Review Process

  • We introduced a multi-stage review process, including screening, planning grants, and decentralized community reviews, enabling deeper evaluation and community participation.
  • We evolved the 1-5 Likert scale with a -3 to +3 rubric, allowing for more nuanced feedback.
  • We developed a system to score reviewers based on alignment with consensus and feedback quality, improving overall review standards.
  • We piloted planning grants in Milestone 1B to help promising applicants refine proposals for stronger Arbitrum impact, inspired by traditional grant-making practices.
  • We updated future application forms to include questions on demographics, grant management experience, allocation mechanisms, and budgets for better decision-making.
  • We hosted regular workshops to guide program managers on the review process and tools like Karma for impact evaluation, promoting transparency and open communication.

Ongoing Evaluation and Iteration

  • We adopted a “cut, coach, grow” model to manage grant programs, continuously assessing and adjusting as needed.
  • We supported successful programs in scaling while discontinuing funding for underperforming ones.
  • Expanded monitoring and evaluation to include community feedback and implemented more detailed rubrics for impact assessment.

Community Involvement

  • We sought program managers from diverse backgrounds to ensure grant programs represented Arbitrum’s global community and commitment to social and technological inclusivity
  • We relied on a decentralized network of high-context community reviewers for application evaluations, providing compensation and incentives to encourage quality reviews.

Commitment to Improvement

  • We demonstrated dedication to transparency, community engagement, and continuous improvement by actively seeking feedback, testing new approaches, and involving community members in review and evaluation.

Milestone 1B

Milestone 1B Overview

The feedback from the DAO after Milestone 1A was that we needed to better leverage Thrive Protocol’s internal team and technology, invest in communications, and ensure that our work was documented so that it could be understood and learned from.

To ensure that we addressed that feedback, we upgraded the Plurality Labs team, added a superstar advisory board, and received significant ongoing support from the Thrive team, especially connected to usage of Thrive Protocol.

  • Team upgrade: In addition to Joe and Shawn, who remained with the team through the deployment, and a familiar crew from Milestone 1A, we added team members that know grants, know DAOs, and know scale. The new team members included:

    • Ben West: Arbitrum Deployment Lead
    • Katharina Voss: Grants Manager
    • Rebecca Mqamelo: Thrive Architect
    • Julian Zhao: Thrive Architect
    • Matt Carano: Marketing Support

  • Plurality Labs Board: We welcomed a board of top voices in the Arbitrum community for oversight, and to ensure decentralized decision-making. The board included these members:

    • Coinflipcanada: Protocol Builder & ARB OG Delegate
    • Kaereste: Industry Expert & ARB Pro Delegate
    • DK: Protocol Builders & ARB Pro Delegate
    • Lindsey: Industry Expert & Active DAO Contributor
    • Pepperoni Jo3: Finance Expert & ARB DAO Delegate
    • Mashal: Grants Expert & Active DAO Contributor
    • Gustav: Governance Expert & ARB Pro Delegate

  • Thrive Team and Technology: For Milestone 1B, Plurality Labs was able to use our Grants dApp, Incentives dApp, Reviewers dApp, and Reviewer Network to drive more efficiencies and impact along the way. We also supported with engineering, best practices, ticket support, and anything else needed to support a successful deployment.


1. Build on winners and cut underperformers

Toggle for details about Section 1.

In Milestone 1A, Plurality Labs deployed funds via 12 different grants programs with many different modalities for grants decision-making. The intention was experimenting with different modalities to get quick feedback about what works and can immediately scale.

In Milestone 1B we evolved our grants decision making model to a “Cut, Coach, Grow” rubric approved by the board and in-line with feedback from Arbitrum DAO, to better evaluate the impact and scalability of Milestone 1A programs, as well as new programs onboarded through Milestone 1B.

Using that rubric, the Plurality Labs Board recommended we continue and grow two programs from Milestone 1A: Firestarters (which funded many significant projects within Arbitrum) and Arbitrum on Gitcoin. Both made it to Milestone 1B, where they continued to create additional value.

We later applied the “Cut, Coach, Grow” rubric to M1B Programs to support understanding how we would grow and scale our work together going forward.

Milestone 1B Process Overview

In Milestone 1B Plurality Labs implemented a rigorous RFP process for selecting top Program Managers who would pluralistically allocate grants. We received 122 program applications and identified 64 high-quality candidates after internal screening.

Our decentralized Reviewer Network evaluated the applications and selected the top 22 candidates best positioned to drive impact for Arbitrum. The evaluation criteria included grant management experience, and whether the proposed program addressed Arbitrum DAO needs discovered through our sense-making initiatives.

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We provided planning grants of 1000 ARB and coaching to the top 20 applicants, empowering them to refine their proposals and showcase their potential.

The dedicated Plurality Labs team, with oversight from the Plurality Labs board, selected the top 10 programs. One program, Oxcart Delegation Engine, required more extensive development than anticipated and was eventually turned into a Firestarters project, leaving a total of 9 programs.

Programs

Below is a list of the original 10 Programs along with the DAO needs each one addresses.

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Here are the original 10 Programs by funding mechanism.

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Amplifying Impact, 266,000 ARB: The program used Ethelo’s platform for identifying impact of projects through expert reviews, a predefined rubric, and the Ethelo algorithm. This resulted in a weighted evaluation that avoided popularity contests, prioritizing giving funds to projects that exceed expectations in the Arbitrum ecosystem. Blind expert reviews provide unbiased data, and Ethelo’s algorithm ensures transparent, consensus-driven retroactive allocation of funds.

The use of this novel mechanism retroactively helped funds be more strategically allocated. These tools could also be used proactively or retroactively in the future, and this implementation will help refine the various decision making templates broadly available to the Arbitrum community.

Impact Delivered:

Amplifying Impact benefited the Arbitrum ecosystem by onboarding 20+ expert reviewers, creating onchain attestations that share participating projects’ successes and failures, and enabling integration and automation across various grant programs and investment decisions, ultimately helping to drive adoption and higher quality applications in the ecosystem.


Cartographer Syndicate, 300,000 ARB: A targeted grants program to attract thought leaders and top talent in the grants impact and measurement space to build out a suite of tools to support both grantees and program coordinators. This involved RFPs for registry development, such as reputation systems and advanced analytics, with fund allocation via conviction voting and quadratic funding.

Impact Delivered:

Cartographer Syndicate benefitted the Arbitrum ecosystem by establishing a comprehensive Web3 Grant Registry, incentivizing contributions through innovative funding mechanisms, enhancing governance and scalability, and fostering community growth and participation.


Farcaster Builder Program, 4,333 ARB: The program aimed to foster a robust developer ecosystem for Arbitrum on Farcaster by allocating grants to high-quality builders and encouraging community-driven projects to boost engagement. However, the project was cut because it failed to secure key developer support and reach pre-defined metrics. Funds were retained for future use.


Firestarters, 500,000 ARB: Firestarters aimed to rapidly address urgent needs within the Arbitrum DAO by empowering a decentralized group of community members to allocate resources and continuously improve projects through feedback loops. Grant allocations were 50,000 ARB or less. This program was managed directly by the Plurality Labs team, with reviews outsourced to a group of decentralized reviewers from the Arbitrum community.

Impact Delivered:

Firestarters provided crucial seed funding to projects tackling pressing needs within the Arbitrum DAO ecosystem, as identified through our sense-making initiatives outlined in Deliverable 1a.


Gitcoin, 240,000: Gitcoin GG20 ran entirely on Arbitrum due to a strong partnership formed during Plurality Labs Milestone 1A. Consequently all grantee proposals, donations and smart contracts deployed on Gitcoin were moved to Arbitrum. Milestone 1B contributed funds to matching pools with the remainder of the initial $1 million coming directly from Gitcoin. Individual donors added over 600,000 USDC equivalent to the round overall.

Impact Delivered:

  • Observed 9,095 wallets transacted on Arbitrum for the first time in April.
  • 8,879 (25.40%) of GG20 donors were new to Arbitrum.
  • 216 (41.38%) of grantees were new to Arbitrum.
  • Facilitated 35,473 total addresses transacting on Arbitrum, the result was transactions totaling more than $2 million on Arbitrum during GG20.
  • Doubled the number of open source projects from the previous rounds which meant a wider range of excellent projects to potentially support and attract into the Arbitrum ecosystem.

Giv-ARB Ecosystem Accelerator Program, 155,000 ARB:This program focused on projects refactoring to deploy contracts on Arbitrum and bringing active participants in the Arbitrum ecosystem. Giveth experimented with funding in four phases all focused on various versions of sustainable funding.

Impact Delivered:

This program benefits the Arbitrum ecosystem by increasing the number of existing and new applications that are onboarded to the Arbitrum ecosystem and their ability to drive new DAUs on Arbitrum.


Oasis Onchain Quick Grants, 75,000 ARB: Oasis Onchain Quick Grants aimed to expand Arbitrum’s tech, community, and governance in the Global South. It provided quick funding (1,000–5,000 ARB) to 15 projects, enhancing contributors, governance, and education within 8-9 weeks. The 75,000 ARB pool supported DeFi, NFTs, governance, and more.

Impact Delivered:

This program benefitted the Arbitrum ecosystem by positioning it as the leading L2 for builders in the Caribbean and Global South, accelerating consumer crypto products and RWAs relevant to emerging markets, educating developers, and increasing participation in Arbitrum governance through targeted marketing and onboarding initiatives.


Refi in Arbitrum, 300,000 ARB: Funded ReFi projects based on milestone achievements, rewarding over-performance. Expert reviewers, selected for their ReFi and Arbitrum knowledge, chose grantees using an evaluation rubric designed by the Program Manager.

Impact to Deliver:

This Program Introduces ReFi projects as a new vertical to Arbitrum, attracting hundreds of builders to the ecosystem.


RWA Innovation Grants, 300K ARB: Using multiple mechanisms the program targets funding to kickstart the RWA vertical, while empowering the community to guide RWA development on Arbitrum. RQA Innovation Grants enables the growth of vertically-focused grant programs.

Impact Delivered:

This program benefitted the Arbitrum ecosystem by supporting the development and integration of Real-World Assets (RWAs), thereby attracting new protocols, increasing DeFi TVL, and fostering innovation and research through a robust, expert-managed grants initiative.


M1B Program Performance: Cut, Coach, Grow Recommendation

To evaluate performance, we required each program to submit evidence of project milestone completion, for a total of 3 milestones.

Next, Thrive Reviewers evaluated each program’s top 5 projects, assigning a score of +2 for projects recommended for growth and +1 for projects recommended for coaching.

Lastly, we averaged the scores to determine a final verdict score for each program. The threshold for grow was 1.35. The Threshold for cut was 1.10. Source

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Grow Programs

Four programs stood out for their impact on the Arbitrum ecosystem, Firestarters, Cartographers Syndicate, Amplifying Impact, and Gitcoin Grants Rounds (not mentioned below, as we recommend supporting GG22 and beyond outside the context of any pluralistic grants program). The three remaining programs all had numerous successes funding individual projects. We believe continuing to fund these programs can unlock even greater value over time.

Firestarters Key Achievements

Firestarters is managed by the Plurality Labs team and was first launched during Milestone 1A. This program expands the original concept of having dedicated grant allocations for people solving immediate needs within the Arbitrum DAO.

Funded numerous projects that addressed imminent needs of the DAO, including:

SheFI

SheFi has empowered over 4,500 professional women to transition into Web3 through an 8-week immersive program, featuring live instruction, hands-on demos, and onchain activations, with additional large-scale events and career development. This grant funds the development of Arbitrum-focused content, quests to incentivize Arbitrum usage, contributions to Arbitrum DAO, and scholarships, fostering a diverse, knowledgeable community and driving adoption of Arbitrum’s Layer 2 solutions. Most recently, SheFi brought 1,230 new members from 84 countries to Arbitrum.

Azuki Art Contest

Azuki’s Mizuki Art Contest is a community-driven initiative that delves into the lore of Mizuki, one of their main anime characters. To pave the way for Azuki’s AnimeChain launch on Arbitrum, the contest was brought to the Arbitrum ecosystem, seamlessly blending culture and technology to create a lasting, onchain legacy. Results:

  • 7,220 NFTs minted on ARB
  • 2,749 transfers/transactions on Arbitrum
  • 1,072 unique holders (new ARB wallet holders)

Astral

Astral is pioneering onchain location-based applications within the Arbitrum ecosystem. With the launch of their consumer app, Logbook, on Arbitrum One, users can now perform location-based check-ins, unlocking new possibilities for interaction and engagement. As a foundation for further innovation, Astral’s infrastructure plays a crucial role in supporting the development of other location-based applications. In Q3 2024, Astral successfully integrated the Location Proof Protocol with IPFS, a significant milestone in the advancement of their technology.

Passport

Passport successfully launched on Arbitrum, and has established itself as a premier Web3 solution for generating onchain humanity proofs, bolstering security and trust within the ecosystem. By empowering novel use cases, such as Devcon ticketing and role-based delegation, Passport is driving meaningful growth, stimulating increased transaction activity, and expanding data availability on the Arbitrum network.

Hypercerts

The Hypercerts Protocol establishes the infrastructure for the Arbitrum ecosystem to fund and reward its most valuable contributors, driving effective ecosystem growth. This project aims to deploy hypercerts on Arbitrum, upgrade user functionalities, and enhance marketplace and evaluation infrastructure, enabling the ecosystem to efficiently allocate funds, track contributions, and improve grant programs, ultimately attracting more projects and users to Arbitrum.

Cartographers Syndicate Key Achievements

  • Projects achieved a success rate of 92% measured by completed milestones.
  • Launched the first onchain grant registry on Arbitrum, using the Allo Protocol.
  • Pioneered first conviction voting experiment in Arbitrum (Gardens).
  • Created a comprehensive system for tracking grants and incentives (OpenSource Observer).
  • Developed the first grants and incentives reputation system (Trustful).

Amplifying Impact Key Achievements

  • 40 new projects deployed on Arbitrum.
  • Onboarded a new vertical of ReFi projects with the support of highly credible environmental experts including IPCC scientists, journalists, a Greenpeace founder, and a Nobel Prize winner.
  • Recruited 16 experts to analyze and score the impact generated by funds allocated to 100 projects participating in quadratic funding rounds.
  • Then, via retroactive funding, right-sized funding allocations to the projects based on impact.
  • Created a framework for assessing retroactive funding on the Ethelo platform.

Coach Programs

Three programs fell short of the “Grow” threshold, but demonstrated sufficient potential and impact to warrant consideration for continued support. With targeted coaching and guidance from the DAO, these programs may be able to build on their existing momentum and achieve greater success.

RWA Innovation Grants Achievements

  • Kickstarted the Real World Assets vertical on Arbitrum.
  • Supported Infinfty, a B2B SaaS platform enabling product lifecycle traceability. Infinfty’s solution helps brands track their products from inception to disposition providing them with insights into their product’s sourcing, performance, environmental impact, and ownership history.
  • Supported Truflation, an oracle provider powering RWA data collection in Arbitrum. It tracks over 18 million items through 65+ data partners. Its US Index is a premier metric for tracking CPI, featured in Bloomberg, CNBC, NYT, etc

GIV-ARB Ecosystem Grants Achievements

  • Tested incentive mechanisms to amplify the impact of QF for the Arbitrum ecosystem.
  • Onboarded 200+ new projects to Arbitrum, 150 from existing Giveth projects, and 50 were brand new.
  • Added 1500 new unique donors to Arbitrum.

ReFi in Arbitrum Achievements

  • Kickstarted the ReFi vertical on Arbitrum, which led to onboarding new builders into the Arbitrum ecosystem.
  • Supported DIVA Donate, an innovative platform that leverages blockchain technology to enable parametric conditional donations. In parametric conditional donations, funds are deposited into an escrow upfront. Release is tied to the outcome of a certain predefined event or metric in the future.

Cut Programs

Thrive’s Reviewer Network assessed that two programs scored lowest using Cut Coach Grow metrics. One of the two, Farcaster Builder Program, was cut because it failed to secure key developer support and reach pre-defined metrics.

However, there were stand-out individual projects in 6 of 9 programs we recommend growing.

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Source


Key Findings: Impactful Projects

There were a total of 332 projects funded through Plurality Labs Milestone 1B. We identified and recorded the top 50 projects here. Our Human Reviewer Network assessed each project and made a recommendation to Cut, Coach, or Grow them.

This resulted in 13 projects recommended to Grow, 25 projects recommended to Coach, and 12 recommended to Cut. Here are five of the top Grow projects:

Open Source Observer

  • Cartographers Syndicate funded this project with 7,286 ARB
  • Open Source Observer builds tech to measure impact of open-source projects in Ethereum & Arbitrum ecosystems. Provides open API, data warehouse, and analytics for discovering/funding digital public goods.
  • Their Arbitrum Open Source Observer Directory features 200+ projects (DeFi, gaming, dev tooling, etc.), auto-validates, and rewards community submissions. Data is indexed from on & off-chain sources.
  • Leverages directory data to propose 4-5 “impact pools” measuring ecosystem health (user growth, dev activity, sequencer fees).
  • Arbitrum alignment: Supports transparency, collaboration, & growth in Web3 grants, aligned with the Cartographer Syndicate mission.
  • Sample report for Plurality Labs

SheFi

  • Firestarters program funded this project with 50,000 ARB
  • Launched 8-week program on June 18, 2024
  • Onboarded 1,230 new members from 84 countries into the latest cohort through the generosity of Arbitrum scholarships.
  • During the program members were given instruction hands-on educational experiences with Arbitrum technology.
  • Program video

Astral

  • Firestarters program funded this project with 29,311 ARB

  • Astral is on a mission to enable thousands of onchain and location-based apps within the Arbitrum ecosystem.

  • Recently launched the “Logbook” on Arbitrum One, which allows users to perform location-based check-ins. This app is supported by the core infrastructure essential for the development of other location-based applications.

  • Approximately 100 testnet (developer check-ins), 2 mainnet transactions — deploy Location Proof Protocol schema v0.1 on EAS, registered first entry.

  • Integrated Location Proof Protocol with IPFS - Q3’24.

  • Developed the Astral Logbook - Q3 2024.

Switch Electric

  • Amplifying Impact program funded this project with 18,000 ARB.
  • Created the M3tering Protocol, a system that uses tokens to encourage investment in solar energy projects that bring electricity to underserved communities. It incentivizes individuals and businesses to become electricity providers through rooftop solar installations. Consumers pre-pay for clean energy, while providers receive rewards.
  • Increased DAU in ReFi, RWA, and DePin verticals on Arbitrum.
  • Increased number of protocols actively building on Arbitrum.
  • Launched in Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa, onboarding new users to Arbitrum in developing countries.

Blockscout

  • GG21 program funded this project with 7,919 ARB
  • Blockscout is an open-source block explorer that provides transparency and accessibility for blockchain data across all EVM-compatible chains.
  • Offers detailed insights into transactions, blocks, addresses, and smart contracts, supporting developers with API access, contract verification, and interaction tools.
  • For the Arbitrum ecosystem, Blockscout enhances transparency by allowing users to explore both Layer 2 and underlying Layer 1 data, offering a complete view of transactions as they move between layers.
  • Enables customization and rapid deployment, aiding developers and projects within Arbitrum to build more effectively, thereby strengthening the overall infrastructure and fostering innovation.
  • Repo Arbitrum One Explorer

2. Drive experimentation with new grant allocations

Toggle for details about Section 2.

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The Milestone 1B RFP process yielded 20 top applicants (LATAM counted once) employing 15 different funding mechanisms. The Plurality Labs Team, with oversight from the Plurality Labs board, selected the top 10 Programs (with 9 different mechanisms) to drive experimentation.

Here is a list of the 10 Programs and their funding mechanisms, sorted by the Cut, Coach, Grow rubric.

Grow

  • Firestarters: Direct (allocated by Plurality Labs)

  • Amplifying Impact: Expert Voting with Patented Algorithm

  • Cartographer Syndicate: Direct Funding, Contributor Incentives, Quadratic Voting, Conviction Voting

Coach

  • Giv-ARB Ecosystem Accelerator: Quadratic Voting, Conviction-Oriented Cluster Match

  • ReFi in Arbitrum: Milestone-Based Direct

  • RWA Innovation: Direct, Quadratic Funding

Cut

  • Oasis onchain Quick Grants: Direct

  • Farcaster Builder Program: Voting

Other

  • Gitcoin on Arbitrum: Quadratic Funding (Recommend funding separately)

  • Oxcart Delegation Engine: Targeted Allocations (Switched to Firestarters)


3. Deliver on all deliverables from Milestone 1A

Toggle for details about Section 3.

See Milestone 1A


4. Leverage better tech and systems to support further scaling

Toggle for details about Section 4.

To support the continued growth and scaling in Milestone 1B and beyond, we recognized the need to leverage better technology and systems. This involved implementing innovative solutions that streamlined processes, enhanced efficiency, and promoted transparency.

Thrive Grants dApp

Beginning in Milestone 1B our Thrive Grants dApp was the entrance point to for all grantees to create an easy experience, allow for the the simple submission applications, evidence connected to milestones, and support payments and claiming. It served as a streamlined and user-friendly platform. By facilitating the grants process from application to funding, our dApp helped enable the efficient allocation of resources to support high-impact projects.

Thrive Protocol and Thrive Reviews dApp

Our decentralized Reviewer Network played a crucial role in ensuring that funds were only paid out when value was created. By providing a robust, decentralized, capture resistant mechanism for review and evaluation, we were able to assess the impact and effectiveness of each project to ensure that funding was awarded to initiatives that drove real results. This helped optimize resource allocation and promoted a culture of accountability and transparency.

Thrive Protocol Incentives dApp

Our Rewards dApp was instrumental in supporting the program’s scaling efforts by incentivizing community participation with programs and projects, sense-making activities, and meetups and workshops. Over the course of a year, we rewarded over 17,000 Arbitrum contributors for a wide-ranging list of contributions to the DAO.

Airtable Data Management

Airtable was a powerful tool for organizing grantee data and creating public dashboards. By automating data reporting and visualization, we were able to reduce administrative burdens and provide stakeholders with real-time insights into program performance.

Zendesk and Discord Integration

We implemented a support system through Zendesk that integrates seamlessly with our Discord community, enabling efficient report routing, automated workflows, and timely resolution of support requests. By streamlining our support operations, we improved response times and resolution rates, enhanced the overall user experience, and fostered a community-driven support model that prioritizes transparency, efficiency, and user satisfaction.


Findings

Toggle for details about Findings

Our experiment in pluralistic grants funding yielded valuable insights into the challenges and opportunities of a multi-stakeholder grants ecosystem. Through our work, we’ve sought to drive impact and value for Arbitrum DAO, while also testing the boundaries of what’s possible in community-driven grants funding.

The learnings that follow distill our key takeaways from this experience, highlighting both the successes and the challenges, and offering a clear-eyed assessment of what works and what doesn’t in pluralistic grants management.

Successes

Finding 1: Plurality Labs funded 13.4 times more projects than all proposals passed by the DAO with 4.4 % of the cost.

In Milestone 1 Plurality Labs funded a total of 604 projects. Over the same time period there have been 45 Proposals passed by Arbitrum DAO on Tally.

In Milestone 1 Plurality Labs allocated a total of 5,487,000 ARB. During the same time frame, the DAO spent ~123,694,000 ARB.

Source: Arbitrum Token Flow Report September 2024, pp. 8-9

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Finding 2: Comprehensive sense-making with unparalleled scope

We gathered insights and feedback from over 15,000 respondents across eight platforms. This effort helped us develop a nuanced understanding of the ecosystem’s strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities for growth.

Unparalleled Scope and Depth

Our sense-making initiative was unprecedented in its scope and depth, engaging with a wide range of community members, project teams, and stakeholders. We collected and analyzed a vast amount of data, including:

  • 804 valid participants completing sense-making surveys related to DAO strategic priorities and constitutional values
  • 20,000 submissions from 3,000 participants on JokeRace
  • Over 1,600 votes across 870 unique voters on Gitcoin
  • 41,213 votes cast on Snapshot
  • 14,424 subscribers on Push Protocol
  • Over 1,500 Space participants and +4,000 Twitter followers

Actionable Insights and Recommendations

The sense-making initiative yielded insights that can inform the Arbitrum DAO’s future strategy and decision-making. Key findings include:

  • High support for Arbitrum’s established constitutional values
  • Priorities for developer resources, security, and auditability
  • Vision statements emphasizing security, efficiency, and user-friendliness
  • Mission statements focused on creating a decentralized and transparent ecosystem
  • Growth and innovation priorities centered on reducing gas fees and enhancing community engagement
  • Values prioritizing security, user focus, and sustainability

Finding 3: We surfaced top Programs and Projects that drove enormous value

One of the benefits of the Plurality Labs pluralistic grants approach was its ability to surface great projects that align with Arbitrum DAO’s strategic priorities and values. Despite the challenges and inefficiencies associated with the program’s pluralistic structure, we were still able to identify and fund a number of projects that demonstrated significant potential and impact.

Evaluation Process

To identify these high-potential projects, we relied on a rigorous evaluation process facilitated by the Thrive Reviewer Network. Each project was assessed against its milestones, and reviewers rated them accordingly. This approach allowed us to evaluate the projects’ progress and make informed decisions about their potential for future impact.

Examples of Successful Projects

Several projects funded through the Plurality Labs program showcased innovative solutions, technologies, and approaches that align with the Arbitrum DAO’s goals and objectives. Example projects include:

  • Open Source Observer
  • SheFi
  • Astral
  • Switch Electric
  • Blockscout

These projects, if funding were to continue, have the potential to drive meaningful outcomes for our Arbitrum ecosystem and demonstrate the effectiveness of the Plurality Labs program in identifying and supporting impactful projects.

Opportunities for Future Grants Programs

The success of these projects suggests that the Plurality Labs program’s approach to identifying and funding projects has merit. However, as outlined in the Challenges section below, pluralistic grants also introduce inefficiencies and challenges that should be addressed in future grants programs.

By streamlining the grants process and eliminating unnecessary complexity, future grants programs will be able to build on the successes of the Plurality Labs program and drive even greater impact for the Arbitrum ecosystem.

Finding 4: We continuously improved our ability to review for impact

Throughout the Plurality Labs program, our Reviewer Network demonstrated a consistent ability to adapt and improve in assessing projects for impact and value creation. As the program progressed, we refined their evaluation frameworks, deepened our understanding of the Arbitrum ecosystem, and became more effective in identifying high-potential projects.

Improved Decision-Making

The increased effectiveness of our review process enabled more informed decision-making about which Programs to fund in Milestone 1B, and which to recommend for growing. By prioritizing Programs with the greatest potential for impact and value creation, we maximized their overall return on investment and drove meaningful outcomes for the Arbitrum ecosystem.

Scalability and Sustainability

With a refined approach, documented methodologies, and a community of empowered reviewers, we are well-positioned to replicate many aspects of our work in future grant-making initiatives within Arbitrum, ultimately amplifying the program’s overall return on investment and driving even greater outcomes for the ecosystem.

Finding 5: Infrastructure investments can drives long-term results

Plurality Labs made significant investments in infrastructure development, launching or funding a range of tools and platforms that will drive long-term impact for the Arbitrum ecosystem.

Key Infrastructure Projects

Several key infrastructure projects were launched or funded through the Plurality Labs program, including:

  • The Web3 Grants Registry, a comprehensive registry of grants and funding opportunities in the Web3 ecosystem
  • Open Source Observer, a platform that provides insights and analytics on open-source projects and contributors
  • Cartographer’s Syndicate, a targeted grants initiative that leverages novel funding mechanisms to support the development of innovative tools and solutions for grants impact and measurement
  • Hypercerts, a platform that enables the creation and verification of onchain credentials and certifications

Benefits of Infrastructure Development

These infrastructure projects will drive long-term impact for the Arbitrum ecosystem by:

  • Increasing transparency and visibility into grants and funding opportunities
  • Enabling more effective collaboration and coordination between projects and contributors
  • Supporting innovation and entrepreneurship within the ecosystem
  • Providing valuable insights and analytics to inform decision-making and strategy development

Challenges

Finding 6: Pluralistic grants must continue to address time and overhead costs.

The pluralistic approach to grants giving is an important modality for decentralizing decision-making and empowering multiple stakeholders. In practice, though, it creates some inefficiencies and additional costs that must be addressed in future deployments.

Administrative Overhead

When multiple grants allocators are involved, and multiple experiments are being run quickly, layers of additional support and services can absorb resources and attention that could be directed towards the grantees themselves. This can reduce overall impact of the program and increase the costs and complexity of managing the grants.

Suggestions for future pluralistic grants approaches

By standardizing elements of the process over time, we can eliminate many inefficiencies and biases associated with pluralism. We can also provide a more direct connection between the funding source and the grantees, reducing the need for middlemen and administrative overhead.

Moreover, integrating Thrive’s decentralized Reviewer Network into any pluralistic grants program would effectively balance centralized efficiency with decentralized decision-making, thereby maintaining the credible neutrality that is often the goal of pluralistic programs.

Finding 7: Pluralistic grants giving must work extra-hard to ensure transparency and accountability.

Less transparency and accountability

One of the primary challenges with pluralistic grants giving is that transparency and accountability can be hard when multiple grants allocators are involved. We often lacked visibility into Program Manager-reported project milestones and outcomes, making it difficult to evaluate the effectiveness of the grants. This also made it challenging to identify areas for improvement and provide support to grantees.

Suggestions for future pluralistic grants approaches

By simplifying and standardizing more and more processes around pluralistic grants giving, we were able to focus on more impact and programatic efficiencies. Additionally, by building and integrating more technology, we are able to better manage many of the complex needs associated with managing this programs.

By Milestone 1B, we used our Grants dApp, Incentives dApp, and Reviews dApp to help support greater transparency and efficiency all across the program.

Finding 8: The large number of deliverables limited effectiveness

The program’s design included dozens of deliverables - many of which were highly consultative. This presented a challenge in terms of prioritization and focus. While the deliverables were intended to drive progress and accountability, they sometimes led to bureaucracy rather than driving overall impact and scalability.

Opportunity for Simplification

Going forward, we can simplify future proposals and the program’s design, and focus on a smaller set of programs and the key deliverables that can allow us - or others - to focus and drive the greatest value for the ecosystem.

Finding 9: The unexpected costs of serving Arbitrum were significant

As an example: With the passage of Milestone 1B, our fees should have enabled us to fairly pay a team of six professionals to drive the initiative forward - and have some funding to pay Thrive’s extensive supporting team and technology. However, it didn’t work out that way.

Our Milestone 1B grant was passed by Snapshot and pushed to Tally on March 10th. At that time the value of ARB was $2.10. The proposal passed with ~99% of the vote on March 30th. The value of the ARB was $1.64. It wasn’t until July 15th - 3.5 months later - that we received our service fee. The value of ARB was $0.77.

The Milestone 1B service fee had lost ~62% of its value from when the proposal passed on Snapshot, and 53% from when the Tally vote was executed. This dramatic shift in market conditions guaranteed that we would incur financial losses by taking on this commitment.

Furthermore, we were requested by the Arbitrum Foundation to absorb ~$100,000 in additional expenses before we received the funds, as they had (understandable) needs for us to set up all infrastructure to manage KYC, KTB, KYT, and contracting requirements that the foundation had for the programs and projects we supported.

While understandable, none of these requirements were promised — or addressed — in our proposals. But the Foundation needed it from us to serve Arbitrum. So we did it. In return, we received a symbolically meaningful but practically inconsequential reimbursement that was a fraction of the cost of our additional efforts.

Despite knowing we would suffer big financial losses by serving Arbitrum the way we’d intended, we remained committed to delivering a successful Program in the way we had intended with the resources we had committed. We absorbed the losses and worked tirelessly on behalf of a set of commitments and an ecosystem we care greatly about.

As we worked, we also faced reputational challenges due to factors beyond our control, including — in Milestone 1A — navigating complex payout requirements that required interfacing with conflicting needs from partners, the foundation, and grants recipients, and led to delays in some payments. In one case, this led negative sentiment in online forums, which sometimes felt unfairly directed at us.

In the end, the Plurality Labs’ acquisition by Thrive proved pivotal, as we funded all of the program’s continuation without any guarantee of future support or expectation of reimbursement. The achievements listed throughout this proposal would not have been possible for any team that didn’t have the funds, commitment, or love needed to persevere through these challenges.

This experience highlights the importance of adaptability, resilience, and strategic partnerships in overcoming unforeseen complexities, challenges, and costs obstacles for any team choosing to take on a project of this magnitude.

For our future work with Arbitrum, and for others who work with Arbitrum DAO, our experience offers valuable lessons that can inform a more effective and supportive approach for groups seeking to make meaningful contributions.


Conclusion

This is the canonical document Plurality Labs Milestone 1A and 1B.

This Impact Report for Plurality Labs work over the past 15 months represents a significant milestone, being the longest public document we’ve produced at Thrive.

Its purpose is to provide a comprehensive follow-up to the dozens of deliverables promised in Plurality Labs proposals, along with supporting data and feedback. Any further updates will be either shared as edits to this document or as supplementary comments on the thread below.

Thank you for your partnership, and for your trust and belief in us.

It’s been an extraordinary 15 months since we began our collaboration with Arbitrum DAO. The opportunity to work alongside one of the largest and most ambitious communities in crypto has been truly rewarding. We’re grateful for the partnership, the significant successes we’ve achieved together, and for the invaluable lessons we’ve learned along the way.

We are excited to continue our work together, tackling the most pressing needs and priorities of Arbitrum in meaningful and impactful ways. We look forward to all of the continued growth, impact, and value that we create together!

Warmest regards,

Daniel, Matt, Kat, Rebecca, Ben, Joe, and the entire Plurality Labs and Thrive team

With a huge thanks to our Plurality Labs board: Coinflipcanada, DK, Gustav, Mashal, Kaereste, Pepperoni Jo3, and Lindsey.

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[comment reserved for future updates if needed]

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It was a pleasure to work with Thrive and @DisruptionJoe in Milestone 1A and Milestone 1B and I believe the program was incredible innovative: Creating the first Pluralist Grant Program Framework in the world is not an easy task on its own but creating it for Arbitrum DAO kinda 10xs the complexity.

The program brought Gitcoin on Arbitrum, over 1000 real builders, over 50,000 people used Arbitrum chain because of the program(these stats are based on what I can remember…numbers may be higher), American Cancer Society used Arbitrum, etc. It also enabled people from the Arbitrum community and other knowledgable web3 domain experts to get involved and solve a problem they knew how to solve.

Excited to see what’s next! :rocket: :metal:

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Also STIP, STEP, ADPC, SheFi, Azuki contest came from this program. We partnered with Gitcoin to bring them to use Arbitrum as the canonical chain.

All for well under $1million in service fees. Imagine what we could do with $30 million in service fees…

Here is one of the highlights of the report:

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