The EF’s Grants Program launched in 2018 and has advanced over time to grow to be the Ecosystem Assist Program (ESP), offering grants and assist to builders that assist the Ethereum ecosystem thrive. Our mission is to allow work that strengthens Ethereum’s foundations and empowers future builders, in domains resembling developer tooling, analysis, neighborhood constructing, infrastructure, and open requirements.
In 2024 alone, ESP awarded near $3M in funding to 105 initiatives and initiatives that got here via our open grants program webforms. These grants, that are one a part of ESP’s bigger portfolio, supported a various vary of labor, resembling Commit-Increase (developer tooling), BundleBear (knowledge and analytics), Web3Bridge (schooling), ZK Playbook (analysis), and Ethereum Cypherpunk Congress (neighborhood occasion).
Over the previous three years, now we have streamlined our processes to enhance effectivity. Nonetheless, as an open grants program with a lean group and broad scope, the excessive quantity of inbound functions has consumed most of our time and assets, leaving restricted capability to pursue new strategic alternatives. As we glance forward, we’re getting into a brand new chapter the place we’ll discover modifications that permit us to raised focus our efforts, assist the neighborhood extra meaningfully, and proceed rising along with the ecosystem.
Evolving with Ethereum’s Development
The EF lately articulated its imaginative and prescient and launched modifications to its Ecosystem Improvement construction, reflecting a broader shift in the way it engages with the Ethereum ecosystem. This second affords a well timed alternative to discover the following iteration of ESP. Because the Ethereum ecosystem grows in scale, complexity, and visibility, our funding strategy should evolve alongside it.
To align extra carefully with the EF’s up to date ecosystem improvement technique, we’re refining ESP’s priorities and strategy. As a part of this transition, now we have quickly paused open grant functions. This alteration will allow us time to revamp in a manner that redirects our focus towards strategic initiatives, transferring from a reactive mannequin to a extra proactive one which additionally helps the priorities of different EF groups.
We are going to proceed funding Ethereum public items and accepting functions, however with a brand new strategy to be outlined in a future publish. Our core values stay unchanged:
- Allocate assets to vital initiatives and initiatives that strengthen Ethereum’s resilience and usefulness
- Assist public items and open-source work that advances the Ethereum ecosystem
- Deal with domains resembling developer tooling, core and shared infrastructure, analysis, neighborhood assets, and different public items
What’s Subsequent
Whereas open grant functions are paused, the ESP group will proceed supporting our energetic grantees and stays accessible via Workplace Hours—for these in search of non-financial assist resembling steering, venture suggestions, or help to find helpful assets. Please be aware that in this era, we won’t be reviewing new grant functions.
We are going to share an replace on ESP’s refined priorities and strategy in This autumn 2025. Within the meantime, you’ll be able to observe the newest EF grant bulletins and grantee venture progress on our socials: @EF_ESP X (Twitter), @ef-esp Farcaster, @ef_esp Lens, and @ef-esp Bluesky. For a whole checklist of EF grants, take a look at the quarterly Allocation Replace posts printed on the ESP weblog.
We stay deeply dedicated to supporting the Ethereum ecosystem and the general public items that maintain it. Whereas these modifications mark a brand new chapter for ESP, we’re energized by the alternatives forward to raised assist the unimaginable builders, researchers, and contributors driving Ethereum’s progress. The way forward for Ethereum is a shared journey, and we’re excited to maneuver ahead with you!
