Your path to a Sia Foundation grant starts with a proposal. Among other things, your proposal outlines what you want to do, how it will benefit the Sia ecosystem, and how much money you’ll need. Our committee then makes a determination to approve, conditionally approve, or reject, with your next steps provided to you as a response to your proposal.

You can apply for a grant by making a new post in our forum here, under the Grants category. You can refer to this post for proposal requirements.

You can join the Sia Foundation Discord and ask questions in #grants-program.

Our goal for this program is to fund research, development, developer tools, and anything else that will support and further our mission of user-owned data while enriching the Sia ecosystem.

Approved grant funds can cover all costs associated with your project. Common project fees include development, operations, services, and more.

Grants are reviewed and accepted by the Sia Grants Committee and in parallel approved by the Sia Foundation Board of Directors.

• Foundation employees: Luke Champine, Nate Maninger, Chris Schinnerl

• Community members: Redsolver, Mike76, Manasi Vora

They meet every 2 weeks.

One week before the meeting, to ensure committee members and other users have time to review the proposal and ask you questions about the proposal. Not to worry, the committee will review your proposal at the next meeting!

1. In line with Foundation’s mission: Does the proposal address a recognized need in the decentralized cloud storage community? Is the need consistent with The Sia Foundation’s mission of user-owned data?

2. Community Impact: Will the project provide a meaningful volume of services and/or people served in the decentralized cloud storage community (in particular the Sia community)?

3. Goals, Objectives & Outcome: Are there clear goals and objectives written? Are measurable outcomes evident?

4. Deliverables: How well does the individual/organization demonstrate the ability to deliver and measure proposed outcomes?

5. Risks & Technical Feasibility: Is the risk reasonable for the timeline provided? Be thoughtful if the risk is high enough to impact the outcome of the project.

6. Budget Justification: How well does the applicant justify the budget?

Grant committee support will post feedback and/or approval on the forum in your proposal post.

If approved, you’re all set! You’ll then move on to our Post Approval process, which includes communicating with our operations team to complete the paperwork associated with your grant in compliance with United States Law.

If conditionally approved, you’re good to go as long as you commit to making our recommended changes. The committee will communicate further with you during the Post Approval process.

If rejected, it’s not the end of the road. We’ll provide feedback on where your proposal was lacking so you can fix it up and re-apply.

Simply add a new comment to your proposal with the new application and ensure that it aligns with the criteria provided above while also taking into consideration why your previous application was rejected.

Grants are only offered in SC and USD/other fiat at this time.