| description | Grant module overview and what makes it different. |
|---|
Boundless Grants enables direct ecosystem funding.
Payments are tied to verified milestones.
Milestones are enforced by escrow smart contracts.
Traditional grant programs break in predictable ways:
- Upfront distribution. Funds go out before delivery.
- Accountability gaps. No enforcement when milestones slip.
- Manual tracking. Managers chase updates.
- Opaque selection. Favoritism risk.
- Wasted budgets. Partial delivery with no recourse.
- No verifiable history. Past success is hard to prove.
- Milestone escrow. Grant funds are locked in TrustlessWork.
- Automatic enforcement. Contracts release funds only on approval.
- Transparent evaluation. Public criteria and weighted scoring.
- On-chain reputation. Delivery builds credibility.
- Dispute resolution. Neutral arbitration when needed.
- Public tracking. Progress stays visible to the community.
- Four grant types.
- Research.
- Development.
- Community.
- Ecosystem.
- Recurring programs.
- Quarterly and seasonal tracks.
- Expert review.
- 3–5 domain reviewers per application.
- Milestone structure.
- Usually 2–6 milestones.
- Cross-module reputation.
- Delivery improves outcomes across Boundless.
- See Reputation system.
- Impact tracking.
- On-chain and off-chain metrics.
- Program templates.
- Reuse structures for recurring initiatives.
- Researchers.
- Developers.
- Community builders.
- Projects seeking ecosystem support.
- Teams working on larger initiatives.
- Ecosystem partners.
- Technical experts.
- Community representatives.
- Grant managers.
- Grant types: 4.
- Typical size: 2,000–100,000 XLM.
- Milestones: 2–6.
- Review time: 2–4 weeks.
- Program cadence: quarterly, seasonal, and special.
- Escrow: TrustlessWork smart contracts.
{% hint style="info" %} Boundless uses the same milestone-first philosophy across modules. See Why Boundless?. {% endhint %}