BioFi Gitcoin Grants

In October 2024, the BioFi project initiated and led a collaboration with OpenCivics, Design School for Regenerating Earth, and Regen Coordination, with support from Celo, Ma Earth, and Regen Foundation, to create the first ever bioregional grant round in the Gitcoin community. This marked a significant first step in connecting the bioregional organizing world with Web3, regenerative finance (ReFi), and Gitcoin, a community that has been pioneering web3-based participatory funding processes and tools to support public goods. 

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This initiative aimed to support and fund leading bioregional organizing teams from around the world to advance their BioFi vision, strategy, and capabilities.

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The round served many complementary functions in the re-emerging bioregional movement: it highlighted exemplary bioregional organizing teams, equipping them with funds to continue exploring bioregional finance, while simultaneously inviting bioregional leaders to leverage decentralized tools and introducing the web3 community to the profound, place-based work of bioregionalism. 

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Our collective efforts raised $8,813 from 1,096 contributions, matched with an incredible $55,000 in funding from our generous sponsors, and onboarded 14 bioregional organizing teams to web3 and on-chain participatory budgeting. Beyond the financial outcomes, the grant round’s success lay in fostering connections, generating reach and awareness for bioregional teams, and creating a foundation for future iterations that align with the ethos of collaboration, participation, regeneration, and learning.

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Learn more about the BioFi Pathfinders round, Gitcoin, and what we learned in this retrospective here. 

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You can get to know the 14 Bioregional Organizing Teams that participated by viewing their grant pages here, and by viewing the ~3 min videos below showcasing the hearts and minds of the inspiring bioregional organizers leading these teams

On October 29, the BioFi Community of Practice hosted a Deep Dive conversation exploring the practical and philosophical intersections of BioFi and Web3, featuring Matthew Monahan from Ma Earth and Monty Merlin from ReFi DAO:  BioFi Deep Dive: BioFi x Web3 - October 29, 2024

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This inaugural round was just a first baby step in experimenting with Gitcoin and participatory funding at the global to bioregional scale. We’re actively collaborating with our partners and the bioregional organizing teams who participated to discern how we can leverage this momentum to serve the BioFi movement as a whole and specific bioregional organizing teams.