The EF’s Grants Program launched in 2018 and has developed over time to grow to be the Ecosystem Assist Program (ESP), offering grants and help 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 similar to developer tooling, analysis, neighborhood constructing, infrastructure, and open requirements.
In 2024 alone, ESP awarded near $3M in funding to 105 tasks 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, similar to Commit-Increase (developer tooling), BundleBear (knowledge and analytics), Web3Bridge (schooling), ZK Playbook (analysis), and Ethereum Cypherpunk Congress (neighborhood occasion).
Over the previous three years, we now have streamlined our processes to enhance effectivity. Nevertheless, as an open grants program with a lean staff and broad scope, the excessive quantity of inbound purposes 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, help the neighborhood extra meaningfully, and proceed rising along with the ecosystem.
Evolving with Ethereum’s Progress
The EF just lately articulated its imaginative and prescient and launched modifications to its Ecosystem Growth construction, reflecting a broader shift in the way it engages with the Ethereum ecosystem. This second presents a well timed alternative to discover the subsequent 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, we now have briefly paused open grant purposes. This modification 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’ll proceed funding Ethereum public items and accepting purposes, however with a brand new strategy to be outlined in a future submit. Our core values stay unchanged:
Allocate assets to essential tasks and initiatives that strengthen Ethereum’s resilience and usabilitySupport public items and open-source work that advances the Ethereum ecosystemFocus on domains similar to developer tooling, core and shared infrastructure, analysis, neighborhood assets, and different public items
What’s Subsequent
Whereas open grant purposes are paused, the ESP staff will proceed supporting our energetic grantees and stays obtainable via Workplace Hours—for these in search of non-financial help similar to steerage, challenge suggestions, or help to find helpful assets. Please word that in this era, we is not going to be reviewing new grant purposes.
We’ll share an replace on ESP’s refined priorities and strategy in This fall 2025. Within the meantime, you’ll be able to observe the most recent EF grant bulletins and grantee challenge progress on our socials: @EF_ESP X (Twitter), @ef-esp Farcaster, @ef_esp Lens, and @ef-esp Bluesky. For a whole listing of EF grants, try the quarterly Allocation Replace posts revealed 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 help the unimaginable builders, researchers, and contributors driving Ethereum’s development. The way forward for Ethereum is a shared journey, and we’re excited to maneuver ahead with you!
