Round 1 / Funding the Commons

FtC has achieved notable successes in enhancing the Filecoin ecosystem's visibility and operational capacity through strategic partnerships with key entities like Gitcoin and Optimism - these collaborations have been crucial in the operationalization of Filecoin's retroPGF, and have generated significant awareness within the Ethereum public goods community about Protocol Labs' contributions.

Furthermore, FtC has acted as a crucial convening platform for various communities, including Hypercerts and DeSci, among others, that are actively building within the ecosystem. These efforts have not only spotlighted Filecoin's pivotal role in supporting public goods but also underscored the tangible impacts and contributions of Funding the Commons in propelling the Filecoin and IPFS ecosystems forward.

Part of FtC’s contribution as a convener is the relationship-facilitation between the PL & Filecoin ecosystem and other academic partners of FtC, including UC Berkeley and Stanford.

Beyond its own events, FtC serves as a recruitment mechanism for other Public Goods Funding events. Most recently, FtC was the anchor and catalyst for LabWeek24 held by Protocol Labs in the SF Bay Area. Building off of the FtC event planning, this allowed hundreds of attendees to Filecoin retroPGF events, DeSci, Blockchain Innovation Forum, amongst many others.

FtC team inherited SBS, a cherished conference initiated through Filecoin Green that platforms web3 sustainability initiatives and is growing it in a new form: Earth Commons. SBS was instrumental in showcasing projects and initiatives that demonstrated the potential of decentralized technologies, such as Filecoin and IPFS, in addressing environmental challenges. In 2024, FtC has already successfully built partnerships with other stakeholders, including Hyphen.Earth, Ma Earth, and Gain Forest, that are taking an increasing role in the co-production and stewardship of SBS into the future. We have already reached more people (digitally) in the past 90 days than SBS ever did, and we are in the process of significantly growing an engaged audience through this platform aimed at recruiting into the PGF conversation leveraging climate media tactics (see impact metrics below).