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---
id: grants/web3-grant-writing
name: Web3 Grant Writing Guide
version: 1.0.0
ecosystem: cross-chain
type: guide
time_sensitivity: evergreen
source: community
confidence: medium
maintainer: AgentRel Community
last_updated: 2026-03-19
feedback_endpoint: https://agentrel.vercel.app/api/feedback
---

## Overview
The Web3 ecosystem offers numerous foundation grant opportunities, but most applications get rejected due to unclear structure or failure to address key evaluation criteria. This guide provides a universal writing framework, evaluation criteria analysis, and common rejection reasons, applicable to mainstream grant programs like Solana Foundation, Ethereum ESP, Sui Foundation, TON Foundation, and others.

## Universal Grant Application Structure

### Standard Five-Section Structure
```markdown
## 1. Problem Statement
- Clearly describe the specific problem you're solving
- Quantify the problem's scale (DAU/TVL data, pain point examples)
- Why existing solutions are inadequate

## 2. Solution
- Your technical/product approach
- Differentiation from existing solutions
- Why your team can deliver

## 3. Impact
- Contribution to the ecosystem (developers, users, TVL)
- Quantifiable target metrics (KPIs)
- Timeline (typically 3-6 months)

## 4. Milestones
- Phased delivery with clear outputs per phase
- Tied to funding disbursement
- Example: M1 (4 weeks) = Technical architecture document + Alpha version

## 5. Budget
- Budget allocated by milestone
- Reasonable labor costs (market rate)
- Infrastructure/tooling expenses
```

## ⚠️ Common Rejection Reasons

### 1. Problem/Solution Mismatch
❌ Wrong: Describing a huge problem but the solution only addresses a small part
✅ Right: Problem scope precisely matches solution capability

### 2. Lack of Ecosystem Relevance
❌ Wrong: "We're building a user-friendly DeFi platform"
✅ Right: "We're providing deep liquidity for long-tail tokens on Solana, solving slippage issues in existing DEXs (data: past 30 days, tokens with market cap <$100M average 3.2% slippage)"

### 3. Unverifiable Milestones
❌ Wrong: M1 = "Complete product development"
✅ Right: M1 = "Deploy to Testnet, pass security audit, integrate 3 partner protocols, MAU > 500"

### 4. Missing Team Background
Must include:
- Core members' GitHub links (demonstrating technical capability)
- Relevant project experience (especially contributions to the same ecosystem)
- Past grant delivery track record (if any)

### 5. Opaque Budget
❌ Wrong: Total budget $50,000 (no breakdown)
✅ Right:
- Development labor (2 engineers × 3 months): $36,000
- Audit fees: $8,000
- Server and tools: $2,000
- Community activities: $4,000

## Evaluation Criteria Weighting (Universal)
| Dimension | Weight | Description |
|------|------|------|
| Technical Feasibility | 30% | Can the team deliver, is the architecture sound |
| Ecosystem Impact | 25% | Actual contribution to ecosystem developers/users |
| Team Capability | 20% | Past experience, GitHub activity |
| Milestone Clarity | 15% | Verifiable, reasonable timeline |
| Budget Reasonableness | 10% | Cost-effectiveness, focused fund allocation |

## Milestone Template
```markdown
### Milestone 1 (Weeks 1-4): Foundation
**Deliverables**:
- [ ] Technical design document (with architecture diagram)
- [ ] Core module code (open-sourced on GitHub)
- [ ] Unit test coverage > 80%

**Acceptance Criteria**: Code runs locally, complete documentation
**Budget**: $X,XXX

### Milestone 2 (Weeks 5-10): Beta Release
**Deliverables**:
- [ ] Deploy to Testnet
- [ ] User documentation + Demo video
- [ ] Beta users: ≥ 50

**Acceptance Criteria**: Publicly accessible, user feedback received
**Budget**: $X,XXX
```

## Pre-Submission Checklist
- [ ] Problem is data-backed
- [ ] Solution has technical details (not just vision)
- [ ] Each milestone has verifiable deliverables
- [ ] Team members have GitHub/LinkedIn links
- [ ] Budget has itemized breakdown
- [ ] Explained why building on this specific chain

## Feedback
If this skill contains incorrect or outdated information, call:
agentrel_feedback(skill="grants/web3-grant-writing", issue="<description>", fix="<optional>")

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