The Ethereum Foundation Ecosystem Support Program (ESP) is the primary direct grants program of the Ethereum Foundation, funding open-source public goods that strengthen Ethereum's technical, social, and research foundations. ESP provides non-dilutive financial support and ecosystem guidance to builders, researchers, and community organizers working on critical infrastructure, cryptography, developer tooling, education, and long-horizon research that is unlikely to be sustained by commercial incentives alone.
Launched in 2019 as an expansion of the earlier Ethereum Foundation Grants Program (2018), ESP has supported over 900 projects with more than $148M in funding across the Ethereum ecosystem. In 2025, the program evolved from an open application model to a more proactive, needs-driven structure, organizing funding around publicly articulated Wishlists and targeted Requests for Proposals (RFPs) sourced from Ethereum Foundation domain teams.
What This Program Does
Ethereum Foundation ESP allocates capital and ecosystem support to work that is foundational to Ethereum's long-term resilience, usability, and decentralization.
In practice, ESP enables:
- Open-source builders and researchers to receive non-dilutive funding for work on developer tooling, cryptography, zero-knowledge proofs, protocol research, and core infrastructure
- Community organizers and educators to sustain events, educational programs, bootcamps, and regional initiatives that grow the global Ethereum builder ecosystem
- Infrastructure teams to maintain and improve critical public goods that lack clear commercial revenue paths
- Early-stage projects to access non-financial support through Office Hours, including technical feedback, ecosystem navigation, and alignment with relevant funding opportunities
ESP prioritizes ecosystem-wide impact over individual project commercialization, directing resources toward work that benefits Ethereum as a shared public infrastructure.
Features
ESP operates as a direct grants program within the Ethereum Foundation, using expert-reviewed evaluation and milestone-based disbursement. It coordinates grant-making across Ethereum Foundation domain teams to align funding with ecosystem priorities while providing ongoing support to grantees throughout the project lifecycle.
Core Components
- Wishlist: Broad, thematic funding priorities that identify key gaps and opportunities across the Ethereum ecosystem. Wishlist items articulate high-level goals and invite builders to propose approaches without prescribing specific solutions.
- Requests for Proposals (RFPs): Focused, outcome-driven funding calls that define specific problems, scope, deliverables, and expected timelines, inviting targeted solutions.
- Grant Management: Applications are reviewed in collaboration with Ethereum Foundation domain teams, with scope and budgets negotiated and progress monitored through milestone reviews and regular check-ins.
- Office Hours: A non-financial support channel offering project feedback, ecosystem navigation, and guidance on aligning work with relevant Wishlist or RFP items.
Program Characteristics
- Proactive, needs-driven funding: Priorities are curated by Ethereum Foundation teams through publicly shared Wishlists and RFPs, shifting ESP from reactive open intake toward strategically targeted ecosystem support.
- Milestone-based disbursement: Funding is disbursed against agreed milestones, with ongoing reviews to ensure accountability and alignment.
- Open-source requirement: All funded outputs must be open-source or freely accessible. For-profit entities may apply, but the funded work itself must remain a public good.
- Non-financial ecosystem support: Beyond capital, ESP provides mentorship, introductions, and guidance, using insights from funded work to inform future ecosystem priorities.
- Transparency and reporting: ESP publishes quarterly Allocation Updates detailing funded projects, categories, and grant volumes.
Use Cases
Core Protocol Researchers and Infrastructure Developers
Researchers and engineers working on consensus mechanisms, execution layer improvements, cryptographic primitives, and zero-knowledge systems use ESP to fund long-horizon work essential to Ethereum's roadmap but poorly suited to venture or revenue-driven models. ESP's Wishlist and RFP structure helps surface concrete technical needs identified by protocol teams, enabling focused contributions to Ethereum's core infrastructure.
Developer Tooling and Open-Source Maintainers
Teams building SDKs, libraries, analytics tools, and shared infrastructure use ESP to sustain open-source tooling relied upon by developers across the Ethereum ecosystem. This includes work on developer experience, observability, testing frameworks, and maintenance of critical libraries that are widely used but difficult to monetize. ESP funding supports long-term stewardship and maintenance of these tools.
Community Builders and Educators
Community organizers, educators, and ecosystem builders use ESP to fund conferences, bootcamps, university programs, regional meetups, and educational content that expand Ethereum's global builder base. ESP supports initiatives that strengthen local ecosystems and improve technical literacy. Many of these efforts focus on creating durable pathways for new contributors to enter the Ethereum community, particularly in regions or domains underserved by commercial incentives.
Academic Researchers
ESP operates an annual Academic Grants Round that supports academic research advancing Ethereum-relevant scholarship. Researchers across economics, cryptography, game theory, distributed systems, and applied computer science use ESP funding to pursue foundational inquiry, publish peer-reviewed work, and contribute theoretical insights that inform protocol design and long-term ecosystem strategy.