The Polygon Community Grants Program (CGP) is a community-governed grants initiative funded by the Polygon Community Treasury – an in-protocol fund independent from Polygon Labs. The program distributes POL tokens to builders, developers, and ecosystem contributors building on Polygon PoS and Polygon zkEVM, with approximately 100 million POL unlocking annually over a ten-year horizon. Grant allocation is overseen by a five-member Community Treasury Board (CTB) alongside independent Grant Allocators (GAs) – external domain experts who manage themed funding tracks, evaluate applications, and deploy capital within their areas of specialization.
The Community Grants Program launched in June 2024 as the successor to Polygon Village, which distributed over 110 million MATIC through direct grants and quadratic funding rounds in partnership with Gitcoin and Giveth. The transition shifted Polygon's ecosystem funding from a Polygon Labs-operated model to a community-treasury-governed structure with formal governance through Polygon Funding Proposals (PFPs). Season 1 allocated up to 35M MATIC across General Grants and Consumer Crypto tracks. Season 2, launched in January 2025, allocated 35M POL with expanded thematic coverage – including AI, DePIN, gaming, and memecoins – and a broader Grant Allocator roster including Eliza Labs, Crossmint, IoTeX, Thrive, AngelHack, Encode Club, and Gitcoin.
What This Program Does
The Polygon Community Grants Program provides milestone-based, non-dilutive funding to projects building on Polygon's network of chains, distributed through a hybrid model combining Community Treasury Board oversight with operational grant allocation by independent domain experts.
In practice, it enables:
- Early-stage builders to access 5,000–50,000+ POL grants for development and ecosystem integration
- Grant Allocators to run themed funding tracks aligned with ecosystem priorities such as AI, DePIN, gaming, and consumer crypto
- The Community Treasury Board to define seasonal strategies, approve allocators, and oversee accountability through impact reporting
- Structured disbursement through milestone-based tranches tied to measurable deliverables
- Community governance through Polygon Funding Proposals (PFPs) that formalize treasury allocation decisions
This structure decentralizes grant-making across domain-specific allocators while maintaining strategic coordination at the treasury level.
Features
The Polygon Community Grants Program operates through a governance framework combining treasury oversight, seasonal funding cycles, and milestone-based capital deployment. Applications and disbursement are managed through Questbook.
Core Components
- Community Treasury Board (CTB): A five-member board of independent ecosystem experts responsible for setting seasonal funding strategy, approving Grant Allocators, reviewing direct grant applications, and overseeing accountability through post-season impact reporting.
- Grant Allocators (GAs): External organizations appointed by the CTB to manage themed funding tracks. Each GA sources, evaluates, and deploys grants within a domain-specific area and submits structured impact reports after each season.
- Polygon Funding Proposals (PFPs): The governance framework for directing treasury capital. PFPs formalize decisions around Grant Allocator appointments, seasonal priorities, and budget allocation.
- Questbook Integration: Applications, milestone submissions, and grant disbursement workflows are managed through Questbook, providing structured review processes and tranche-based payment coordination across all funding tracks.
Program Characteristics
- Seasonal funding cadence: Grants are organized into multi-month seasons with defined themes, budgets, and Grant Allocator rosters, updated each cycle based on ecosystem priorities and community input.
- Milestone-based disbursement: Funding is released in tranches tied to predefined milestones. Grantees submit progress updates for review before receiving subsequent payments.
- Multi-track structure: Each season includes a general direct grants track alongside themed Grant Allocator-managed tracks, enabling broad ecosystem coverage with domain-specific evaluation.
- Independent from Polygon Labs: The Community Treasury is an in-protocol fund governed independently from Polygon Labs, with the CTB operating as a neutral oversight body.
- Long-term treasury commitment: Approximately 100M POL unlocks annually over a ten-year horizon (up to 1B POL total), providing sustained, predictable funding capacity.
Use Cases
Early-Stage Builders Launching on Polygon
Developers and small teams building on Polygon PoS or Polygon zkEVM use the Community Grants Program to access non-dilutive funding for smart contract deployment, infrastructure integrations, and product prototyping. Grants typically range from 5,000 to 50,000+ POL, with milestone-based disbursement aligning capital with measurable progress from concept through production.
AI and DePIN Projects Seeking Domain-Specific Funding
Projects at the intersection of AI, decentralized physical infrastructure, and blockchain use themed Grant Allocator tracks to access domain-aligned capital and specialized evaluation. Teams submit proposals to allocator-managed tracks led by organizations such as Eliza Labs, IoTeX, and Crossmint, where funding decisions are informed by sector expertise rather than generalized grant review.
Consumer Crypto and Gaming Teams Driving Adoption
Teams building consumer-facing applications – including onchain gaming, social platforms, memecoin infrastructure, and digital commerce – use Consumer Crypto and gaming tracks to fund product development, community growth, and user acquisition on Polygon. These tracks prioritize projects that increase onchain activity and ecosystem participation.
Infrastructure and Public Goods Contributors
Developer tooling teams, protocol researchers, open-source maintainers, and ecosystem organizers use the General Grants Track to fund work that supports Polygon's broader infrastructure. Eligible initiatives include developer SDKs, research, educational programming, hackathons, and coordination infrastructure. The direct funding track accepts both technical and non-technical applications, reinforcing Polygon's commitment to open-source development across the Ethereum ecosystem.