Gitcoin Grants 20 (GG20) was the 20th Gitcoin Grants round, running from April 23 to May 7, 2024. The round marked a strategic return to open-source software (OSS) funding as Gitcoin's primary focus, doubling OSS matching from $400K in GG19 to $1M distributed across four dedicated OSS rounds.
Alongside the OSS Program, five Community Rounds operated in parallel with combined matching pools totaling approximately $526K — including $125K contributed by Gitcoin through $25K allocations to each of the top five community proposals selected by the Community Council, and approximately $401K raised independently by community round operators. Combined with $680,935 in crowdfunded contributions, GG20 distributed over $2.2M in total funding to open-source and community-led projects.
GG20 introduced several firsts for the Gitcoin ecosystem. It was the first round to run on Allo Protocol v2, modularizing pool management and allocation logic. It also debuted the GG Community Council, a DAO-elected external body responsible for reviewing and approving community rounds — Gitcoin's first formal governance process for community-led funding. In parallel, GG20 launched a combined COCM and Passport Model-Based Detection sybil resistance strategy, replacing manual verification with automated onchain analysis to reduce donor friction while strengthening integrity.
All OSS rounds were consolidated on Arbitrum, supported by the ThankARB partnership funded through the Arbitrum DAO. ThankARB provided additional incentives for projects building on Arbitrum, including $100K earmarked for top-performing projects, creating layered incentives alongside standard quadratic funding.
How It Works
GG20 applied quadratic funding across all nine rounds — four OSS Program rounds and five Community Rounds — supported by a unified sybil resistance strategy and round-specific eligibility criteria.
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Application and review: OSS projects applied to one of four category-specific rounds between April 2 and April 16. Applications were evaluated against published eligibility criteria, with a decentralized review experiment involving Gitcoin Citizens ("Team Tiger") alongside the core grants operations team.
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Community round governance: Community round operators submitted proposals to the Gitcoin governance forum by March 17. The DAO-elected GG Community Council — seven external members — reviewed proposals using a standardized rubric and voted on which communities would receive matching support. The top five rounds each received $25K in Gitcoin-provided matching.
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Contribution window: From April 23 to May 7, donors contributed to projects across all active rounds. Contributions functioned as weighted preference signals under the quadratic funding formula, with matching funds allocated to projects that attracted broad community support.
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Sybil resistance: GG20 combined COCM's social-graph-based adjustments with Passport's Model-Based Detection system. This approach analyzed onchain behavior in the background to reduce coordinated manipulation, replacing the manual stamp-collection process used in prior rounds and eliminating additional steps for donors.
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Fund distribution: Matching funds and crowdfunded contributions were distributed to grantees via Gitcoin Grants Stack on Arbitrum (and Optimism for TEC). OSS matching results were published for community review and ratified through governance before disbursement.
GG20 was the first round to run on the Allo v2 protocol, which introduced modular allocation strategies and improved developer accessibility for building custom funding experiences.
Eligibility
Eligibility criteria in GG20 differed between the OSS Program and Community Rounds, with baseline ethical and open-source standards applied across all rounds.
OSS Program
OSS Program eligibility focused on open-source compliance, ethical conduct, and alignment with round-specific categories.
All projects were required to adhere to ethical, legal, and open-source standards, including no fraudulent activity, no quid pro quo, and no hate speech or activities misaligned with Gitcoin's essential intents.
Projects applied to one of four category-specific rounds:
- Web3 Infrastructure ($300K matching, 10% cap): Core protocol infrastructure, including staking systems, decentralized identity, security and scalability tooling, wallet privacy, and shared ecosystem standards
- Developer Tooling ($300K matching, 10% cap): Tools and libraries used by developers to build, test, and maintain secure smart contracts
- dApps & Apps ($300K matching, 5% cap): End-user applications that improve access, usability, and real-world impact across web3 use cases
- Hackathon Alumni ($100K matching, 10% cap): Projects emerging from recent hackathons that demonstrated early traction and address near-term challenges in the open-source ecosystem
Community Rounds
Community Round eligibility required operators to identify a round operator and at least two partner team members, raise their own matching pool (no minimum), align with Gitcoin's mission and essential intents, comply with Gitcoin's core rules, and show proof of funds in a multisig.
Community round proposals were submitted to the governance forum and reviewed by the elected GG20 Community Council. The top five rounds received $25K each in additional matching from Gitcoin. Operators were required to align donation and application periods with the OSS Program schedule, own marketing and grantee support for their round, complete security training, and publish a post-round retrospective within 30 days.
Results
Funding outcomes
- Projects funded: 326 OSS Program projects, plus additional grantees across five Community Rounds
- Total matching distributed: $1.5M across OSS Program and Community Rounds
- Total crowdfunded contributions: $680,935
- OSS crowdfunding: $484,000 (36% increase from GG19)
- Median OSS project funding: $1,511 (50% increase from GG19)
Participation
- Donor quality improvement: Total donor count declined 20% from GG19 while average contribution size increased, reflecting reduced sybil participation and stronger donor intent
- First-time donors: Over half of donors in each round were first-time contributors
Highlights
The OSS Program distributed $1M in matching across four categories: Web3 Infrastructure ($300K), Developer Tooling ($300K), dApps & Apps ($300K), and Hackathon Alumni ($100K). Combined with crowdfunding, nearly $1.5M was allocated to OSS projects — more than doubling both matching funds and the number of funded OSS projects compared to GG19.
Community Rounds also demonstrated strong growth. The Token Engineering Commons saw a 65% increase in crowdfunded donations, while OpenCivics recorded a 40% increase in donors and significantly larger matching allocations for top grantees. Additional rounds included ENS Identity ($100K matching), Climate Solutions ($300K matching), and the Hypercerts Ecosystem Round ($35K matching).
What Changed
GG20 validated both the expanded four-round OSS structure and the Community Council governance model, which were carried forward into subsequent Gitcoin Grants rounds. The combined COCM and Passport Model-Based Detection approach became the default sybil resistance strategy, fully replacing manual stamp-based verification.
The round also surfaced areas for improvement. Community rounds that did not receive Gitcoin matching reported feeling excluded, informing expanded marketing and support in GG21. Feedback on donor onboarding and Passport communication guided UX improvements in later rounds. Gitcoin also announced a shift from quarterly to biannual OSS rounds to support larger matching pools and more focused evaluation cycles.