The Cardano Community Bounties Program (2025–2026) proposes a decentralized micro-funding initiative to empower small-scale community activities within the Cardano ecosystem. Addressing funding barriers for initiatives like meetups, workshops, hackathons, content creation, design, moderation, translations, and educational efforts, the program aims to sustain engagement, drive adoption, and foster inclusivity.

With a total budget of 300,000 ADA, it offers bounties starting from 50 ADA for small tasks and up to 2000 ADA for larger contributions. This enables global contributors to act quickly without the long delays and complex processes of Project Catalyst funding rounds. Running from Q3 2025 to Q3 2026, the program leverages a dedicated platform inspired by https://cardanobounty.com, aligning with the 2025 Proposed Cardano Roadmap to strengthen community engagement and help Cardano grow as a leading blockchain.

Problem Addressed Small-scale community efforts are essential for building trust, attracting new users, and keeping Cardano active across different regions. These include local meetups, tutorial videos, graphic design, translations, workshops, and community moderation. However, these small projects face major challenges in accessing funding.

Project Catalyst, while effective for large proposals, is too slow and complex for smaller needs. Long application cycles, voting delays, and high competition often prevent important grassroots work from being supported in time. When funding rounds end, many community groups become inactive. This leads to loss of momentum and fewer onboarding opportunities.

This challenge impacts underrepresented regions the most. Areas with limited internet access or English language skills struggle to submit competitive proposals. Non-technical contributors also face difficulty gaining support. Without ongoing funding, many community-driven activities stop, weakening Cardano’s ecosystem and slowing adoption.

Program Objectives The Cardano Community Bounties pilot Program has five clear goals:

Sustain Engagement: Keep the community active by funding year-round contributions.

Drive Adoption: Support meetups and content that onboard new users.

Promote Inclusivity: Empower diverse and underrepresented voices with accessible funding.

Enhance Agility: Enable the community to quickly respond to trends like DeFi, governance, and identity.

Build Resilience: Ensure support for ongoing tasks such as chat moderation and multilingual content creation.

Key Components Funding Structure Total Budget: 300,000 ADA from Q3 2025 to Q3 2026

Category Allocations:

Content Creation: 25% (videos, articles, tutorials)

Meetups and Events: 25%

Community Growth & Moderation: 20%

Design and Creative Work: 15%

Translations and Localization: 10%

Education and Onboarding Resources: 5%

Bounty Range: From 50 ADA (e.g., social media content) to 2000 ADA (e.g., full event organization)

Governance Platform: A task board and contributor system based on https://cardanobounty.com

Review Committee: Rotating, community-elected team to review task submissions in under 7 days

Eligibility: Open to any Cardano community member

Focus: Tasks that support adoption, collaboration, education, and inclusion

Process The platform will follow a simple and transparent workflow:

Task Submission: Organizers post tasks with a description, budget, and deadline.

Application & Approval: Contributors apply to complete tasks. The committee approves based on clarity and impact.

Execution: Tasks must be completed in 30 to 60 days, with good communication and proper documentation.

Payment: Once approved by the community or committee, ADA is paid within 24 to 72 hours.

Implementation Timeline Q3 2025: Launch the pilot, deploy the platform, form the review committee, begin accepting tasks

Q4 2025 to Q1 2026: Scale task categories, expand outreach, improve UI/UX

Q2 2026: Evaluate pilot progress, review bounty structure and allocations

Q3 2026: Final report and community review, assess roadmap alignment, explore integration with Catalyst

Expected Benefits The program brings measurable and strategic value to the Cardano ecosystem:

Ongoing Activity: Over 500 contributors engaged and more than 200 events or projects supported

User Growth: 5,000 new wallet users and over 500,000 views on funded content

Global Inclusion: Targeting 30 countries and 15 languages

Quick Response: Enables fast actions that keep Cardano competitive in the blockchain space

Community Stability: Supports long-term efforts like moderation and education

Economic Impact: Creates micro-earning opportunities for contributors worldwide, especially in underserved regions

Alignment with the 2025 Cardano Roadmap This pilot directly supports the community goals in the 2025 roadmap by:

Funding user onboarding and local education

Supporting developer participation through awareness and training

Expanding Cardano’s reach across languages and cultures

Creating a ready audience for new products and features

By supporting small, recurring, and real-world actions, this program complements Cardano’s focus on scaling and usability, ensuring that ecosystem growth is matched by real engagement and adoption.

Community Endorsement Potential The proposal has strong potential for community support. Feedback is actively collected through devcommunity.io, where a post titled “Seeking Community Feedback: Cardano Community Bounties Program 2025–2026 Pilot” has already begun community discussion.

With over 2,700 active users and 2.2 million annual views, DevCommunity.io provides a valuable network for ongoing input and validation. The program aligns with goals found in Catalyst’s “Community and Outreach” category and the Cardano Foundation’s Ambassador Program, making it highly likely to receive endorsement from both grassroots and ecosystem leaders.

Integration with CardanoBounty.com This pilot extends the model proven by https://cardanobounty.com. That platform already connects contributors to tasks such as writing, design, and video creation using a simple system: browse tasks, apply, submit, and receive ADA. The new program scales this approach globally, adding support for other activities like moderation, translations, and event organization.

The same values of clarity, accessibility, and transparency guide this proposal. Tasks will have clear requirements, and contributors will build reputations based on quality work. The goal is to make it easy for anyone, anywhere, to earn ADA by helping the Cardano community.

Risks and Mitigation Low-Quality Work: Addressed through task guidelines, contributor ratings, and review standards

Limited Budget: Balanced by capping categories and reviewing impact per payout

Uneven Access: Reduced through multilingual outreach and mobile-friendly platform design

Platform Bugs or Delays: Mitigated with iterative testing and open feedback from the community

Conclusion The Cardano Community Bounties pilot Program (2025–2026) solves a real problem: the lack of fast, accessible funding for small-scale, high-impact community contributions. With a 300,000 ADA budget and bounties ranging from 50 to 2000 ADA, the program will support grassroots actions that matter.

By running for one year, it will test a better way to fund the Cardano community. It will help contributors stay active, reach more users, and build a more inclusive ecosystem. Based on a proven model at https://cardanobounty.com, it will deliver results while preparing for future DAO-based solutions. This is a big step toward a stronger, fairer, and more community-powered Cardano.

The Cardano community is full of people who build, teach, create, help, and share. These small actions keep the ecosystem alive and growing. But many of these actions are not supported. Small groups organize events, translate content, create videos, help newcomers, or manage chats. They often do this without funding. The main funding system, Project Catalyst, is too slow, too complex, and not made for small and urgent tasks. Many people give up because the process takes too long or is too hard. Others never apply because they don’t speak English well or don’t know how to write a formal proposal. As a result, many small but important activities are stopped. Communities lose energy. New users are not helped. People leave. Cardano’s growth slows down. The ecosystem becomes less active, less inclusive, and less fair.

Catalyst is powerful but not flexible enough Project Catalyst is a great idea. It lets the community vote and decide where treasury funds go. It supports large projects, platforms, tools, and technical research. But for small actions like a workshop, a blog post, or translation, the system is not a good fit. The process takes months. Proposers need to write long documents, set KPIs, plan milestones, explain risks, and make a campaign. This is a lot of work for someone who just needs 300 ADA to host a meetup or make a video.

Also, funds are not always available when the project is ready. A tutorial or event linked to a Cardano update may become useless if delayed. Even if a proposal is accepted, the time between idea and funding can be too long. This is why many people stop contributing or never apply at all.

Local and small actions have big value Meetups, online workshops, infographics, community chat support, and videos help new users understand and trust Cardano. These actions are often made by people in their free time. A creator in Colombia, a student group in Kenya, or a designer in Indonesia may only need a small amount of ADA to keep going. But if they cannot get this support quickly, they stop. This slows down adoption.

In some places, internet is slow, English is not widely spoken, or people are new to blockchain. These regions need simple, local activities to grow. But these regions also face the biggest barriers to Catalyst. Writing a proposal in English, promoting it online, and getting votes is too hard for many of them. This blocks inclusion.

Recurring work needs recurring support Some community roles are ongoing. Moderators work daily to keep chats safe. Creators post weekly videos or tweets. Translators work each time new content is published. These roles are key to keeping the Cardano community informed and active. But they cannot rely on one-time funding. They need regular small payments, and they need them fast.

In the current system, they have to reapply every funding round, which can be months apart. During these gaps, many stop working. This creates breaks in communication, less safety in chats, fewer videos, and fewer local updates. It also leads to burnout.

Small proposals cannot compete with big ones Catalyst is also very competitive. Hundreds of proposals are submitted each round. Small ideas asking for 200 to 500 ADA are placed next to big ideas asking for 100,000 ADA or more. Voters often choose large, high-tech projects. Small proposals do not stand out. Even if they bring real value, they often lose.

This leads to an imbalance. The system helps large teams with strong English and marketing skills. It leaves behind smaller teams, creators, local organizers, and non-English speakers. This is not fair and goes against Cardano’s mission of inclusion and decentralization.

The results are clear and harmful The lack of support for small initiatives creates many problems:

Some community groups stop meeting because they cannot afford simple costs like transport or printing flyers.

A content creator in Africa may stop posting because he cannot pay for internet or editing tools.

A translator may not finish work because there is no reward for the effort.

A chat group becomes full of spam because the moderators are unpaid and have left.

These are not small problems. They affect the quality and reach of the whole ecosystem. People feel ignored, tired, and left behind. This leads to less activity, less education, and slower growth. Cardano loses momentum.

In many blockchains, there are small and fast grants. Platforms like Gitcoin or Polkadot's treasury system offer micro-funding or community-curated bounties. These help people take quick action without long waits. Cardano is falling behind in this area.

In summary The current system does not support small, fast, or regular community work. Project Catalyst is powerful but was not built for this kind of contribution. As a result, many valuable community members cannot act, grow, or stay involved. Cardano is missing out on talent, creativity, and global reach.

We need a simple, flexible, and fair way to support small contributions. A bounty system, with quick funding for tasks, would solve this. It would help keep the community strong, active, and growing. It would make Cardano more inclusive and more resilient.

The Cardano Community Bounties pilot Program will create a flexible and easy way to support small community contributions. It will fill a gap in the ecosystem by offering fast and fair funding for simple tasks. This will help people act quickly, stay involved, and continue building useful content and experiences around Cardano.

1. Keeps the community active and engaged With small, fast rewards, community members will stay motivated. Instead of waiting months for Catalyst, they can receive a small bounty to run a meetup, make a video, translate a guide, or moderate a chat group. This keeps energy and activity high between funding rounds. People who might leave will stay involved.

2. Helps new users join Cardano When more tutorials, meetups, and support materials are created, new users feel welcome. They understand how to use wallets, stake ADA, vote in Catalyst, or try a DeFi app. This kind of support helps Cardano grow from the ground up. A single workshop can help many people. A short video in the right language can reach thousands.

3. Builds local communities everywhere Many small efforts happen in places far from the main Cardano development hubs. A student group in Kenya, a women’s coding class in Brazil, or a farmer group in the Philippines might want to use Cardano. With bounties, they can get rewarded for hosting events, making translations, or running learning sessions. This spreads Cardano to new regions and new use cases.

4. Supports people who are already helping Many people are already moderating Telegram channels, making content, helping beginners, or translating documents. But they are often unpaid. This proposal will recognize their work and give them a way to be rewarded fairly and quickly. This helps them continue and avoid burnout.

5. Increases fairness and inclusion The bounty system will be open to everyone. People do not need to write long proposals or speak perfect English. If they can complete a task, they can earn rewards. This creates new chances for people from all over the world to take part, especially those who are often left out of large funding rounds.

6. Helps Catalyst work better The bounties program will support small actions while Catalyst continues to support big ones. This will reduce pressure on Catalyst. People who only need 100 ADA will no longer need to apply for full proposals. This makes the ecosystem smoother and more efficient. Everyone can focus on the kind of funding that fits their work.

7. Boosts content, design, and moderation With regular bounties, the community will see more local-language videos, high-quality visuals, smart infographics, and stronger community chat spaces. These things are essential to teaching users, explaining updates, and building trust. They may not be as visible as big products, but they are just as important.

8. Prepares the way for future DAO-based funding This pilot program will test models for fair, transparent micro-funding. It will show what works and what needs improvement. The lessons learned can help Cardano design future DAO systems, where bounties and tasks are fully community-managed. This is a step toward more decentralization.

🔹 Milestone 1: Platform and Governance Setup Timeline: Q4 2025 Outcome: Foundation for decentralized bounty distribution Deliverables: Launch of a user-friendly bounty platform (https://cardanobounty.com), enabling community members to submit, claim, and complete funded tasks.

Formation of a rotating, community-elected Review Committee to evaluate task proposals and outputs within 7 days.

Deployment of contributor dashboards and payout tracking for full transparency.

Community Benefit: A fully accessible infrastructure that empowers anyone to engage in funded community work, with built-in governance and accountability.

🔹 Milestone 2: Pilot Bounty Launch – Initial Campaigns Timeline: Q1 – Q2 2026 Outcome: First wave of community-supported contributions Deliverables: Launch of at least 150 funded bounties across categories like Content Creation and Community Meetups & Events.

Efficient payout system established with rewards processed within 24 hours –1 week of task approval.

Real-time impact reporting through social media, devcommunity.io, and platform analytics.

Community Benefit: Opportunities for creators, educators, and event organizers to contribute and earn ADA without the complexity of Catalyst proposal writing. This milestone demonstrates how micro-funding can activate talent across regions and roles.

🔹 Milestone 3: Full-Scale Bounty Program Expansion Timeline: Q3 – Q4 2026 Outcome: Expanded reach and deeper community participation Deliverables: Launch of 300+ additional bounties across new categories: Design & Creative Work, Translations, Moderation, and Education.

Active participation from 500+ contributors globally.

Publication of multilingual content in 5+ languages and local activities across 15+ countries.

Contributor reputation scoring introduced to build trust and encourage long-term engagement.

Community Benefit: A thriving, decentralized workforce supporting Cardano adoption across languages, cultures, and use cases. Contributors can build portfolios, gain visibility, and earn based on merit.

🔹 Milestone 4: Pilot Closure and Final Reporting Timeline: Q4 2026 Outcome: Transparent evaluation and ecosystem alignment Deliverables: Final impact report measuring outcomes: number of bounties completed, regions engaged, community sentiment, and cost-effectiveness.

Public presentation of findings and recommendations for next steps (e.g. DAO integration, Catalyst complementarity).

Open-source documentation of workflows, tools, and governance practices.

Community Benefit: A blueprint for a long-term community funding model that complements Catalyst. The pilot will deliver data, lessons learned, and operational clarity for future scalability and sustainability.

Ultimate Community Value By the end of the pilot, the Cardano community will gain: A proven micro-funding platform for rapid grassroots engagement.

A transparent, scalable bounty system that lowers entry barriers for contributors.

Increased local adoption and educational reach across diverse geographies.

A community-led funding process aligned with Cardano’s mission of decentralization, inclusion, and real-world impact.

Q4 2025 – Setup (Team & Platform): 10% = $15,000 Covers team formation, platform configuration, governance committee onboarding, and initial communication assets. It ensures the program is ready to launch by the end of Q4 2025.

Q1–Q2 2026 – Small Bounties Phase: 40% = $60,000 Funds the first wave of community bounties focused on content creation and events, along with basic operations, contributor support, and ongoing outreach. It kickstarts real-world engagement.

Q3–Q4 2026 – Full Bounties Phase: 40% = $60,000 Expands the program to include additional categories (design, translation, moderation, education). Supports increased contributor activity and task diversity at scale.

Q4 2026 – Pilot Closure & Reporting: 10% = $15,000 Covers program evaluation, data analysis, final reporting, and a public presentation of results. Also includes a closeout event and documentation for possible future integration.

Administrative Costs (included across all phases): 10% of the total budget Administrative expenses such as contributor coordination, communication tools, reviewer stipends, and general program operations. Spread proportionally across milestones.

No software development costs included The bounty platform infrastructure already exists and is not part of this funding request. The focus is on operations, content, community, and impact delivery.

1. Platform Development and Launch Objective: Build and deploy a bounty platform (based on cardanobounty.com model) with task posting, application, review, and payout features.

Team Required:

2 Full-stack developers (React, Node.js, ADA payment integration)

1 UI/UX designer

1 Project manager (coordination and QA)

1 DevOps engineer (deployment, hosting, maintenance)

Estimated Duration: 8–10 weeks

Activities:

Frontend and backend development

ADA wallet integration and payout logic

Task board, user dashboard, admin panel

Multilingual interface and mobile responsiveness

Testing, staging, deployment, documentation

2. Governance and Community Committee Setup Objective: Form a transparent, rotating community committee for task review and validation.

Team Required:

1 Community coordinator (full-time)

3–5 elected reviewers (rotating basis, part-time)

1 Governance advisor (optional, part-time)

Estimated Duration: 4 weeks to initiate, ongoing after launch

Activities:

Design eligibility and voting process

Community voting for initial committee

Establish transparent review criteria and tools

Schedule onboarding, rotation, and accountability checks

3. Contributor Engagement and Operations Management Objective: Attract and manage contributors, approve bounties, verify outputs, and issue payments.

Team Required:

2 Community managers (task moderation, onboarding support)

1 Payment operations coordinator

3–5 rotating reviewers (task validation, impact scoring)

Estimated Duration: Ongoing from Q3 2025 to Q3 2026

Activities:

Promote bounty categories and calls

Match tasks with contributors

Review submissions

Process rewards within 24–72 hours

Maintain contributor reputation and metrics

4. Outreach, Communications, and Localization Objective: Ensure multilingual access, inclusivity, and visibility across geographies.

Team Required:

1 Communications lead

1 Graphic designer (infographics, badges, banners)

5–10 part-time translators (language-based task pool)

Estimated Duration: 3–6 weeks for initial setup, then ongoing

Activities:

Develop multilingual landing content and guides

Translate UI strings and task descriptions

Design educational visuals for onboarding and FAQs

Run campaigns on Catalyst, Twitter, Telegram, and devcommunity.io

5. Monitoring, Evaluation, and Pilot Reporting Objective: Evaluate impact, collect feedback, report transparently, and prepare future roadmap.

Team Required:

1 M&E specialist (impact and data reporting)

1 Data analyst (platform metrics and contributor data)

1 Program lead or proposal writer (final review)

Estimated Duration: Q2–Q3 2026 (8–10 weeks for final evaluation)

Activities:

Track engagement KPIs: contributors, wallet activations, task completions

Compile user feedback

Assess regional distribution and category success

Generate community report and future funding proposal

Uptodate Developers is a trusted software company with a strong foundation in blockchain technology and decentralized systems. We bring together a team of over 18 experienced developers who specialize in web, mobile, and desktop application development. Our team has been actively involved in the Cardano ecosystem for over three years, contributing to its growth through technical development, education, and community-building initiatives.

Relevant Experience Blockchain Development and Web3 Expertise Over three years of experience building blockchain-based applications.

Deep understanding of smart contract development, decentralized infrastructure, and Web3 tooling.

Ongoing contribution to open-source initiatives within the Cardano community.

Platform Development Designed and developed devcommunity.io, a community-driven platform co-created through live coding sessions during Fund 8. This initiative engaged local developers and established a sustainable contributor base.

Delivered full-stack projects using React, Node.js, PostgreSQL, Supabase, and ADA wallet integration.

Community Engagement and Ecosystem Support Cardano Summit Co-Host: Organized the Cardano Summit 2021 and 2023 in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Global Representation: Participated in the Cardano Summit 2023 in Dubai, representing African builders and educators.

Challenge Organization: Successfully hosted three community challenges to drive learning, participation, and contribution to Cardano-based applications.

Meetups and Workshops: Led multiple physical and virtual meetups, workshops, and panels since early 2024, introducing Cardano and onboarding new users.

Education and Capacity Building Conducted 16 live blockchain coding sessions over four months during Fund 8, focusing on Cardano dApps, smart contracts, and community tooling.

Trained over 300 participants directly and helped shape a pipeline of contributors to Cardano from Africa.

Impact Reporting and Transparency We publish monthly impact reports across our social media and community channels, ensuring full transparency on goals, activities, and deliverables.

Maintain clear and consistent communication with stakeholders through updates, feedback sessions, and open Q&A discussions.

Community Presence Built a thriving audience with over 15,000 followers across X (Twitter), Telegram, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

Active moderation and community leadership through DevCommunity.io, supporting global contributors, job seekers, and learners in blockchain.

Governance and Catalyst Involvement Participated in milestone reviews since Fund 7.

Served as a Community Reviewer in Fund 10, contributing to fair and informed proposal evaluation.

In summary, our team combines technical excellence, community experience, and a deep understanding of the Cardano ecosystem. We are well-positioned to deliver the Cardano Community Bounties pilot successfully, ensuring high-impact results, strong community involvement, and alignment with Cardano’s roadmap and values.

The Cardano Community Bounties Program (2025-2026) will be maintained and supported post-development through partnerships with Cardano entities like the Cardano Foundation and EMURGO, who can fund bounties to promote projects, alongside integration with Project Catalyst to secure ongoing grants for community-driven tasks. A small transaction fee on bounties will support platform upkeep, while community governance via a rotating, elected committee ensures transparency and engagement. Collaborations with Intersect’s regional hubs will scale operations, and regular feedback from devcommunity.io’s 2700+ active users will drive improvements, ensuring the program’s sustainability and alignment with Cardano’s 2025 Roadmap.

The provided link: https://devcommunity.io/updev/seeking-community-feedback-cardano-community-bounties-program-2025-2026-pilot-465b, points to a post titled “Seeking Community Feedback: Cardano Community Bounties Program 2025-2026 Pilot.” Devcommunity.io is described as a collaborative platform with over 2700 active users, 4000 unique monthly visitors, and 2.2 million annual views, indicating a vibrant hub for Cardano developers, designers, and enthusiasts. This post invites feedback on the bounties program, suggesting an intent to gauge community interest. While specific comment counts or consensus details from this post are not publicly detailed as of now, the platform’s high engagement (e.g., 2.2 million views annually) implies significant visibility and potential for community input. The presence of this post demonstrates an early effort to solicit endorsement, and ongoing discussions could yield measurable support, such as likes, comments, or upvotes, if tracked over time.

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