Hi Zcash Community 
It has been a privilege to serve the community this year and I hope to do so again in 2023. As a community, we no doubt face challenges in terms of reliable network usability across the ecosystem and bear market headwinds for the ZEC at our disposal. However, I have faith in the builders in this community, our overall mission to enable financial privacy for all, and still think that Zcash is on the technical forefront of empowering this after we overcome these immediate challenges.
Some of my personal funding highlights this year have been:
- ZSAs - I think this is an important strategic direction for Zcash. It will take a while to see the fruits of this effort but I’m so far impressed with the QEDIT team’s work and collaboration with the community.
- Global Ambassador Program - Community building and outreach are important and this is one way we are enabling this. I’m overall happy with this program and would like to see it mature in a way that results in a positive feedback loop for the ecosystem. What I mean by this is - ambassador outreach/community building resulting in more people building on Zcash and/or seeing these networks be leveraged by the builders in our space for feedback and ideas on the capabilities that they are building.
- Zcash ecosystem security lead - It’s great to see 3rd party ecosystem apps getting some audit attention from someone native to Zcash and independent!
- Zcash Media - Quality messaging about Zcash is important. I was impressed with the spark that Zcash Media was able to ignite in the community, the quality of their work, and hope to see new ideas/continued involvement from them in the future when the time is right and cost is palatable.
- Free2Z - I appreciate how this team collaborates proactively with the ecosystem, is receptive to feedback, and iteratively tries new ideas.
These are just a few that come to the top of my mind out of many.
Challenges we face as a committee (and maybe as a community) and I hope to help improve on next year:
- Attracting builders - More outreach is important, but there is also some hesitation due to the usability of the network. Attracting the right kind of builders is also important (i.e. not mercenary builders, but people who align with the Zcash ethos and will sustainably support the ecosystem). The committee started attending conferences this year for outreach purposes. I didn’t participate beyond Zcon due to personal reasons outside of my control but hope to next year.
- Abundance of small grants - We’ve funded some small grants that seem worthwhile, but I think given the current economy we need to reduce support/set boundaries for small meetup/event style grants, maintain focus on the Global Ambassador Program, and see the community leverage things like Free2Z more in creative crowdfunding ways or leverage other sources.
- RFP Efforts - We’ve generated RFP ideas and have received some attention on a few. But what is the most important to the community right now and do these things make it easier for new builders in our ecosystem? Who do we approach to build these things and how? Should we use the discretionary budget to hire someone whose sole focus is to develop RFP requirements based on solicitation of community feedback and who is then charged with seeking out the builders that can work on this stuff?
Nothing is perfect and I’m open to discussion, feedback, and questions. There is always more work to do.
Anyway, I don’t want this to be any longer than it already is. I have very much enjoyed working with all of the committee members this year. They have each brought unique perspective that challenged my thinking and blind spots and I’m grateful for that. I also appreciate the support that the Zcash Foundation has given us this year.
Cheers everyone 
