Zcash Community Grants (ZCG) Meeting Minutes 1/6/25

Community Grants
1

Attendance:

  • Artkor
  • Brian
  • GGuy
  • Jason
  • Zerodartz
  • Alex (FPF resource, notetaker)

Key Takeaways:

Welcome new ZCG members!

  • Jason officially welcomed Zerodartz and Arktor to ZCG.
  • Confirmed bi-weekly Monday meeting time.
  • Confirmed weekly Friday brainstorm session time.
  • Discussed the purposes of both meetings and other logistical context and background.
  • FPF to schedule an onboarding meeting with the new members in the near future.
  • Jason acknowledged that three ZCG members (Jason, Arktor, Zerodartz) are currently ZecHub DAO members. None of the three have any financial interest in ZecHub, and the DAO primarily votes on governance actions. Alex acknowledged that as long as there is no financial interest between the individual members and the DAO there is no conflict of interest present. This is only relevant because ZecHub is a ZCG grantee. As per the annual Conflict of Interest declaration signed by all ZCG members, if circumstances change then the individual will need to disclose that change and any potential COI will be reviewed. Both GGuy and Brian stated that they didn’t see a conflict either. Discussion to be tabled until circumstances warrant a review.

Open Grant Proposals

  • ZecHub 2025: An Education Hub For Zcash
    • The ZecHub 2025 proposal seeks funding to expand its educational initiatives. They’re focusing on increased adoption and engagement with Squirrel, Dismad and now Vito as core contributors. They plan to deliver high quality, educational content including tutorials, webinars and podcasts, as well as create developer resources and organize events, like hackathons. The funding will support the expansion of the global Ambassador program and to continue the ZecHub bounty program to incentivize community contributions The total request is $247,438 and their goal is to establish the club as the key educational hub for Zcash. ZCG members were asked for their input and vote.
    • Brian: Very much approve this grant. ZecHub is one of the standard setting community organizations in the Zcash ecosystem and I have no issues with funding them.
    • GGuy: Also excited to continue funding them and to see how they expand their reach over the coming year.
    • Zerodartz: Yes, I also approve because we haven’t seen them yet do it full-time and it will be cool to see what they can achieve with more time invested.More expansion, etc.
    • Artkor: I support this grant.
    • Jason: I support this grant as well. I’ve been super impressed with the growth of ZecHub over the past couple years. I’m really really happy to see Vito involved as well, he’s somebody that I’ve interacted with a lot over the past year or two and I think he’s a great fit for the team. I think he’ll help them as a community liaison and with partnerships. So I’m excited to see what they do in 2025.
    • Unanimous approval for this grant.
    • Global Ambassador Program was then discussed in the context of ZecHub:
      • Jason: As I’ve previously stated, I’m disappointed that the Global Ambassador program was effectively discontinued. We put the program on hiatus because of financial considerations. It sounds like ZecHub has tried to fill that void and part of this grant is going to the Global Ambassador program, but I don’t know if it’s sufficient to make that program successful. I think that we should work closely with ZecHub and see if there are any gaps that we can fill to ensure that places like Nigeria have Zcash representation.
      • GGuy: I would also add that I would be happy at any time, as we see how the program rolls out, to consider any other applications in how we can assist them in the future as well. So, this doesn’t have to necessarily be the end going forward.
      • Brian: I would be happy to look at how their program is developing and discuss any gaps that they’re seeing and help to fill those.
      • Zerodartz: Maybe if the ambassador stuff goes well they could ask for a new grant for just ambassadors.
      • Jason: Sounds like we’re all on the same page.
  • Zcash Brazil 2025
    • Zcash Brazil 2025 proposal seeks funding of $206,794 to expand the presence and adoption of Zcash in Brazil. They’re focusing on education community engagement and the promotion of Zcash as a privacy preserving technology. The team plans to host workshops, develop educational content, and increase adoption among local businesses. Funding will also support the creation of marketing materials, community support, and events to raise awareness of Zcash in Brazil. Their overall goal is to drive Zcash growth through collaboration with other Zcash entities and engagement with the local community. ZCG members were asked for their input and vote.
      • Brian: I’ll approve this grant. I think Zcash Brazil does a lot to organize the community internally but also within their region and I would like to see them continue those efforts.
      • GGuy: There are a lot of benefits to this program. So, I approve it as well.
      • Zerodartz: Brazil team has done a lot of cool stuff for their local community and also the Global Zcash Discord and community events.They’re very active in managing the community and do it pretty effectively. I’d like to see them do more in 2025, so I approve it.
      • Artkor: I agree with what’s been said. I approve of this grant
      • Jason: I approve this grant. I think the Zcash Brazil team has done an awesome job. I’m impressed with Michael’s leadership over the past three years, and I think that they have been the gold standard of other community groups. I unequivocally approve this grant. I want to respond to a couple of comments that both Artkor and GGuy brought up on Signal related to the cost of this grant. There’s three major reasons why I support the grant amount:. First, ZCG asked them to take significantly less money last year while the price of ZEC was low and they were very open and amenable to that and they still worked hard and delivered value. Second, the team wants to commit themselves full-time in 2025 versus what was previously a part-time effort and so I’m excited to see what they’re able to accomplish. And third, I think the market is turning around, and this is the sort of opportunity where we need to go full force during this crypto bull market, make sure that we’re doing all that we can to promote Zcash and bring in new community members, new developers and so forth in order to get the word about Zcash out there.
      • Unanimous approval for this grant.
  • Zcash Global en Espanol 2025
    • They’re asking for $72,000 in funding to expand their presence in Spanish speaking regions of Latin America and Spain for 2025. The team plans digital education, efforts through social media, community content creation, while they’re creating something new called the Zcash Club to create community building and increase Zcash adoption. Their key activities include managing online platforms, creating tutorials, translating materials, and hosting events to engage Spanish speakers. They also aim to onboard new businesses in the region to accept Zcash and promote its privacy features. ZCG members were asked for their input and vote.
    • Brian: I approve.
    • GGuy: I approve, they’ve provided a lot of value.
    • Artkor: They’re proven, I approve.
    • Zerodartz: They have done a lot of great stuff in the last year so I approve. Let them keep the momentum going.
    • Jason: I’m very impressed with this community and I approve as well.
    • Unanimous approval for this grant.
  • ZK AV Club Community Support
    • This proposal seeks $60,000 to launch the ZK AV Club Foundry which is an educational live stream series aiming to promote Zcash and privacy technologies within Web 3 and Dweb communities. The series will feature bi-weekly sessions, interactive content, educational workshops that engage creators, foster community collaboration, and showcase Zcash’s utility. Zcash will be integrated into the sessions through contest workshops and practical demonstrations and they’ll build visibility and trust among Web 3 creators. The initiative aims to increase Zcash adoption while countering skepticism about cryptocurrencies. ZK AV Club has received grants from the Zcash Foundation and now he is requesting his first ZCG grant.
    • Brian: I approve, Ryan has done a lot of work to get to this point with Zcash Foundation funding and now I’m excited to fund this project via ZCG.
    • GGuy: I think this project nails exactly what we should be investing in right now so I approve.
    • Artkor: I approve.
    • Zerodartz: Ryan has done a lot of great video work and now he’s teaming up with a few active community members. He really deserves this funding to go wider with the project by also collaborating with other decentralization and privacy focused communities. I approve.
    • Jason: I approve as well. I’ve never worked with Ryan individually, but I know a lot of people who have and everybody that has worked with him speaks super highly of him. So I think he deserves it and I think he’ll do a great job. The other point I wanted to make in addition to the momentum created by all of these approvals is that the collaboration between these groups is incredible. I’m really looking forward to what comes out of these community grants in 2025.
    • Unanimous approval for this grant.
  • Zcash Global Turkish 2025
    • Too early to vote. Initial impressions of this grant are favorable.
  • ZSAs in NU7
    • Too early to vote. Initial impressions of this grant are favorable.

Brainstorm Session Follow-Ups

  • Least Authority Invoice
    • ZCG approved the latest LAE invoice.
    • The committee explained to the new members how the contract works.
  • Ledger Update
    • To be discussed at the next Brainstorm session.
  • Community/Marketing Grants
    • ZCG to reach out to marketing experts within the Zcash community to join future brainstorming sessions to discuss community to discuss marketing grants, needs, etc.
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This was our first official meeting with @FPF. Shout out to Alex for drafting and publishing the meeting minutes in less than 36 hours! :clap: :clap: :clap:

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I am pleasantly surprised and grateful for the feedback and insight that within Zcash is starting to be given to the communities.

I think, as I have said before, that within Zcash we should push in equal measure for technology development and communities/marketing, and I think we are off to a very good start in 2025.

Congratulations, ZCG! :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap:

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