Plural Funding
Plural Funding (also known as Quadratic Funding or QF) is a more democratic and scalable form of matching funding for public goods, i.e. any projects valuable to large groups of people and accessible to the general public.
“Matching funding” is a model of funding public goods where a fund from governments or philanthropic institutions matches individual contributions to a project. Plural Funding optimizes matching funds by prioritizing projects based on the number of people who contributed. This way, funds meant to benefit the public go towards projects that really benefit a broad public, instead of things that only have a few wealthy backers. In Plural Funding, [total funding] for a proposal is [the square root of each contribution to it → summed up, then squared.] Plural Funding strongly encourages people to make contributions, no matter how small, and ensures a democratic allocation of funds meant to benefit the public.
Further Reading
A flexible design for funding public goods - Vitalik Buterin, Zoë Hitzig, E. Glen Weyl
The Handbook for Radical Local Democracy - Matt Prewitt, Paul Healy
How Soulbound Tokens Can Make Gitcoin Grants More Pluralistic - Leon Erichsen
Liberal Radicalism: A Flexible Design for Philanthropic Matching Funds - Vitalik Buterin et al.
Pairwise coordination subsidies: a new quadratic funding design - Vitalik Buterin
Plural Funding - E. Glen Weyl, Leon Erichsen
Quadratic Payments: A Primer - Vitalik Buterin
Tools
Clr.fund - Clr.fund is a protocol for Quadratic Funding of public goods projects in the Ethereum ecosystem. Using a combination of exclusive cryptography and mechanism design it aims to prevent Sybil-attacks, bribery, and collusion in the Quadratic Funding process.
Gitcoin Grants - Gitcoin Grants is a Quadratic Funding platform for public goods projects, primarily, in the Ethereum ecosystem. Beyond that, it featured matching funds for public Covid-19 and Black Lives Matter causes. Its enchanting interface is the go-to-place for radical public goods pilots.
Downtown Stimulus - Downtown Stimulus is a Quadratic Funding based aid program for small businesses in Boulder, Colorado, that suffered as a consequence of Covid-19. Get in touch and bring the magic of Quadratic Funding to small businesses in your locality, too.