Code for Japan, DigDAO and Shibuya ward is starting Fund distribution experiment for Civictech projects via Quadratic Funding
DigDAO was forked by Digital Agency in government of Japan published fiat-currency based crowd-funding platform. Project applications is open now, donations will open from July 17-24.
TL;DR: DigDAO which was forked by a Digital Agency in the government of Japan is starting the Web2 QF experiment. The first batch forces on Civictech, Tech-based NPOs. The result will be announced on July 25th (Funding the Commons Tokyo)
update on July 18: Donation is open now! you can find favorite project and donate for it!!
Project Details quote from the press release(JA)
Code for Japan, DigDAO, and Shibuya ward have announced an experimental implementation of Quadratic Funding (QF) to promote the ecosystem of digital public goods such kind of civic-tech projects. This initiative will provide a democratic means to distribute funds to projects focused on digital public goods, which have traditionally struggled with conventional public procurement and grant applications.
About Digital Public Goods(DPG)
Digital public goods, as defined by the UN, include open-source software, open data, open AI models, open data standards, and open content that contribute to sustainable development. This project refers to publicly beneficial digital creations that help solve community and societal issues, particularly open-source software and open data.
https://unicef.github.io/publicgoods-accelerator-guide/about-dpgs/what-is-a-dpg/
Background of DPG in Japan
Code for Japan has been actively promoting civic tech, which involves citizens using technology to solve community problems. Despite many successful projects, securing sustainable funding has been challenging, especially for smaller projects that struggle to gain widespread support. Inspired by the success of QF mechanisms in the Ethereum ecosystem and experiments by UNICEF OOI and Taiwan’s Ministry of Digital Affairs, Code for Japan decided to test this funding method for digital public goods.
Project applications
we’re now recruiting projects for this experiment. HOWEVER, This note mostly focuses on reaching out to English readers. basically, this time is open for the internal environment in Japan. such kind of daily life for people who live in Japan. The selected projects will receive matched funds calculated using the QF mechanism based on the number and amount of donations received.
[Project Timeline]
July 12-16, 2024: Public call for digital public goods projects.
Project Review: Submitted projects will be reviewed, with possible questions to project owners or rejections.
By July 24, 2024: Crowdfunding by the general public.
Fund Distribution: Matching funds will be calculated using the QF mechanism and distributed to the projects.
[Project Recruitment Period]
July 12-16, 2024: Submit applications via the provided form.
[Eligibility Criteria]
Projects must address social issues or community revitalization and have activities that are verifiable in the Japanese language, show public benefit, and have visible activity within the past three months. Projects must be open for use, investigation, reuse, modification, expansion, and redistribution by anyone for any purpose.
[Prohibited Projects]
Projects with paid usage, modification, or redistribution restrictions, or commercial use prohibitions, are not eligible. Recommended licenses include GNU GPL, Apache-2.0, or MIT for software projects.
[Prohibited Actions]
Impersonation: Projects must accurately represent their affiliation and intentions.
Donation result tampering: Creating multiple accounts for donations is prohibited.
Distribution of incentives: Offering incentives in exchange for donations is prohibited to maintain the integrity of the QF mechanism.
Overview of Quadratic Funding (QF)
QF is a democratic funding mechanism based on the number and amount of donations. Unlike traditional crowdfunding, where the donation amount directly funds projects, QF adds matching funds based on the number of donors and donation amounts. This allows small donations with broad support to receive significant funding.
How QF Works:
Donations are made to projects.
Matching funds are added based on the number and amount of donations.
Projects receive significant funding even from small donations with wide support.
For more information on the specifics of QF, see the explanatory article and simulation site.
Comment from Code for Japan Representative Director, Hal Seki:
"Code for Japan has supported many civic tech projects and contributed to creating open-source software and open data. However, securing sustainable funding for these activities has been a challenge. This new matching donation site is a mechanism to turn empathy into funds and realize sustainable support. We hope many projects and donors will participate in this initiative and build a better future together."
Future Prospects
In the future, Code for Japan aims to collaborate with larger matching funds from governments and foundations to support a diverse ecosystem of digital public goods projects. This initiative aims to enhance the sustainability of citizen-led projects and contribute to solving social issues
Personal opinion as project leader
FYI: my personal experience is when I founded Civichat (a kind of chatbot to find eligible public welfare services) at 15 years old, failing to make money as digital public goods. right now contributing future of the public goods ecosystem as civic hackers. contributed: Plurality Tokyo, DigDAO, and Funding the Commons Tokyo
This project actually forked from Gitcoin’s Web2 QF OSS. it’s just like a crowd-funding platform but supports allocation via Quadratic Funding from the perspective of tech people. however, I spent serval years with people in government or Non-Profit, and this experiment is a huge step to a forward plural world.
Let’s say that terms of the Ethereum ecosystem (some people call as “Web3”) has already achieved thousands of dollar allocated powered by Quadratic Funding. however, when you see the government (almost libertarians hate this!!), they’re still centralized allocation, based on bureaucrat.
similar experiment we can see in Taiwan. they’re leading democracy as the country, but almost one is still struggling. some EU areas are trying “participatory budgeting” to allocate budgets. but in Japan is still never. At this time, Shibuya put the name of our supporter. in the future maybe we could be bigger and more by the government.
Ethereum is a platform for OSS. there are so many experiments happening. we can do the thing beyond Ethereum, for the next billion.
Griff Green mentioned we can find there huge market in the government. some or communities are trying to do that such as a Metagov, collective intelligence project, and g0v
lastly, let me share my favorite statement:
Ask not why nobody is doing this. You are I’m the "nobody"! by g0v
About me
taka (Shunsuke Takagi)
English: https://x.com/0xcommune
Japanese: https://x.com/0xtkgshn
another article on Medium