SIP-25: Establishing The Sandbox DAO Grants Program (SDGP)

TL;DR

What

The Sandbox DAO Grants Program (SDGP) offers a quick way to fund small, impactful projects in The Sandbox ecosystem. Instead of going through a long approval process, SDGP gets funding directly to creators, developers, and community projects faster. This trial phase tests how well 1,2M SAND in funding is managed by specific leaders, called Domain Allocators (DAs), preparing for a bigger, community-run grant system. The funding for this phase will be distributed across the same four budget categories as in 2025: Season Rewards & Game Creation, Education, Onboarding & Technology, Community Engagement & Charity, and the Web 3 ecosystem. These categories ensure that the allocation of resources is focused and aligned with The Sandbox DAO's strategic goals for the year.

Why

The usual funding process can be slow and complicated, making it hard to start small projects quickly. SDGP makes it easier and faster to get projects going, by letting expert leaders in specific areas decide on funding.

How

SDGP uses a system where leaders, called Domain Allocators (DA), manage funding in their areas of expertise.. If this trial is proven successful, a community vote will be held to elect the next DAs. The program is structured to ensure transparency and accountability, with each funding decision rooted in predefined criteria and public reporting.

When

March 19th : Nomination for DA starts April 2nd: * New SIP to elect DA will be put to vote April 16th: Onboarding starts for the DAs. April 30th : SDGP Starts; Grant Hub Website launch and announced on the forum. August 30th: SDGP trial phase ends. If successful, a new SIP will be put forward to scale the program.

Who

The DAO Admin team designed this proposal, and the SDGP trial phase team includes selected Domain Allocators. They bring expertise in Web3, gaming, community engagement, and growing the ecosystem.

Council Recommendation:

Positive 🙂

Problem Description

The Sandbox DAO currently uses the SIP process for governance, which is structured and works well for big projects. However, this single funding route might not meet the diverse needs of creators, developers, and community members as the ecosystem grows. The SIP process can be complex and slow, which might discourage smaller projects with great ideas from participating due to the lengthy and demanding approval process.

Without a more flexible and area-specific approach, the DAO might miss out on opportunities to drive innovation, engage the community more deeply, and speed up adoption within The Sandbox metaverse.

Solution Proposed

The Sandbox DAO Grants Program (SDGP) offers a new approach with a domain-driven, community-led funding model. Domain Allocators (DAs) will manage grant distribution in specific areas, enabling quicker and more focused decision-making.

SDGP will start as a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) to test and refine this model, aiming for a scalable and more decentralized grant system in future phases. This program will have a reduced budget, a 4-months duration and DAs candidates will be vetted by the admin team (similar to the delegate recruitment) and then will be voted by the community in a subsequent SIP.

The grantees will be able to submit their projects on the Grant Hub, a quick and efficient tool for creating and managing simple grants.

Comparison

|Key Elements|SDGP|SIP - Community Vote| | --- | --- | --- | |Project Approval Timeline|Aim for 15 days|45-60 days in general| |Approval Process|Domain Allocator|Community Voting| |Project sizing|Small project|Big project| |Payment unlock|Milestones based|Milestones based| |Budget range (indicative)|0-50k SAND in general|Up to 200K SAND|

How SDGP Works

The SDGP is built on clear roles, structured funding mechanisms, and transparent community oversight to ensure efficient and accountable grant distribution.

Domain Allocators (DAs)

• Lead and promote their domain
• Approve or reject proposals based on on predefined criteria such as feasibility, impact, and alignment with The Sandbox’s vision
• Oversee & validate milestone tracking
• Provide transparency by posting updates at least once a month in the Sandbox DAO Forum.

Program Manager (PM): operational backbone of SDGP.

• Supports and liaises with the DAs in structuring funding rounds, tracking performance, and reporting.
• Ensures program integrity, keeping DAs proactive and accountable.
• This role will be done by the Admin team

Admin Team

• Processes payments upon DA milestone approval
• Oversees program execution, resolving governance issues if needed.
• Assess DA applicants (MVP) to ensure they meet the required expertise for their domain.

The Sandbox DAO Community

• Votes for DAs, ensuring trusted leaders oversee funding.
• Submits proposals, contributing to the ecosystem’s development.

1️⃣ Grant Submission: Applicants submit their projects on Grant Hub, outlining their project scope, milestones, and funding needs. 2️⃣ DA Review & Approval: DAs evaluate the project based on criteria, engage with applicants. Once accepted, the grant is visible for community transparency. 3️⃣ Project Execution & Tracking: Grantees submit milestone updates on the Grant Hub, where DAs review progress and validate milestones 4️⃣ Fund Disbursement: Admin Team processes payments based on milestone achievements. 5️⃣ Community Transparency: DAs publish updates every month on the Forum, in the SDGP category.

Benefits to The Sandbox DAO

By introducing SDGP as an experimental funding model, The Sandbox DAO gains several key advantages:

• Faster review: smaller initiatives will be reviewed and approved quicker than the 4 weeks delay of the SIP process (discussion + voting)
• More participation: less barriers to entry for creators and community members to contribute
• Budget more flexible: instead of all budget being allocated through a single track, SDGP allows for categories
• Stronger decentralization: Domain Allocators introduce a layer of distributed decision-making, bringing The Sandbox DAO closer to its progressive decentralization vision.
• MVP Approach: the DAO can refine the model, and make informed decisions about how to better scale the grant program in the future.

This Program does not replace the existing SIP process.

Budget Requested (4 Months)

|Item|Amount (USD)|Amount (SAND)|Purpose| | --- | --- | --- | --- | |Web 3 Ecosystem Integration|$145,700|470,000|Funds for approved projects, representing 10% of the total 2025 budget category (without donation)| |Season Rewards & Game Creation|$89,900|290,000|Funds for approved projects, representing 10% of the total 2025 budget category (without donation)| |Education, Onboarding & Technology|$15,500|50,000|Funds for approved projects, representing 10% of the total 2025 budget category (without donation)| |Community Engagement & Charity|$62,000|200,000|Funds for approved projects, representing 10% of the total 2025 budget category (without donation)| |Operational Costs|$18,000|58,065|Covers platform fees (e.g., Questbook). Administrative overhead, will be covered by the Operations budget| |4 Domain Allocators |$29,760|96,000|6000 SAND/ mo/ DA to oversee proposal reviews, milestone tracking, and community reporting within their respective domains. Each category will cover the cost of their DA..| |Total|$360,860**|1,164,065||

• The Domain Allocators budget will vary based on service duration
• These figures can be scaled up or down once the MVP is evaluated and the program moves toward a full-scale implementation.

Implementation Plan

|Milestone|Deliverables|Expected Completion Date|Payment unlocked| | --- | --- | --- | --- | |#1 DA candidates election|SIP-26 “DA election for SDGP” put to vote to elect DAs|April 2nd |N/A| |#2 SDGP Planning|- Set up Grant Hub Website - Forum category creation and guidelines - Onboarding DA - Creation of evaluation criteria for the projects with PM support|April 16th, 2025|US $3,000 one off fee + $2,500 monthly fee| |#3 Grant Program Starts|- Grant Hub Website Launch - Grantees can start submitting their project|April 30, 2025|6,000 SAND for each Domain Allocator| |#4 Monitoring & Improvement|DA give update and reports on the forum once a month - Project accepted|Every month of the program|DA service fee will be settled on a monthly basis| |#5 Grant Program Ends|- Final report assessing SDGP performance.(budget spend etc) by the PM|August 30th, 2025|Final DA payments issued for completion.| |#6 Community voting on program scaling.|- Create a SIP for the community to discuss and vote on scaling the program .|From September||

Key Metrics of Success

• Proposal Lifecycle Efficiency: average time from proposal submission to DAO approval should not exceed 15 days
• Project Diversity: at least 20 distinct projects should be approved within the 4-month phase
• Community Engagement: number of submissions for each of the 4 pool will be tracked to measure the level of community interest and participation.
• Project Completion Rate: total number of projects completed or in progress after the 4-month period