Write a focused Bitcoin grant proposal.
Explain what useful work you will do, why you are equipped to do it and how someone can tell whether it happened.
This is an editorial planning guide. Each funder has its own criteria, application form and required documents. Read those first and adapt the proposal to the actual program.
1. Match the project to the program.
Do not send the same generic pitch everywhere. The BDK Foundation focuses on its library ecosystem and supporting work. Brink emphasizes Bitcoin protocol contribution. Btrust has regional priorities and several categories of support.
Check whether the route is open and whether your location, experience and work fit. The OpenSats application page showed its main grant window as closed when checked on 12 September 2026; its separate research-compute reimbursement route had a different status.
2. Start with a public problem.
Describe the affected project or users and the gap in the current state. Link an issue, design discussion, prototype or previous research if available. Explain why the proposed work is useful to the ecosystem and what will be publicly accessible at the end.
A narrow example: “Improve the setup documentation for a particular wallet library, test it on two supported platforms, and submit the resulting corrections upstream.” Make clear that this is your proposal, not an assignment already approved by the project.
3. Show that you can do the work.
Choose two or three relevant contributions. For each, name your role and link the evidence. A patch, careful review, design case study or maintained guide can be more informative than a large list of tools you have used. Explain gaps honestly and identify any mentoring or collaboration the work depends on.
4. Define observable milestones.
| Milestone | Evidence | Dependency |
|---|---|---|
| Investigate the problem | Reproduction notes and a proposed approach. | Access to a working test environment. |
| Build or document the change | Public draft, patch or prototype with relevant checks. | Feedback on the proposed scope. |
| Respond and hand over | Review responses, documentation and a progress report. | Maintainer review availability. |
Commit to work you control. You can promise to submit and respond to a patch; you cannot promise that another project will merge it on a particular date.
5. Explain the request.
State the duration, time commitment, requested amount and currency. Separate contributor time from necessary expenses. Explain existing funding and overlapping work as required by the program. Avoid unsupported salary assumptions or invented cost estimates.
Describe how you will report progress, handle a blocked milestone and make the output available under an appropriate license. Follow the funder’s exact reference and documentation requirements.
Start with a concise draft.
The worksheet provides prompts for the problem, evidence, milestones and request. It is not an official application form.
Download proposal worksheet ↓Before submitting
Check the current application page, working source links and required attachments. Remove confidential material. Ask whether a reviewer can understand the contribution and assess progress without already knowing you. Submit through the program’s own published route.
Keep the evidence.
Download a worksheet to record what you tried, what happened and what you would improve.
Download evidence worksheet ↓