AT Protocol Community Fund
An AT Protocol community fund to support infrastructure, open source code development, and community initiatives like events and meetups. Hosted by Raft Foundation
A community fund to support infrastructure, open source code development, and community initiatives like events and meetups.
ATmosphere Conf
We are in the midst of planning a March 2025 conference of ~200 people in Seattle, Washington. The budget for this, including speaker travel expenses support, venue, food, and high quality video recordings, is currently estimated at around $30KUSD. All sponsorship, ticket sales, and expenses will be managed through the Community Fund. More about the conference »
AT Protocol Developer Grants
Bluesky has run a small grants program, but ultimately as with other parts of the protocol, having funding and support happen outside the Bluesky entity is a better long term setup.
Peter Wang of SkySeed Fund has said that he also wants to support pure open source developer initiatives that aren't intended to be businesses. There have been other discussions of companies, governments and NGO organizations that want to support AT Protocol development.
There is open infrastructure in this category, like supporting decentralizing the operations of the PLC Directory. Existing bottoms up community initiatives like the Lexicon Community might need infrastructure or open source code development support.
Initially, we will have an intake process for adding projects to our Open Collective, as well as join the builder's collective (see below). We are open to providing stewards and evaluators for other entities intending to make grants to the AT Protocol community.
The first grant we will raise funds for is around geographic information on the protocol. Private data for AT Protocol, which requires R&D and prototyping, is another likely area of early focus.
Community Support
The ATmosphereConf is one example of a community initiative for AT Protocol that needs significant funding. Another example is FOSDEM. No one was available back in October 2024 to submit for an AT Protocol room and organize people to attend.
We envision supporting other events, meetups, and special community initiatives over time, so that not everyone has to create their own fiscal sponsor entity.
ATmosphere Builder's Collective
We've soft-launched a peer support group for people building applications, infrastructure, and protocols in the wider ATmosphere around the AT Protocol.
This collective will be collaborating around the community fund, supporting governance, and we will be inviting applications for others to join.
This collective will form the basis of an emerging project committee for the Community Fund.
Support us on Open Collective
We have a collective available with our listed projects. Individuals and companies are welcome to support us there. Please get in touch if you're interested in funding a particular initiative.
About the Raft Foundation
We are proud to be a fully hosted project of the Raft Foundation. Raft is a new US-based 501c3 fiscal sponsor that brings communities together to support neighbors in need. We are part of their community technology focus, and feel highly aligned with their values.