The seventh session of the Cardano budget process open discussions focused on presentations from the Membership and Community Committee (MCC) and the Open Source Committee (OSC) of Intersect. The session aimed to provide insights into their budget proposals for 2025 and answer community questions regarding their initiatives and allocations.
The session began with an overview of the meeting principles, emphasizing structured discussion, maintaining a professional tone, and ensuring all questions were addressed fairly. Participants were encouraged to raise their hands or submit questions in the chat with the prefix "Question" to facilitate a smooth dialogue. The session was set for one hour, with additional time available for extended discussions.
Nori Nishigaya, chair of the MCC, presented an overview of their budget framework, highlighting four key focus areas: increasing usage, maintaining business operations, governance, and vision. The MCC’s budget priorities include grants, events, outreach, education, and community engagement efforts. Specific initiatives include funding local meetups, hackathons, and educational programs to enhance accessibility and inclusion. The committee is also looking at grants to support innovation and ecosystem growth, including a proposed allocation for Project Catalyst.
Nori emphasized that the MCC seeks to enhance membership value by fostering a thriving Cardano community. The committee plans to provide operational support for working groups, community hubs, and collaborative best practices. The session also touched upon future elections for the MCC, scheduled for April, where half of the committee seats will be up for election. Community members were encouraged to join working groups and special interest groups to contribute actively to the development of Cardano.
Following Nori’s presentation, the discussion transitioned to the role of marketing within Intersect. Simon from the Marketing Working Group provided an overview of the group's goals, emphasizing strategic partnerships, media outreach, and global adoption strategies. The working group proposed a 12% allocation of the total Cardano budget to support these initiatives, including funding for a dedicated marketing team, professional services, and operational overhead. This led to discussions about the appropriateness of the budget request, particularly the 15% portion allocated to operational costs. A follow-up session was proposed to further refine and discuss the marketing working group’s budget request in detail.
The session then moved to the Open Source Committee, with a presentation by Tex, the committee’s secretary. The OSC’s budget proposal focused on fostering open-source contributions, supporting decentralized development, and ensuring long-term sustainability. Key initiatives include a maintainer retainer program to compensate community developers, repository management, security and maintenance support, and a developer advocacy program.
The OSC also highlighted the importance of project support services, which include governance, sustainability, and legal consulting for open-source projects. The committee proposed an initiative similar to Google’s Summer of Code to nurture new developers and expand participation in open-source development. Other proposed efforts include bounty programs for resolving issues within the ecosystem and funding OSC members' participation in global open-source events.
A lively Q&A session followed the presentations, covering various topics, including the distinction between MCC and OSC events, the intersection of open-source marketing with broader Cardano promotion, and the logistics of grant administration within the MCC. The discussion also touched on the need for transparency in expenditure and justification of funding allocations.
As the session concluded, Lawrence emphasized the importance of continuous engagement and community participation in refining budget allocations. Plans were set to schedule a dedicated session for the marketing working group and MCC to further discuss their proposals. The community was encouraged to attend upcoming sessions, with registration links provided for those interested in continuing the discussions.
The meeting wrapped up with a call for active involvement in the budgeting process, reminding participants that all resources, including session recordings and knowledge base links, were available for review. The commitment to ensuring a transparent and collaborative budgeting process was reiterated, with an open invitation for further community input and engagement.
