Becoming a Project Catalyst Proposer - Part I: The Right Challenge for You

One of the most common questions we hear from you is: How can I submit a proposal to Project Catalyst? In this 3-part series, we will guide you through the basics and give you our guidance on how to submit a winning proposal.

First an overview of the steps:

1. Understanding the Campaigns
2. The Anatomy of a Proposal
3. Market your idea and help get out the vote!

Today we are focusing on step 1 - Logging into Ideascale and finding the right Campaign category for you:

Log into Ideascale

Project Catalyst Proposals are submitted and managed at ideascale. If it’s your first time visiting the site, you’ll be prompted to create an account. Use an email address and handle that you would like to use for receiving communication from Project Catalyst coordinators, and for interacting with the community.

Review the Campaigns

When you have logged into Ideascale, the home page shows a list of “Active Campaigns”. The Campaigns are challenges and targeted areas where Cardano needs to develop and grow. The Campaigns define the categories under which you are invited to submit proposals. Some Campaigns persist from round to round, while new ones are introduced each round as well. Campaign categories are decided by voters in the previous round!

Review the Campaigns for the current Fund. It’s important to read beyond the headline and short summary of each challenge - make sure you understand the goals and metrics that the challenge is really trying to address.

If you have a great idea that fits into a current Campaign, you should create a proposal! During the week that draft submissions are open, there will be a prominent button in Ideascale to submit a proposal - but only during that week! To check out when the next submission week is happening, visit the Project Catalyst calendar (link below)

If you have a great idea that does NOT seem to fit any current Campaign, you have two options:

• Submit to the “Miscellaneous” Campaign. This is the catch-all that allows any idea to get a shot at funding. This is a better choice than submitting to a Campaign that your proposal really does not fit. No matter how good your idea is, you will be rated poorly and punished by voters! The Miscellaneous category may be quite competitive, but at least you can get a fair hearing for any proposal.
• Submit a big idea to the “Challenge Setting” Campaign for the next Fund! This may require “thinking bigger” than your specific proposal. This involves defining a larger category, a bigger dream, that your proposal would fit into! If the community shares your dream, you may see your idea appear as the perfect Campaign for your idea in the next round.

Once you have identified the right Campaign challenge for you, it’s time to draft your proposal. Next week we will look at the “anatomy” of a good proposal, and provide an outline you can use to assemble a good draft. For now, make sure you have an account at Ideascale, read over the current Campaigns, and start dreaming about where your ideas might fit in!