Zcash Community Grants (ZCG) is a community-elected grants committee within the Zcash ecosystem that funds Zcash-related projects in order to bring financial privacy to everyone in the world. Zcash Community Grants program provides grants to teams of all sizes, from individual hobbyists to larger organizations that may not be actively looking to apply for grants; such as widely adopted wallet providers. The goal of the Zcash Community Grants program is to tap into wider networks of crypto users and infrastructure, ultimately accelerating the growth and impact of Zcash.
At ZCG, we have the opportunity to work with Zcash contributors across the globe. We rely on the contributions made by grant recipients and volunteers to support our mission of growing Zcash adoption and usability of Zcash and realize their full potential. Our grants program is more than building innovative technology and delivering solutions that transform the way we transact, it's about our values, who we are as a community and individuals, and how we manage our operations while working together.
The ZCG Code of Conduct outlines our expectations for communication (via public & private channels) with the Zcash community, current and prospective grant recipients, and their employees, personnel, agents, and subcontractors. ZCG expects all parties to embrace this commitment to integrity while building projects with and/or on behalf of ZCG.
We require individuals to be aware of and always adhere to the ZCG Code of Conduct with a focus on:
- Performing work ethically when it comes to conflicts of interest, hiring practices, human rights, and honesty in business recording
- Demonstrating respect and inclusion
- Following best practices protecting information, data privacy rules, and regulations
The Zcash Community Grants Committee has adopted a code of conduct for its members, current, prospective applicants, and vendors (hired by grant applications and ZCG) regarding forums, social channels, and other modes of communication with the ZCG.
1. Be respectful
In a project the size of Zcash, inevitably there will be people with whom you may disagree or find it difficult to cooperate. Accept that, but even so, remain respectful. Disagreement is no excuse for poor behavior or personal attacks, and a community in which opinions, ideas, or people feel threatened is not a healthy community.
2. Assume good faith
Zcash contributors & collaborators have many ways of reaching our common goal of distributing financial privacy & freedom which may differ from your ways. Assume that other people are working towards this goal.
Note that many of our community members are not native English speakers or may have different cultural backgrounds.
3. Be collaborative
Zcash is a large and complex project; there is always more to learn within the Zcash community and from competing cryptocurrency projects. It’s good to ask for help when you need it. Similarly, offers for help should be seen in the context of our shared goal of improving Zcash adoption.
When you make something for the benefit of the project, be willing to explain to others how it works, so that they can build on your work to make it even better.
4. Try to be concise
Keep in mind that what you write once will be read by hundreds of people. Writing a short message means people can understand the conversation as efficiently as possible. When a long explanation is necessary, consider adding a summary.
On public channels like the forum, try to bring new arguments to a conversation so that each post adds something unique to the thread of communication, keeping in mind that the rest of the thread still contains the other messages with arguments that have already been made.
Try to stay on topic, especially in discussions that are already fairly large.
5. Transparency
Most ways of communication used within the Zcash Community Grants Committee allow for public and private communication. As per paragraph three of the social contract, you should preferably use public methods of communication (on the Zcash Community Forum) for grants-related discussions, unless posting something sensitive.
This applies to messages for help or ZCG/ZF related support, too; not only is a public support request much more likely to result in an answer to your question, but it also makes sure that any inadvertent mistakes made by people answering your question will be more easily detected and corrected.
Since ZCG relies on Zcash Community Forum as the primary method of communication, the grant applicant/recipients and commenters must follow the Zcash community forum Code of Conduct.
6. Inclusivity
The ZCG welcomes and encourages participation by everyone. No matter how you identify yourself or how others perceive you: we welcome you. We welcome contributions from everyone as long as they interact constructively with our community and align with our goals. While much of the work is technical in nature, we value and encourage contributions from those with expertise in other areas, and welcome them into our community.
7. In case of problems
While this code of conduct should be adhered to by participants, we recognize that sometimes people may have a bad day, or be unaware of some of the guidelines in this code of conduct. When that happens, you may reply to them and point out this code of conduct. Such messages may be in public or in private, whatever is most appropriate. However, regardless of whether the message is public or not, it should still adhere to the relevant parts of this code of conduct; in particular, it should not be abusive or disrespectful. Assume good faith; it is more likely that participants are unaware of their bad behavior than that they intentionally try to degrade the quality of the discussion.
Serious or persistent offenders will be temporarily or permanently banned from communicating with the ZCG via public channels of communication (forums, social media, and ZF grants systems). Complaints should be made (in private) to the members of the Zcash Community Grants committee via the forum and by tagging @ZcashGrants. It is also possible to report issues by contacting Zcash Foundation.
This version was last updated on May 19, 2022