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<h1>Audiences Post, Communities Host</h1>
TL;DR: All our feeds are cooked and touching grass with friends is the final defense. The Superteam touching grass fund is here to support members who host, not just post. Get up to $500 USDG to cover expenses for organizing Solana &amp; Superteam adjacent meet-ups in your city, as per the guidelines below.
Social media platforms are no longer social. By default, you don't see content from your friends, family, or people you're connected with. Instead, our feeds are dominated by sophisticated professionals who are engineering content to elicit a dopamine response while competing for max share of our attention that they can then package and sell to sponsors. In such times, IRL events are the last defense to compete with brainrot.
Audiences post, communities host: A big focus for each Superteam is to be the frontier onboarding vehicle for the most promising talent in their local markets. However, the magic happens when members go from sharing memes in a group chat to forming teams on Solana, and often forge lifelong friendships in the process.
The optimal way to participate in Superteam is to use the access &amp; trust from being a member to find your niche interest and the people you can collaborate with to create weekend projects, products, or companies around it. Those who do it right will find themselves in more group chats than they can count, spontaneously joining Zoom calls and taking cabs/trains/planes to meet their internet friends. More on this idea in a previous blog post <a href="https://blog.superteam.fun/p/audiences-post-communities-host?utm_source=publication-search" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">here</a>.
Therefore, Superteam now supports the Solana Foundation community grants program and recommends applicants with the ability to galvanize the community with in-person events for community grants.
Members are encouraged to host casual events like coffee mixers, dinners, paddle or pickleball tournaments, turf football or cricket, or more structured events like learning groups, weekend hackathons, bounty hunting, or co-working sessions.
As long as you're doing something that (a) brings the Solana community closer together and (b) onboards those on the sidelines into crypto, feel free to apply. Currently, only Superteam members can be hosts, but anyone can attend. If this format works, we will drop the host restriction and open it up to anyone in the Superteam ecosystem.
<h2>🤝 Events Playbook</h2>
The meetups are supposed to be a lot of fun, but it's not all there is to a valuable meetup. To have a higher chance of success&mdash;and to get more from the touching grass fund down the line&mdash;we recommend doing as many of these as possible:
<ul>
<li>Limited attendees: Invite a small group of not more than 8&ndash;10 people. Focus on a size and venue that enables everyone to talk to everyone else at least once. A generic meetup isn't the best fit for this; we're only looking to support meetups where attendees are: developers, operators (marketing, product, ops), creators (writers, researchers, YouTubers, etc.), investors (both angels and VCs), founders, and capital markets professionals.</li>
<li>Primer on crypto: Depending on how much is necessary, help folks find their way into the Superteam and Solana ecosystem. Make them feel at home!</li>
<li>Merch (optional): Coordinate with your local Superteam team to get merch&mdash;T-shirts, stickers, bags, etc.&mdash;for attendees to take back as a souvenir.</li>
<li>Food &amp; Coffee: If this is part of your event, an ideal meal is one where (1) everyone can talk to each other, and (2) it's reasonably priced and prudently ordered without wasting food or money.</li>
<li>Onboarding: If you're inviting people who are new to crypto or Solana, ideally you should also act as their buddy &amp; help them find their pathway to contribution via bounties, gigs, jobs, hackathons, asset onboarding/distribution, etc.</li>
<li>Proof of meet-up: Ideally, take pictures and put them up on your social media of choice with a short caption sharing your experience, learnings, or thoughts. Tag your local Superteam as they might share it as well!</li>
<li>Follow-up group: Invite everyone who attends into a private Telegram/WhatsApp group that you're an admin of. This way you can stay in touch and help make more plans that were discussed at dinner!</li>
</ul>
<h3>What this grant is not for:</h3>
Events that are purely social or personal with no direct link to Solana or Superteam goals. Misuse of funds or falsified reports can potentially result in being purged from the Superteam membership.
<h2>⚙️ How It Works</h2>
<ol class="[li_&amp;]:mb-0 [li_&amp;]:mt-1 [li_&amp;]:gap-1 [&amp;:not(:last-child)_ul]:pb-1 [&amp;:not(:last-child)_ol]:pb-1 list-decimal flex flex-col gap-1 pl-8 mb-3">
<li class="whitespace-normal break-words pl-2">Create a private event page on Luma. Please ensure you've added an appropriate title, cover image, and a full description of the event &mdash; including the format of the event, schedule if any, who the event is for, outcomes for the event, etc.</li>
<li class="whitespace-normal break-words pl-2">Make a grant application for it here on Earn, and include the private Luma link of your event in the application.</li>
<li class="whitespace-normal break-words pl-2">Sponsors will usually reply within ~7 days.</li>
<li class="whitespace-normal break-words pl-2">If approved, you'll receive a confirmation email. Once approved:
<ol>
<li class="whitespace-normal break-words pl-2">Submit your event to the&nbsp;<a href="https://luma.com/superteam">Superteam Calendar</a>&nbsp;so it's visible to the broader community.</li>
<li class="whitespace-normal break-words pl-2">You'll receive 50% of the grant upfront (post KYC; to be done on this page on Earn) in the following weekly payout cycle. Approved KYC and payments are sent for processing on Mondays and paid to you by Friday of the same week.</li>
</ol>
</li>
<li class="whitespace-normal break-words pl-2">After the event, upload photos from the event + scanned copies of expense receipts from the event to the tranche application form on this listing. This tranche application form will be visible to you after you have received your first tranche. Both the photos from the event and scanned copies of the receipts are essential for processing your second tranche.</li>
</ol>
<h2>❓ Frequently Asked Questions</h2>
<ul>
<li>Who is eligible to apply for event grants?</li>
<ul>
<li>This program is currently in beta and only open for Superteam Members.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>What criteria will the panelists use to evaluate grants?</li>
<ul>
<li>We prefer to support members that have some prior experience in organizing events (regardless of how small) and events that are primarily focused on developers, artists, and investors.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Will I receive feedback on my proposal if it is rejected?</li>
<ul>
<li>Unfortunately, our sponsors do not have the bandwidth to provide individualized feedback at this time.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
&nbsp;
Note: Getting approved for a grant is in no way to be understood as an endorsement or partnership. Your event will be a community event, and in no way should you represent to third parties that it's a "Superteam event" or in any sense official.
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🚁Have a question that isn't answered here?&nbsp;Email us at <a href="mailto:support@superteam.fun">support@superteam.fun</a>&nbsp;for help.&nbsp;

The Touching Grass Fund (USA)