On Nov 11, during the weekly Cardano town hall meeting, Charles Hoskinson announced the kickoff of Project Catalyst Fund 7. I counted 500+ Zoom attendees; not many months ago, town halls commonly had around 50 in attendance. This growth is reflected in every part of the Catalyst experiment. The budget for example has doubled with every round. In this round, 6.4 million dollars is available to teams proposing solutions to challenges across 21 categories. There is also 1.6 Million available to people who participate in other roles in the project. This last category and budget is often overlooked. Creative solutions to big problems are what make Project Catalyst so exciting, but it only happens when the community jumps in to perform many important roles. These positions are flexible and short term. They are a great way to learn while helping build something new - and get paid to do it!

Read on to learn about the 8 compensated roles for community participation in Catalyst:
(If you’d like to start with a general overview of Project Catalyst, we wrote about it here: https://www.lidonation.com/fr/posts/cardanos-project-catalyst-experiments-in-decentralized-autonomous-organization-dao. )

1) Proposers
When most people think of Project Catalyst, they think about the Proposers. After all, when you log in to Ideascale and look around, the proposals are the stars of the show. However, the role of the proposer is often misunderstood. The proposer is like the founder of a startup - the idea person. Sometimes that same person has the skills to implement their ideas, but often they actually do not! They might have important strengths, like business development, marketing, etc, but they need a team with special skills to actually deliver their idea. If you have an idea, you can participate in Catalyst as a Proposer looking for implementers.

2) Implementers
Perhaps you are a software engineer, developer, graphic artist, translator, finance guru, videographer, etc. You can go to Catalyst, browse ideas, and connect with proposers looking for people to help implement their ideas. Check out the “Team” section of proposals that interest you; often there will be opportunities listed there for people with specific skill sets needed to complete the team.

3) Referrers
If you know of a team that might benefit from building with Cardano, you can refer them to apply for Catalyst funding. Referrers simply share win-win knowledge about the awesomeness of Catalyst. If you refer someone to Catalyst and their proposal gets funded, you both get rewarded! Fund 7 will make $80,000 USD available for referral compensation.

4) Catalyst Circle
Over the last two years of rapid growth since Project Catalyst’s inception, certain cohorts of participants and stakeholders formed naturally. For example, Stake Pool Operators, Voters (ADA Holders), and Funded Proposers are groups with common concerns who naturally talk to each other. To give these groups representation and a direct voice in shaping the project, the Catalyst Circle was introduced. The Catalyst Circle is “a human sensor array acting as the representative body for all the different groups participating in Project Catalyst.” Individuals that sit on the circle are elected every three months. Members of the Circle are remunerated in ADA. The $9,500.00 USD budget for the circle is itself a catalyst proposal, which must be approved in every funding round in order to continue.

5) Challenge Teams
“Challenges”, also called “Campaigns”, define the problems the community should solve for a given round. For Fund 7, there are more than 20 unique “Challenges”. Ideas and solutions that are proposed must fit within a defined challenge. Challenge Teams steward the Challenges in Catalyst. They track progress and report to the community about whether and how the challenges were addressed. Presentations are made at weekly virtual town halls. The processes and tools for this tracking are a work in progress - you can be part of the solution! Up to $80,000 USD is available to Challenge Teams in Fund 7.

6) Community Advisors
New proposals for each round are posted at https://cardano.ideascale.com/, where community members can post feedback and questions. Proposal teams then have the opportunity to respond and refine their proposals. Then, before voting, proposals are reviewed by Community Advisors (CAs). Community Advisors evaluate every proposal for adherence to the challenge, feasibility and auditability. This helps increase the overall quality of proposals that are eventually presented on the ballot. In Fund 7, $320,000 USD is budgeted for CAs.

7) Veteran Community Advisors
In further service of quality assurance, reviews from Community Advisors are themselves reviewed by people who were CAs in previous funds. Veteran Community Advisors are the check for the checkers. $80,000 USD will be made available for their hard work in fund 7.

8) Voters
Finally, at the heart of the whole process, is the opportunity for every ADA holder to have a say. Proposals that make their way to the ballot are presented in an app for apple and android, where ADA holders get to vote yes or no on each proposal. $1,040,000 will be distributed among all voters in fund 7.

Fund 7 will run for 10 weeks; winning proposals will be announced in week 11 or 12. We hope you jump in and find a role that makes your heart sing. Secure your place in history - as a pioneer in an experiment to catalyze the highest level of human collaboration! To get started, head over to cardano.ideascale.com, create an account, and come to the next town hall. See links below for all the ways you can stay up to date.