Formerly known as The Decentralized Wireless Alliance, Helium Foundation was given the rights to the Helium brand name and imagery when Nova Labs relinquished the namesake. Dedicated to the growth of and education around decentralized wireless products and services, the Helium Foundation works to build innovations and raise awareness about the Helium network. Grants are available to developers with ideas for building on the Helium network, anything that would use the service applies. If you’ve got a lofty idea but lack the capital to get the ball rolling, propose your plan to them and you may be eligible for funding.
Some of the greatest projects being built on Helium today were created by community members, many of whom have received generous grants from the Helium Foundation to help bring their projects into reality. They are happy to share the intellectual resources of their innovative team, and help with valuable advice based on their experiential knowledge in the industry. Don’t feel held back by investment limitations, pursue your lofty goals and reach for the sky! One grantee is building a secure concentrator for hotspots, another is working on environmental protection and park security, another is producing tracking devices for retail sale. The list goes on, and these folks all began that path with just an idea, and through grant funding have begun to bring their ideas to life.
Paul Saucy and the Secure Concentrator he’s been developing with his grant
Reach out to the Foundation to discuss your application before submitting it, for valuable feedback, advice, and in order to set goals and expectations of yourself or your team. The application process is quick and simple, though currently on pause until sometime in the fall.
HIPs, or Helium Improvement Proposals, are changes to the network proposed by members of the community. Often they are drafted in teams, under the provision of developers, in order to contain a well rounded perspective, as well as the technical proficiency to take their idea from dream to implemented code. The Helium Foundation oversees the voting process, helping draft and build the vote payment system in order to burn HNT to DC, then to spend DC on a vote. The number of votes is determined by the HNT and staked HNT wallet balance. These improvement proposals are an integral element to Helium governance and require community participation in order to assure the outcome mirrors the desires of the community. Early investors influence the vote to a small degree, but around 67% of all HNT lies in the hands of hotspot owners, making the mining community the majority vote.
The Foundation oversees the treasury creation for subDAOs and developed the token distribution used by the network, as well as host a monthly community call where community members, developers, and vendors alike are encouraged to ask questions, express concerns, and to otherwise generally reach for a deeper understanding of the developments around the Helium network. The notes and transcript of each call are documented for folks to review after the fact. One of the most exciting and important things to keep in mind, is that any decision, big or small, comes from and is decided by the community, establishing a standard for decentralized governance.
The Helium Foundation blog contains useful and exciting articles on network developments, grantees, and more. Check it out to stay up to date!
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