The survey results were fed into GPT to generate recommendations, check them out 
Final Budget Summary Based on Recommendations
- Initial Total Budget: β³20,394,540
- Recommended Total Budget: β³10,777,270
- Total Savings (Reduction): β³9,617,270
This approach reduces the overall budget by approximately 47%, ensuring funding is allocated to high-priority areas while cutting inefficient spending.
| Category |
Initial Budget (β³) |
Recommended Budget (β³) |
Reduction (β³) |
Reduction (%) |
| Partnerships & Collaborations |
600000 |
600000 |
0 |
0.0 |
| Research & Analysis |
500000 |
500000 |
0 |
0.0 |
| Research & Development |
200000 |
200000 |
0 |
0.0 |
| Industry Events with Cardano Booths |
4654540 |
2327270 |
2327270 |
50.0 |
| Community Led Events |
800000 |
800000 |
0 |
0.0 |
| Digital Marketing - Social Media |
400000 |
200000 |
200000 |
50.0 |
| Marketing Education & Support |
400000 |
200000 |
200000 |
50.0 |
| Regional Tech Events |
4700000 |
2350000 |
2350000 |
50.0 |
| Community Led Marketing |
2000000 |
1000000 |
1000000 |
50.0 |
| Digital Marketing - Bounties |
200000 |
0 |
200000 |
100.0 |
| Influencer Marketing |
360000 |
0 |
360000 |
100.0 |
| Influencer Marketing - RFP Influencer Directory |
80000 |
0 |
80000 |
100.0 |
| Print Content/Merch Production |
100000 |
50000 |
50000 |
50.0 |
| Public Relations and Media |
900000 |
450000 |
450000 |
50.0 |
| 2025 Cardano Summit & 2026 Down Payments |
3100000 |
1550000 |
1550000 |
50.0 |
| Cardano Reporting - Messari |
300000 |
0 |
300000 |
100.0 |
| Digital Content Production |
600000 |
300000 |
300000 |
50.0 |
| Digital Marketing - Advertising |
500000 |
250000 |
250000 |
50.0 |
Budget Allocation Recommendations Based on Survey Results
1. Areas for Potential Budget Increases
Among the items that respondents believed should be increased, the following stood out:
- Partnerships & Collaborations (β³600,000) β 25%
- Research & Analysis (β³500,000) β 25%
- Research & Development (β³200,000) β 25%
Other items with moderate support for increases include:
- Community Led Events (β³800,000) β 12%
- Industry Events with Cardano Booths (β³4,654,540) β 15%
- Regional Tech Events (β³4,700,000) β 12%
Key Takeaways
- Investment in research and development is seen as valuable.
- Strengthening partnerships and collaborations is considered a priority.
- While community-led events and industry events received some support for increases, they also faced significant calls for reductions.
2. Areas for Budget Reductions
The highest percentage of respondents suggested reductions in the following areas:
- Influencer Marketing (β³360,000) β 77%
- Influencer Marketing - RFP Influencer Directory (β³80,000) β 67%
- Community Led Marketing (β³2,000,000) β 61%
- Cardano Reporting - Messari (β³300,000) β 58%
- Regional Tech Events (β³4,700,000) β 54%
Other areas with more than 50% support for reductions include:
- 2025 Cardano Summit & 2026 Down Payments (β³3,100,000) β 51%
- Industry Events with Cardano Booths (β³4,654,540) β 51%
- Public Relations & Media (β³900,000) β 51%
- Digital Marketing - Social Media (β³400,000) β 51%
Key Takeaways
- Influencer marketing is strongly viewed as unnecessary.
- Public relations and media budgets, including Messari reporting, face strong pushback.
- Large-scale events (e.g., Regional Tech Events, Cardano Summit) are considered important but require budget optimization.
3. Items Considered Appropriate
The following items received relatively balanced support:
- 2025 Cardano Summit & 2026 Down Payments (β³3,100,000) β 50%
- Community Led Events (β³800,000) β 45%
- Industry Events with Cardano Booths (β³4,654,540) β 36%
- Regional Tech Events (β³4,700,000) β 31%
- Community Led Marketing (β³2,000,000) β 31%
Key Takeaways
- Large events and summits are recognized as necessary but require cost control.
- Community-led events remain valuable but must be balanced with other marketing efforts.
4. Items Recommended for Elimination
A significant portion of respondents suggested removing the following:
- Influencer Marketing - RFP Influencer Directory (β³80,000) β 64%
- Influencer Marketing (β³360,000) β 60%
- Digital Marketing - Bounties (β³200,000) β 50%
- Cardano Reporting - Messari (β³300,000) β 46%
- Digital Marketing - Advertising (β³500,000) β 42%
- Public Relations & Media (β³900,000) β 42%
Key Takeaways
- Influencer-related initiatives should be completely removed.
- Digital marketing strategies, especially bounties and advertising, should be reconsidered or significantly reduced.
- Messari reporting may not be seen as cost-effective and could be replaced with cheaper alternatives.
Final Budget Recommendations
Based on the survey results, the following budget strategy is recommended:
- Increase or Maintain Funding for:
- Research & Analysis (β³500,000), Research & Development (β³200,000), and Partnerships & Collaborations (β³600,000) as they are seen as valuable investments.
- Community Led Events (β³800,000) should be maintained as it retains support.
- Major events (Cardano Summit, Regional Tech Events) should be optimized but not eliminated.
- Reduce Funding for:
- Industry Events with Booths (β³4,654,540) and Regional Tech Events (β³4,700,000) β consider a 50% reduction.
- Public Relations & Media (β³900,000), Messari Reporting (β³300,000), and Community Led Marketing (β³2,000,000) β reduce by 30-50%.
- Eliminate Completely:
- Influencer Marketing-related budgets.
- Digital Marketing - Bounties (β³200,000).
- Messari Reporting (β³300,000) (or replace with a lower-cost alternative).
This approach ensures that high-priority research and collaboration efforts receive adequate funding while eliminating inefficient spending and optimizing large-scale event budgets.
This really helps, I am hosting a discussion with my community about this and the innovation budget too. Is it safe to reflect these figures on my presentation rather than the figures available on the knowledge base? @YUTA_Oishi
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Thank you, please use it. Just to be clear, this is the budget that GPT created after loading the survey results into GPT.
Okay so these are not voted figures right? I guess it would be best to use the figures on the knowledge base while referencing these as potential effect.
Hereβs an idea
Regarding the following two events, could we hold the Budget Summit, Catalyst Launch Event, CC Handover Ceremony, Cardano Governance Convention and Intersect Annual Meeting simultaneously, if possible
γ»2025 Cardano Summit & 2026 Down Payments
γ»Community Led Events
How about proceeding with the other items as follows
-
Create a GMC Budget v1.0 at one-tenth the cost, get it approved by DRep, run it as a test for 3-6 months, measure the results, and report back to DRep.
-
For items that DRep is satisfied with the results, increase the amount by 10 times and get DRep to approve GMC Budget v2.0, and then resume normal operations.
For Example:
GMC Budget v1.0
| Title |
Suggest |
| Event Management |
|
| 2025 Cardano Summit & 2026 Down Payments |
3,100,000 |
| Regional Tech Events |
470,000 |
| Community Led Events |
800,000 |
| Industry Events with Cardano booths (sponsorship, booth build, side events, and 6 tickets included plus community travel fund) |
465,454 |
| Community Marketing |
|
| Community Led Marketing |
200,000 |
| Digital Marketing |
|
| Digital Marketing - Social Media |
40,000 |
| Digital Marketing - Advertising |
50,000 |
| Digital Marketing - Bounties |
20,000 |
| Content Production |
|
| Digital Content Production |
60,000 |
| Print Content/Merch Production |
10,000 |
| Public Relations |
|
| Public Relations and Media |
90,000 |
| Partnerships |
|
| Partnerships and Collaborations |
60,000 |
| Influencer Marketing |
|
| Influencer Marketing - RFP Influencer Directory |
8,000 |
| Influencer Marketing |
36,000 |
| Research |
|
| Research & Development |
20,000 |
| Research & Analysis |
50,000 |
| Marketing Education & Support |
40,000 |
| Cardano Reporting - Messari |
30,000 |
GMC Budget v2.0 (If DRep is satisfied with all results except for Digital Marketing of v1.0)
| Title |
Now |
| Event Management |
|
| 2025 Cardano Summit & 2026 Down Payments |
3,100,000 |
| Regional Tech Events |
4,700,000 |
| Community Led Events |
800,000 |
| Industry Events with Cardano booths (sponsorship, booth build, side events, and 6 tickets included plus community travel fund) |
4,654,540 |
| Community Marketing |
|
| Community Led Marketing |
2,000,000 |
| Digital Marketing |
|
| Digital Marketing - Social Media |
40,000 |
| Digital Marketing - Advertising |
50,000 |
| Digital Marketing - Bounties |
20,000 |
| Content Production |
|
| Digital Content Production |
600,000 |
| Print Content/Merch Production |
100,000 |
| Public Relations |
|
| Public Relations and Media |
900,000 |
| Partnerships |
|
| Partnerships and Collaborations |
600,000 |
| Influencer Marketing |
|
| Influencer Marketing - RFP Influencer Directory |
80,000 |
| Influencer Marketing |
360,000 |
| Research |
|
| Research & Development |
200,000 |
| Research & Analysis |
500,000 |
| Marketing Education & Support |
400,000 |
| Cardano Reporting - Messari |
300,000 |
Marketing and got 45 new members 28-02-2025. Thanks to all Cardano people supporting us. I am humbled. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6R5VDQWi0A
As an active citizen in the Cardano community, the Cardano Foundation wishes to engage proactively in the budget discussion by sharing our perspective. Accordingly, we have prepared the feedback attached based on the initial budget proposal shared in this thread and we are sharing this in each of the budget threads here in the Cardano forum.
We appreciate that the current Intersect budget proposal and its process will change, plus many specifics remain open (based on the Intersect blog post shared on 7 March 2025). However, we want to contribute our insights to the extent they may continue to apply and be useful for future budget discussions by the community.
If you have any questions about our feedback, please let us know; weβd be happy to provide additional information.
11.03.25_Cardano Budget_CF Position_Committee Memo.pdf (148.9 KB)
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Definitely this article shows duplications in budgets that should be avoided to save money.
My view is very much biased towards Cardano. The reliance on third part services who themselves know nothing about Cardano and worse who do nothing promoting Cardano should be avoided. These third part service providers will increase the budget since they will need to be paid.
In all budgets I have looked at, I do not see how the money got will bring to the treasury profit and more income revenues. This is business side that should not be overlooked if we are for effective business growth.
Pegging Ada to Fiat to avoid volatility negative effects on projects can be done in a way that boost and support services that already exist like our own stablecoins. Peg the Ada to Cardano stablecoins, thus increasing liquidity to our own Cardano stablecoins industries.
For me what has affected my community projects a lot is the volatility of Ada and I feel that we should drive more money in to promoting Cardano native stable coins. The world is fast adopting stablecoins and Cardano stable coins will miss out due to lack of liquidity. Yet we are passing million Ada budgets annually that does nothing to boost these locally brewed secure stablecoins.
He are some questions to think about : 1. How was the current budget cap reached? Was there a grassroot global research done to determine financial needs of Cardano communities? If so why are we now seeing budget reductions, debates, etc? 2. Is there an index measurement to show how aligned to the Cardano roadmap these budgets are? How involved are founding entities in this? This is needed to make sure that there is an inclusive process? One cannot expect a newly born baby to run. He/She has to crawl, walk, trot first - so is this process: founding entities need to ensure that adquate guidance and nurturing is given to these budget processes without gatekeeping. And we must afford this entities space and not only listen to their suggestions but also put some of them into practice.
Hello All,
Growth and Marketing Budget Proposal is updated today with the latest budget proposal (v5) which is approved by GMC. It reflects feedback from the DReps and Community.
Requested budget: β³ 26,500,000
We would like to encourage everyone to review the budget again with the updated line items and amounts. 
Additional context regarding GMC budget proposal can be found below: