Quadratic Funding
A matching-funds mechanism that weights the number of individual contributors to a project more heavily than the total amount contributed.
Quadratic funding is a matching-funds mechanism, generally used for public-goods or community funding rounds, that calculates matching funds based on the square of the sum of the square roots of individual contributions — the practical effect is weighting the number of distinct contributors to a project more heavily than the raw total amount contributed.
This means a project funded by many small, individual contributions receives proportionally more matching funds than one funded by the same total amount from just a few large contributors, specifically intended to favor projects with genuine, broad community support over those backed by a small number of wealthy contributors. See Kaavon's "Understanding Quadratic and Conviction Voting" guide for the related quadratic-cost concept this mechanism is built on.
Examples
- A project with 1,000 small individual contributors receives proportionally more quadratic matching funds than one with the same total raised from just a few large donors.
- Quadratic funding is specifically designed to favor projects with genuine, broad community support over those backed by a small number of wealthy contributors.