Retroactive Public Goods Funding
A funding model that rewards projects for value they've already demonstrably created, rather than funding projects based on proposals for future work.
Retroactive public goods funding rewards projects for value they've already demonstrably created — based on a documented, real track record — rather than funding projects based on proposals or promises about future work, the more traditional, forward-looking grant-funding model.
The underlying reasoning is that evaluating actual, already-delivered impact is generally more reliable than evaluating speculative future promises, though it also means a genuinely valuable new project can't receive this kind of funding until after it has already built something and proven its value, which can create its own real funding gap.
Examples
- A retroactive public goods funding round might evaluate and reward infrastructure projects based on their documented impact over the prior year, not proposals for the year ahead.
- Retroactive funding can create a real gap for a genuinely valuable new project, since it isn't eligible for this kind of reward until after it has already proven its value.