Hello,

My name is Mike Spaulding, or "The Hill" as many of you may know me. For the last 3 years I have dedicated my life to building a larger network and using it to make direct impacts for our oceans and the global communities I am part of. Since moving countries to begin coral regeneration, my influence in the space increased, and I was also able to take part in onboarding events to continuously encouraging collaborative efforts across Web 3 with individuals and projects alike. This all led me here to Gitcoin.

Now that I can see the fruits of this effort, my aim is to go full time into Web 3, carrying this network to Palau, in conjunction with another direct impact. My unique position allows me to continue to grow the entire network through direct action. My involvement with Let's Grow DAO, Max Impact, my time, and my skills have all been applied in prior Gitcoin rounds, spaces, and live broadcasts helping to push the network forward. My largest focus is creating an inclusive, entertaining environment for everyone to share, learn, and grow. The most compact and concentrated number of hours to showcase this occurred in live broadcasts during GG19, with about 4 to 10 hours per day over a two week stretch (all recordings widely available on twitter). It was honestly awesome learning the whole process, building passports and helping others build theirs, sharing knowledge, and helping to onboard donors as well as grantees. My experience with Gitcoin was transformative. This was obvious from some of the life changing conversations occurring live in spaces, and the tweets that came months later showing proof of the growth. I have confidence in what we are building together and have the skill to champion the cause.

The specific aim for this proposal is to provide me with the availability needed to accomplish continued Gitcoin network growth, creating synergistic development within the community. This would help to make others user experiences as fantastic as mine was. Having the time to grow the network through audio media requires more financial support than I can provide individually. Moreover, to translate that growth to direct impacts is difficult and even more so because my time is divided between my impacts and in real life work just to self-fund. This award would allow me to maintain current focus while devoting more time toward efforts necessary to grow the whole of Gitcon throughout Web3 and regenerative impacts alike. We have made great impacts together across Web3. This is evident through X, Instagram, Facebook, and even live broadcasts that I was grateful to be part of last year. I simply seek to have more time to make a difference in this world; being a Gitcoin Citizen is a big step in that direction.