User Profiles
2024 · Hackathon, product design
Overview
Explorer Profiles is a social layer built on top of Gitcoin’s Grants Stack platform, designed to transform how people discover, fund, and share public goods. Created during an internal Gitcoin hackathon (and awarded 1st place), this concept turns passive donation history into a dynamic social profile, unlocking new ways for users to signal support, build reputation, and inspire their networks to fund alongside them.
Challenge
How can we make funding more social?
While Gitcoin had robust infrastructure for rounds and donations, the experience was largely solitary. We saw an opportunity to:
Leverage social proof to amplify funding behaviors
Inspire others through visibility of support
Align with Gitcoin’s Network Effects essential intent
Approach
We reimagined the donation history page as a social identity layer—a place where users could curate their funding footprint and connect with others doing the same.
Key experience principles:
Make giving visible: turn donations into a public profile
Encourage discovery: follow, browse, and explore other funders
Celebrate action: reward generosity with tiers, stats, and milestones
Solution
The MVP prototype included:
Explorer Profiles: public pages showing donation history, total amount given, followers/following, and saved projects
Collections: themed sets of projects (e.g. "Climate Warriors", "Web3 Education") users can create and share
Donor Levels: tiers based on giving activity to build recognition
Activity Feed: a timeline of actions like donations, follows, and collection creation
Social Follow Functionality: explore your network of donors and get inspired by their choices
Impact
🚀 Won 1st place at the Gitcoin internal hackathon
👥 Sparked internal interest in building social features into Grants Stack
💡 Led to follow-on conversations about integrating Gitcoin Passport and reputation metrics into Explorer
🔥 Helped reframe how funding identity could be a driver for network effects within Gitcoin
Reflection
Explorer Profiles was a fast-moving, collaborative sprint that let us explore ideas that often get deprioritized: delight, identity, and social play. By elevating donation behavior into a visible signal, we created the foundation for more viral, meaningful engagement in funding rounds.
Next steps
Add Groups for shared interests
Integrate Gitcoin Passport scores into profile reputation
Enable invite-based co-funding through shared Collections
Expand on social homepage features like trending funders and causes