TVL Growth of S7 Grantees
Disclosure: Please note that this is my personal opinion and does not necessarily reflect the views of the Grants Council.
Context
Late last year, I noticed that data analytics is highly valued both in the industry and within the Collective. This inspired me to reduce my workload to make room for learning new skills. One of the steps I took was joining Kernel, and as part of that experience, I decided my craft project would be a dashboard analyzing the TVL growth of S7 grantees. I considered this both a good challenge and an achievable goal. However, coming from a non-technical background, the project took longer than expected, as I needed to learn SQL basics and how to use Dune. Thankfully, after taking crash courses, getting substantial AI assistance, completing a half-bootcamp, and conducting extensive experimentation, I’m excited to present my dashboard:
https://dune.com/brichis_collective/s7-grantees-v1
While it’s not perfect, I hope this perspective brings something valuable to the community.
About the Dashboard
Currently, the dashboard covers 10 of 19 grantees. This selection represents the projects that have communicated to the Grants Council that they’ve launched their incentives programs using OP tokens received from their Season 7 grants. Each project has a different starting date, which I track from when they began or announced their incentives program. While each program has varying durations, none exceed 6 months (the timeframe defined for S7 missions). To my knowledge, all these programs are still active, making this a living dashboard. Additional projects will be added as we gather sufficient information, and these numbers aren’t final since the programs are ongoing.
Following the TVL measurement framework defined for Season 7, the “official” data comes from DefiLlama. However, when possible, I’ve included charts showing TVL growth for specific contracts.
Important Consideration About these Grants
All these grants are OP User Incentives Grants, meaning recipients received 40% upfront and 60% after accomplishing one of their proposed milestones.
Dashboard Structure
At the top, you’ll find the total TVL growth sum for these 10 projects according to DefiLlama, plus the average ratio of TVL growth (USD) per OP token.
Next, there’s a dashboard overview explaining the items included and an index for efficient navigation to specific projects.
Finally, each project includes 5-8 items.
I hope you enjoy exploring it! 
Notes
After creating this dashboard for fun, several ideas came to mind that might be useful for the Collective:
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Extended grant lifecycle: I believe grants should evolve beyond simply disbursing the full OP amount. The Grants Council has added a milestone to determine when grants are “successful” even after full disbursement, which makes sense, better results from our Councils and grantees align perfectly with our Intents. I suggest adding “post-service” support to our grant programs, where we continue following grantees’ progress while helping them achieve their goals.
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Standardized definitions: Our application forms should be as specific as possible to ensure comparable information. For instance, some projects measured TVL growth over a period, while others aimed for specific amounts. Similarly, in the contracts section, some provided pool/vault contracts while others shared reward distribution contracts. Adding detailed specifications would help ensure consistent responses.
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Simplified tracking requirements: We could ask grantees for specific small requirements to facilitate analysis, such as using dedicated contracts for reward distribution tied to specific grants. Creating the incentive distribution charts was confusing because some projects received multiple grants, making it difficult to track remaining funds from any particular grant.
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Mission timeframes: I’d reconsider the timeframe for Season 8 missions. Season 5 missions were supposed to run for a full year, but can anyone name five missions from that season? It’s difficult because objectives changed significantly, making success hard to track a year later. Season 7’s 6-month timeframe seems more effective, over half the projects already have active incentive programs. What might have happened with a 12-month timeframe instead of 6?
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Disbursement transparency: Tracking grantee disbursements was challenging. The delivery tracking only shows total amounts received (without both dates, transaction links, etc.), while the claiming tool shows project names, amounts, and award dates but not addresses or claim dates. I had to cross-reference Etherscan to connect the dots. I think movements from the M&M multisig should be easily inspectable by anyone, showing team names, amounts, and notes when transactions occur. This simple addition would let the community see if projects changed wallets (a common practice) or if disbursements were created in the claiming tool but never claimed.
Closing Thoughts
I want to thank everyone who takes time to review my dashboard and suggest improvements. I truly appreciate the feedback. 
In the coming months, I’ll continue experimenting with this type of dashboard. Please let me know if there’s something specific you’d like to see or if you know of learning opportunities in this space.
