Termination by the Fund Operator
There are various instances which could lead to a funded project being dismissed from the Catalyst grants program by the Fund Operator, such as where Grantee fails to submit a Proof of Achievement for a Milestone within six (6) months from the proposed delivery date for that Milestone as set out in the Statement of Milestones, or where the Fund Operator has valid concerns about the project or project team which are subsequently verified.
Where a project is flagged by the Fund Operator for an issue that may lead to the termination of project funding, a notification will be sent via email informing the Grantee of the issue. Grantees shall have fifteen (15) calendar days to respond to this communication with a proposed resolution to the issues raised. The project will be terminated by the Fund Operator if no communication is received from the Grantee or where the Fund Operator, acting reasonably, does not consider the proposed resolution to be acceptable.
Should the Grantee propose an acceptable resolution, the Fund Operator shall schedule a call with the Grantee to discuss a remedial plan. If the call is satisfactory, the Grantee shall document the remedial plan for approval of the Fund Operator. Failure by the Grantee to follow the remedial plan may result in immediate termination of the project in the sole discretion of the Fund Operator.
If the meeting is unsatisfactory (or is not attended by the Grantee representatives) - in other words the outcome of the meeting does not satisfy/falls short of the expectations and standards the Community would reasonably expect from projects that are funded, the project will be terminated.
The Grantee will be informed that their project is terminated and any remaining funds allocated to the project but not yet disbursed will be returned to the seed account of the Catalyst Treasury. The Fund Operator may, in its sole discretion, seek repayment of all or part of the grant funds previously paid to the Grantee, in which case, the Grantee will have 14 calendar days to return the funds. A Grantee whose project has been terminated by the Fund Operator shall be prevented from participating in future funds for a period of twelve (12) months from the date of termination. In extraordinary circumstances, Grantee may be barred from future participation for longer periods or even altogether.
A list of all terminated projects will be publicly available on Public Reporting Tracker in the tab suspended/terminated projects
Examples of events that may result in the Fund Operator terminating projects include but are not limited to:
Failure to complete the onboarding process within 60 days from publication of voting results;
Where a Grantee fails to submit a Proof of Achievement for a Milestone within six (6) months from the proposed delivery date for that Milestone as set out in the Statement of Milestones and/or fails to submit Monthly Reports within six (6) following months from June 2023 to December 2023;
Failure to complete a project within six (6) months from the proposed completion date stated by the Grantee in its proposal without any notice and/or change request submitted to to the Fund Operator;
Failure to provide satisfactory completion evidence within six (6) months of the first submission of Project Closeout Report and Video
Being found to have applied for and secured multiple awards for the same or largely interchangeable project scopes;
Failure to comply with the funding rules applicable to the project;
A change to the legal status or ownership of the Grantee or any member thereof which was not declared or was misrepresented to the Fund Operator;
Where a Grantee misuses grant funds, including, in a fraudulent or financially misleading way or for purposes not declared within the application for funding or description of the project or agreed to subsequently with the Fund Operator;
Failure to provide information requested by the Fund Operator in a timely and coherent manner, including a failure to communicate with the Fund Operator for more than 30 calendar days from the date of a written request from the Fund Operator;
Behaviour or activity by the Grantees involving an act of fraud, dishonesty, malfeasance, misrepresentation or any serious financial irregularity in respect of the project or the project operations or which, in the reasonable opinion of the Fund Operator, is non-compliant with applicable legislation or is detrimental to the reputation of Project Catalyst, or otherwise detrimental to the Cardano ecosystem.
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