# How is the Gitcoin Grants program changing? Historically, the Gitcoin Grants Rounds operated on a quarterly cadence. However, [Governance](https://gov.gitcoin.co/) has approved the decision to retire our centralized quadratic funding platform (cGrants) and transition to a decentralized and customizable [Gitcoin Grants Stack](/gitcoin-knowledge-base/gitcoin-grants-program/what-is-gitcoin-grants-stack.md), which is in sync with our destination as GitcoinDAO. As a result, Gitcoin ran a streamlined Alpha Round on the protocol in January 2023 with the goal of testing the product while supporting established grantees. The next phase of this testing period introduces the [Gitcoin Grants Beta Round](https://go.gitcoin.co/blog/announcing-the-gitcoin-grants-beta-round) in April 2023. Gitcoin’s renewed purpose which was ratified in July of 2022 is ***To Empower Communities to Fund their Shared Needs.*** In order to fulfill this purpose fully, we are creating a suite of permissionless, modular, and decentralized protocols that will allow communities to rapidly test different funding mechanisms on top of a deeply liquid registry of projects and enable projects to grow sustainably. ### Why are these changes being made? Even though Gitcoin Grants built a strong use case for the value of Quadratic Funding to fund public goods, we built it as a centralized platform. It has come to a stage now where we need to decentralize it to scale it more widely and achieve our purpose. Read this in-depth blog to learn more: [Announcing the Decentralized Future of Gitcoin Grants](https://go.gitcoin.co/blog/announcing-the-decentralized-future-of-gitcoin-grants) --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://support.gitcoin.co/gitcoin-knowledge-base/gitcoin-grants/how-is-the-gitcoin-grants-program-changing.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.