When negotiating with Circle for your USDC Grant Program, emphasize the importance of exploring alternative funding options or grant opportunities available from other providers. Present this as a necessity due to financial constraints or pressures from stakeholders. Make it clear that while Circle is preferred, finance has mandated consideration of the best available funding option, which gives you leverage to negotiate more favorable terms.

Leverage your willingness to promote Circle as a reference or share success stories from your project in a case study format to negotiate better terms or additional funding. This can be presented as a mutual benefit, where Circle gains visibility and you gain financial support for your project.

Review and clarify your project’s usage of Circle’s APIs and services as part of your grant negotiation. If you can provide metrics or data that demonstrate your project's impact and needs regarding USDC, this will strengthen your position for securing the necessary funding. Use underutilization or growth metrics to advocate for adapting the grant amount to suit your project's requirements.

For future agreements with Circle, emphasize the requirement from your organization to remove automatic renewal clauses. Highlight that your finance department has mandated this as a policy to ensure ongoing evaluation of vendors and to maintain flexibility. This tactic can open negotiations for better terms without being bound to unfavorable conditions in future cycles.

While pricing details are not available, it is beneficial to anchor the discussion on any adjustments or anticipated future changes in funding, insisting that your request aligns with the expected grant impact. Make your case by linking your project's goals to the potential financial outcomes to justify seeking a higher amount or better terms.