IMHO there is another option in the room than lowering the "Return proposal":
What if a committee of trusted witnesses will setup a "kickstarter" proposal in order to gather funds on a "hive-kickstarter" account.
Smaller projects may apply for smaller fundings like @dapplr and negotiate goals and milestones for the project which will benefit HIVE. The committee would then be able to fund those projects in a short time frame, the project can deliver milestone achievements and get's funded more easily than waiting weeks or month passing the "Return proposal".
Just throwing in this idea for further discussion.
In a real life environment I would favor such setup. It is also how most funds operate.
On a pseudonimity social media platform I would not want to add too much of a human front to things. No amount of HIVE could possibly compensate those witnesses for the amount of vitriol they may face when rejecting a project.