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Open Funding

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Introduction

More individuals, organizations and companies are starting to realize the potential of open source. An important question is obviously how projects can be funded to enable individuals to subsist and work on open source full time. This document aims to be an open guide to funding of open source projects.

Grants

A list of funding opportunities that follow the grants model. This type of funding is usually carried out in batches, i.e. the fund in question release a certain amount of money each year and it's spread out over multiple projects. Grant funding often allows you to plan and execute projects over a longer period of time.

Awesome Foundation

About

Have a crazy brilliant idea that needs funding? We award 1,000 USD grants every month. It couldn't be simpler! Your idea is yours alone. We don't want a stake in it. We just want to help you make it happen!

Eligibility Criteria

Each fully autonomous chapter supports awesome projects through micro-grants, usually given out monthly. These micro-grants, 1000 USD or the local equivalent, come out of pockets of the chapter's "trustees" and are given on a no-strings-attached basis to people and groups working on awesome projects. Every chapter interprets "awesome" for itself. As such, awesome projects include initiatives in a wide range of areas including arts, technology, community development, and more. Many awesome projects are novel or experimental, and evoke surprise and delight. Awesome sometimes challenges and often inspires.

Application

https://www.awesomefoundation.org/en/submissions/new

Deadline

N/A

Cisco Research Grants

About

Sustainability

The goal of this RFP is to solicit proposals that aim to conduct research in information and communications technologies (ICTs) and their application towards more sustainable outcomes. Specific areas of research include but are not limited to the following:

Sustainable data, computing and communications architectures and infrastructures: datacenters, clouds and edge as well as novel network designs Sustainable and energy-efficient systems: computing, communications, networking, storage, etc. The application of AI/ML to enable improved sustainability outcomes Design for sustainability - software design and operations paradigms taking 'sustainability-first' approach Energy and sustainability profiling and monitoring techniques Novel approaches to enable information exchange for product lifecycle management and circularity Security considerations for distributed infrastructures and systems such as energy generation and distribution Business models and information systems for sustainability and circularity Human factors in design of improved product sustainability

Web 3

The goal of this RFP is to solicit proposals that aim to conduct research and address research challenges in the technologies and applications in the area of Web 3.0, Blockchain, cryptocurrencies aka virtual-currencies. Specific areas of research include but are not limited to the following:

Blockchain platforms, protocols, cross-chain protocols, consensus, smart contracts, de-centralization Networking, Compute, Edge, Cloud Infrastructure for Web 3.0: Blockchain De-centralized Apps (dApps) De-centralized Finance (DeFi) Trust, Security & Privacy: Security for de-centralized system and applications, privacy-preserving protocols Trust, Fairness: fairness in DeFi, Consensus Compliance: Regulatory compliance for blockchain, DeFi, dApps Applications of Web 3.0: DAO, NFTs

Eligibility Criteria

University researchers only

Application

N/A

Deadline

N/A

Chan Zuckerberg Initiative

About

Open source software is crucial to modern scientific research, advancing biology and medicine while providing reproducibility and transparency. Yet even the most widely-used research software often lacks dedicated funding. CZI’s Essential Open Source Software for Science program supports software maintenance, growth, development, and community engagement for critical open source tools.

Eligibility Criteria

We welcome applications from any country, provided the proposed work is compliant with the United States Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) sanctions program. Applications may be submitted by non-profit and for-profit organizations, public and private institutions, such as colleges, universities, hospitals, laboratories, units of state and local government, companies, and eligible agencies of the federal government. As part of the full application process, for-profit organizations may need to provide additional information on the charitable purposes of the proposal. Grants are not permitted to individuals; only to organizations. Open source software projects operating independently must be affiliated with an organization, as described below.

Application

https://chanzuckerberg.com/rfa/essential-open-source-software-for-science/

Deadline

Cycle 6 closed in October 2023.

Comcast Innovation Fund

About

The Comcast Innovation Fund was created to support technology and public policy research that contributes to the betterment of the Internet, and the continued evolution of connectivity products and services. The fund provides grants to technologists, researchers, and academics to support Internet- and connectivity-focused projects within the fund’s areas of interest, which are updated annually. The Comcast Innovation Fund offers funding for researchers at leading academic institutions and elsewhere to support research that is of mutual interest to Comcast and the research community. It also provides funding to support open source software development. While Comcast has supported this kind of work for many years, we are now doing so in a more strategic way. Areas out of scope for the 2023 Grant Year include:

Eligibility Criteria

2023 AREAS OF INTEREST

Application

https://comcastinnovationfund.smartsimple.com/s_Login.jsp

Deadline

N/A

Gitcoin Grants Program

About

The Gitcoin Grants Program is a quarterly initiative run by Gitcoin DAO that empowers everyday believers in web3 to drive funding toward what they believe matters, with the impact of individual donations being magnified by the use of the Quadratic Funding (QF) distribution mechanism. QF was introduced in a paper published in 2018 by Vitalik Buterin, Zoe Hitzig, and Glen Weyl.

Eligibility Criteria

Web3 Open Source Software is one of multiple eligible types of projects, in such case the following is required:

Application

https://support.gitcoin.co/gitcoin-knowledge-base/gitcoin-grants-program/project-owners/how-to-create-a-project-in-builder

Deadline

April 25th to May 9th.

InnovationsFonden :denmark:

About

InnovationsFonden or Innovation Fund Denmark invests in both large and small projects and they don't require any stake in the project nor repayment. They have three different programs targeting the whole range from large scale research projects to smaller enterprises and entrepreneurs down to talented individuals within the research space. Funds can be anything between 50k to 5M DKK depending on the size of the project.

Eligibility Criteria

N/A

Application

N/A

Deadline

N/A

Internet Freedom Support Fund @ Open collective

About

Global internet freedom is more important than ever before. The internet is the primary way we communicate, collaborate, share knowledge and organize. We must therefore ensure it's freedom, openness, accessibility and privacy in order to revert the cycle of misinformation, polarization and the assault on our democracies occurring worldwide.

At the forefront of this work is the Open Technology Fund (OTF), whose mission has been to support open technologies and communities that increase free expression, circumvent censorship, and obstruct repressive surveillance as a way to promote human rights and open societies.

Through several funds and over the years, OTF funded projects focused on counteracting repressive censorship and surveillance, enabling citizens worldwide to exercise their fundamental human rights online. Through the research, development, implementation, and sustainability of technologies that facilitate the free flow of information, increase at-risk users’ digital security, and enable free expression, the OTF community has been working to shape the Internet as a platform that fosters unimpeded connection and collaboration - facilitating positive social progress and reinforcing core democratic values.

Since the loss of government funding, many of these projects have seen their funding halted overnight and as a community we must come together and ensure their ability to continue doing this work. This lack of funding exposes a weakness in the global internet freedom ecosystem which needs to be resolved.

The Internet Freedom Support Fund will provide relief to projects essential to guarantee and increase internet freedom who have been receiving funding from OTF and have recently seen their funding cancelled due to OTF’s loss of government funds.

Eligibility Criteria

N/A

Application

N/A

Deadline

N/A

Kusama

About

The Kusama Treasury is a pot of funds collected through transaction fees, slashing, and staking inefficiencies, that can be spent by submitting a spending proposal that, if approved by the Community, will enter a waiting period before distribution.

Proposals may consist of (but not limited to): Infrastructure deployment and continued operation; Network security operations (monitoring services, continuous auditing); Ecosystem provisions (collaborations with friendly chains); Marketing activities (advertising, paid features, collaborations); Community events and outreach (meetups, hackerspaces); Projects focusing on the relationship between technology and art; Research (academic and non-academic); Software development (wallets and wallet integration, clients and client upgrades).

Eligibility Criteria

Anyone building with Substrate and/on Kusama.

Application

Discuss before in the forum and only post proposal if you have enough support, otherwise you may lose the deposit (you pay the deposit when you submit a proposal, if it ed, you get it back) https://www.dotreasury.com/ksm/proposals

Deadline

N/A

Libre Endowment Fund

About

Organisations and institutions wishing to ensure support, maintenance and continuous development of mission critical free software can use FDL and AWL to offset some of the associated cost while also being able to influence the long-term roadmaps of utilised software solutions.

Aside from supporting Free Software solutions, the FDL also aims to increase the visibility of European Free Software publishers and their importance in terms of innovation and employment as well as their contribution to a possible European technological sovereignty. n supporting long term maintenance of essential and mature Free Software as well as short term development of any generic Free Software, FDL sponsorship fits in the gap between public R&D funding and private system integration funding.

Eligibility Criteria

In order for a project to be eligible to receive funding for:

Short-term improvements/extensions Long-term maintenance

The following criteria have to be met in addition for long-term maintenance:

The software must be in existence for more than 10 years It is used by companies or institutions and needs to be maintained for at least another 10 years.

The following criteria have to be met:

The software must be Free and Open Source Software (FOSS), with all source code and documentation available online. The software must be generic, meaning it is not specific to the needs of a single organisation. If the software is browser based, it should be compatible with at least two independent web browsers (ex. Firefox and Chrome). If the software is server based, it should be compatible with at least two independent operating systems (ex. GNU/Linux and FreeBSD). If the software is smartphone based, it should be compatible with at least two independent operating systems (ex. Android and iOS). The software must be easily accessible to the general public, meaning it is installable via a single click or a single command line. The software must be easy to contribute to, meaning it's source code can be remotely edited and contributed to through the web. The project must be of general interest (software, documentation, education) which cannot be financed through existing R&D grants in Europe.

Application

https://www.fdl-lef.org/process/

Deadline

N/A

Matthew Good Foundation

About

Every three months, we’ll share £15,000 between 5 shortlisted projects that have a positive impact on communities, people or the environment.

Since 2011, the Matthew Good Foundation has empowered employees of the John Good Group to support many good causes in the UK and around the world by nominating good causes for funding. However, in 2021, our tenth year, we wanted to extend our impact and allow small charities, community projects and social entrepreneurs to come straight to us.

Eligibility Criteria

Your application must be on behalf of a local community group, charity, voluntary group or social enterprise that has a positive impact on communities, people or the environment and has an average income of less than £50,000 in the last 12 months.

We want to make it easy for very small charities or new community interest companies to apply, so organisations/groups do not need to be a registered charity, however, you will need to have a bank account in your organisation’s/project’s name such as a community bank account. We are not able to provide funding to personal bank accounts.

Application

https://www.matthewgoodfoundation.org/grantsforgood/

Deadline

N/A

Metamask Grants

About

is an employee-led DAO with the mission of funding the development of high-value projects in the MetaMask ecosystem through a grants program. We seek to support developers across the community to be able to nimbly build on top of the MetaMask ecosystem, while empowering employees to embrace Web3 mechanisms and contribute as “One ConsenSys”.

Eligibility Criteria

Any project that adds value to the MetaMask ecosystem is eligible. We are keeping scope wide to consider as many interesting projects as possible. As the DAO evolves, we may choose to focus on specific, high-priority areas at times.

Application

https://metamaskgrants.org/apply-for-a-grant

Deadline

N/A

Netidee 🇦🇹

About

Austria

netidee, run by the Private Internet Fund Austria, is meant to fund projects related to the open source internet. In 2020, the maximum amount of funding was 50k EUR for an individual project. An Austria-resident individual or organization has to request the grant. Applications can optionally be sent in English and parts of the project can be outsourced to entities abroad if this is detailed in the initial request.

Eligibility Criteria

They don't have the english version, so it might be only for the Austrians, although it doesn't specifically say so.

Application

N/A

Deadline

2024 deadline passed.

NGI - NLNet Foundation

About

NLNET Zero Entrust

We are seeking project proposals between 5.000 and 50.000 euro's — with the possibility to scale them up if there is proven potential. Reliability, confidentiality, integrity, security and data portability should be the 'new normal' of the internet, something ordinary users should not have to worry about — users should be in control. So let's make it happen. https://hackmd.io/Ak2Y1KZLRL2Ij1M6jP4pgw

The foundation "Stichting NLnet" stimulates network research and development in the domain of Internet technology. The articles of association for the NLnet foundation state: "to promote the exchange of electronic information and all that is related or beneficial to that purpose".

NLnet does not directly benefit from the undertaken projects, and all developments are published as Open Source.

Current submission(s):

From OTF mailing list:

NLNet is seeking proposals requesting between €5,000 and €50,000 for projects for Privacy and Trust projects “aimed at providing people with new instruments that allow them more agency - and assist us with fulfilling the human need of keeping some private and confidential context and information private and confidential.” This effort is part of the EU’s Next Generation Initiative (NGI), which seeks to “re-imagine and re-engineer the internet for the third millennium and beyond to shape a value-centric, human and inclusive society for all.”

Eligibility Criteria

If the project you are are considering would be a significant advance towards the goals and the vision of the Next Generation Internet, we invite you to submit - even if you live outside of Europe

Application

https://nlnet.nl/propose/

Deadline

Open Defense Fund

About

Owned by none, ODF is a consortium of organizations participating in an open forum dedicated to protecting the future of the web. No member speaks for or represents the foundation or any other member in the think tank, all views come from a diverse range of ethnic and cultural heritages. ODF's mission is to facilitate healthy discourse between differing cultures by freely promoting corroborative facts with fair algorithms. If you align with ODF's mission, please write a proposal and submit it as a pull request, and we will route it to an appropriate person for review. This can be for a conference or an art project, to show off a code demo, or anything relevant. Try to at least showcase any past project(s) you are proud of.

Currently, only 1 existing member needs to approve of your pull request and you will then be granted full push permission.

Eligibility Criteria

All work must be open source, built in public. If you are a for-profit or blockchain entity, you are expected to commit funds. No future-facing projections are permitted, as such all teams will be continuously subject to ethics disclosures and members are encouraged to constructively criticize each other, especially across replicable engineering standards. Public podcasts of debates and challenges will be promoted, proofs will be prioritized as pragmatic over philosophies alone.

Application

Make a pull request https://github.com/balzack/monorepo/blob/main/how-to-apply-for-funding-or-speak/README.md

Deadline

N/A

Open Humans

About

Do you have a project that might help grow the Open Humans ecosystem?

You may qualify for 5000 USD to support your work!

Projects can work with members in a variety of exciting ways – help members add new data sources, or share new ways to explore existing data!

For example...

Share a data report or visualization! Help members import a new type of data Connect to an existing community or study

Eligibility Criteria

This is open to both US-based and international individuals. No institutional or organizational affiliation is required.

Individuals and teams are invited to apply for a project grant of up to 5000 USD if they plan to do one or more of the following:

Provide valuable new/novel data sources raise significant awareness of the project attract new members (e.g. by providing an analysis or visualization of data) who will continue to contribute to the ecosystem in the future after your project rolls out.

Application

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdpunOhJosk-u4jr-5BtI9YQaR8zBPFTwX9Q5CLy091m88FdA/viewform

Deadline

N/A

Open Society Foundation

About

Building long-term relationships of trust with the entities we support, and understanding their health, effectiveness, strengths, and the challenges they face, is an integral part of the Open Society Foundations’ organization-centered approach to grant making. The vast majority of our grants are awarded to organizations that we approach directly. The kind of grants any Open Society program makes depend on its strategy and its vision of how to use its budget most effectively.

Eligibility Criteria

https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/grants/open-society-fellowship?eligibility=1

Application

N/A

Deadline

As of 2024-09-13 deadline passed for all projects.

Open Technology Fund

About

The Open Technology Fund supports projects and people that develop open and accessible technologies promoting human rights and open societies, and help advance inclusive and safe access to global communications networks.

From their webpage:

The Open Technology Fund utilizes available funds to support Internet freedom projects that empower world citizens to have access to modern communication channels that are free of restrictions, and allow them to communicate without fear of repressive censorship or surveillance.

Eligibility Criteria

Application

https://apply.opentech.fund/internet-freedom-fund-concept-note/

Deadline

More Information
OTF - Internet Freedom Fund

The Internet Freedom Fund is OTF's primary way to support projects and people working on open and accessible technology-centric projects that promote human rights, Internet freedom, open societies, and help advance inclusive and safe access to global communications networks. Successful applicants are awarded monetary support up to $900,000 and no less than $10,000, with preference given to projects and people who are new to the Internet freedom community, directly serving those living within repressive environments, and are requesting less than $300,000 for a duration of 12 months or less.

OTF - Rapid Response Fund

The Rapid Response Fund is part of a broader OTF initiative which aims to facilitate the development of a strong digital emergency response community that can work together to resolve threats in a timely and comprehensive manner. OTF offers both direct financial support as well as technical services from trusted service partners to resolve digital emergencies experienced by high-risk Internet users and organizations, such as bloggers, activists, journalists. and human rights defenders.

OTF - Labs

For more specific, one-off support needs and services, check out OTF's Labs: Localization, Community, Engineering, Usability, Red Team, Learning, and Legal.

They also fund people by offering fellowships.

Open Source Collective (OSC)

About

Stay focused on your project — let us take care of all the accounting, taxes, invoices, and admin. You decide where the money gets spent, then we make it happen. Plus, your budget will be fully transparent to your community.

Eligibility Criteria

Application

https://opencollective.com/opensource

Deadline

N/A

Polkadot Treasury Fund

About

The Polkadot Treasury is a pot of funds collected through transaction fees, slashing, and staking inefficiencies that can be spent by submitting a spending proposal that, if approved, will enter a waiting period before distribution.

Proposals may consist of (but not limited to): Infrastructure deployment and continued operation; Network security operations (monitoring services, continuous auditing); Ecosystem provisions (collaborations with friendly chains); Marketing activities (advertising, paid features, collaborations); Community events and outreach (meetups, hackerspaces); Research (academic and non-academic); Software development (wallets and wallet integration, clients and client upgrades); Cross-chain application development.

Eligibility Criteria

Anyone building with Substrate and/on Polkadot.

Application

Discuss before in the forum and only post proposal if you have enough support, otherwise you may lose the deposit (you pay the deposit when you submit a proposal, if it ed, you get it back) https://www.dotreasury.com/dot/proposals

Deadline

N/A

Protocol Labs Research

About

We are looking for research and development of interactive private communication mechanisms. Commensurate with scope, up to USD 150k per award for research grants and USD 300k per award for implementation grants. Works we are interested in funding include those which:

Explore new mechanisms for private communication (e.g. with cryptographic, information theoretic, or statistical basis) Relax the traditional ‘web’ assumptions of a single origin to engage with the possibilities of pre-distributed CDN or content-addressed data. Prototype the use of novel network-layer privacy technologies in real systems.

Eligibility Criteria

Implementation grant We expect that a team of 2-3 research engineers/developers working for 1-2 years will be sufficient to carry out the prototype development projects envisioned in this call, but we will consider other proposals. Renewals are possible.

Application

We encourage you to reach out to research-grants@protocol.ai or visit #private-retrieval in the Lodestar Discord if you’re considering applying or have any questions.

Deadline

N/A

Protocol Labs Sponsorships

About

Sponsorships To request sponsorship for research-oriented events, we ask that you fill out our sponsorship request form. Please provide as much information as possible (sponsorship tiers, free non-speaker tickets, branding, a table or other space for swag, inclusion in newsletters, etc.) to minimize the need for back-and-forth communication and help streamline our review process. We ask that all requests are submitted at least two months prior to the date of your event, so we have sufficient time to review the request, make a decision, and finalize logistics. If you have a question about sponsorship that is not covered by the request form, please email research-grants@protocol.ai.

Eligibility Criteria

Protocol Labs (PL) Research reviews requests for sponsorship at research-focused events. In addition to financial support, we seek to support these events by providing speakers, sending attendees, and promoting them on our website when appropriate. Note that we do not sponsor pay-to-speak events

Application

https://protocollabs.smapply.io/prog/event_sponsorship/

Deadline

N/A

Prototype Fund 🇩🇪

About

The Prototype Fund supports software developers, designers and other creatives in transforming their ideas from a concept to a software prototype. Whether it’s about society, education, environment or tech sovereignty – together we explore and test new ways for technical and social innovations.

As individual developers or small interdisciplinary project teams, you will receive up to €47,500 over six months from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. With this funding, you can write code and develop a first prototype of your software. We will also connect you with tech and other relevant communities, support you with coaching, and advise you on project implementation, communication, and sustainability.

We explicitly encourage all people who belong to groups that have been underrepresented in software development to apply for the funding. You can contact us at any time during the application period.

From their site:

The Prototype Fund supports ideas in civic tech, data literacy, data security and software infrastructure. We want to provide software developers, hackers, and creatives with the opportunity to code and develop innovative public interest technologies. Self-employed developers and small teams who live in Germany can apply for funding.

Eligibility Criteria

You are individual developers or part of a team* (of developers + x). ✓ Your idea is a software project (or at least largely based on software – hardware projects are not eligible). ✓ You are of legal age (18 or older). ✓ You are resident in Germany, self-employed** or freelance and pay your taxes here. ✓

Application

N/A

Deadline

The next application phase starts on August 1st, 2023.

Python Software Foundation

About

From their webpage:

The Python Software Foundation welcomes grant proposals for projects related to the development of Python, Python-related technology, educational programs and resources.

Eligibility Criteria

Our current focus is on virtual events, virtual sprints, meetup.com fees, and Python diversity/inclusivity efforts. Grants for non-Python specific events will only be considered where there's a clear Python component to the event, and that the grant will only be for the Python component of the event. The PSF does not fund hackathon-style events.

Application

N/A

Deadline

We require that applications be submitted 6 weeks before the event/project start date

RIPE NCC Community Projects Fund

About

The RIPE NCC has supported a range of projects and innovative ideas over its 25-year history, and we are now formalising these efforts through the RIPE NCC Community Projects Fund. We know there's no shortage of brilliant minds in the Internet technical community working on groundbreaking projects, but securing funding to support these projects can be challenging.

The RIPE NCC will provide €250,000 per year to support projects of value to the operation, resilience and sustainability of the Internet, with a focus on tools and services benefiting the technical community in our service region.

The service region for RIPE NCC is made up of over 75 countries, which is one of five Regional Internet Registries (RIR). See https://www.ripe.net/about-us/what-we-do/ripe-ncc-service-region for more information.

Eligibility Criteria

Application

https://www.ripe.net/support/cpf/call-for-applications

Deadline

2024 call closed, date for 2025 not known yet

Roddenberry Catalyst

About

The Catalyst Fund makes grants between 2,500–15,000 USD to anyone, anywhere in the world who has an early-stage idea or project that addresses pressing global challenges.

Eligibility Criteria

The Catalyst Fund has been created to source ideas from all corners of the globe. You can be a seasoned social entrepreneur or a first-time changemaker. Eligible candidates for the Catalyst Fund may be individuals, teams of individuals, non-profit organizations, or social enterprises. To be eligible, all applicants must:

Be 18 years of age or older Submit an application in English Include completed responses to all required application questions Agree to all legal terms and conditions of the Catalyst Fund grant program Be able to legally receive grant funding

Application

https://apply.roddenberryfoundation.org/app/main/register/096B3E8FC7C03D844F7922C7FA2EF64695300ED49329FA653523A0DB38C26E85

Deadline

There are no deadlines. Applications are accepted year-round.

Siegel Family Endowment

About

We know that philanthropy doesn’t hold all the answers to addressing tough societal challenges. However, we believe that philanthropy is uniquely positioned to ask big questions of our society, and to bring together the right stakeholders to answer those questions. Our inquiry-driven approach to grantmaking is an iterative process of asking questions, systematically interrogating them, and applying our learnings to subsequents rounds of questioning.

Our approach is grounded in the scientific method, and is inspired by our chairman and founder David Siegel’s approach to his life’s work. We ask questions that help us develop an informed hypothesis, support academic and field-work that uncovers evidence, track and interpret outcomes thoughtfully, and apply our findings in order to inform the next phase of inquiry. https://www.siegelendowment.org/our-interest-areas/infrastructure/ https://www.siegelendowment.org/our-interest-areas/learning/

Eligibility Criteria

Siegel Family Endowment supports organizations working at the intersections of learning, workforce, and infrastructure.

Application

No application, but an inquiry driven approach.

Deadline

N/A

SIDN Fonds :netherlands:

About

As an independent fund and Algemeen Nut Beogende Instelling ( ANBI ), we support projects that contribute to a strong internet for everyone. We were founded in 2014 at the initiative of SIDN (Stichting Internet Domeinregistratie Nederland) and since the first call in 2015 we have supported more than 300 projects. https://www.sidnfonds.nl/aanvragen/pioniers ttps://www.sidnfonds.nl/excerpt/

From their webpage:

SIDN Fund does not support internationally oriented projects. To qualify for support, a project should have impact on Dutch society.

SIDN Fund stands for ‘a strong internet for all’. We provide financial support to ideas and projects that aim to make the internet stronger or that use the internet in innovative ways. By doing so, SIDN Fund wants to help increase the social impact of the internet in the Netherlands.

Similarly to InnovationsFonden, SIDN also funds projects on different levels. Smaller projects - Pioneer projects - can receive a maximum of 10k EUR and larger projects - Potentials projects - up to 75k EUR.

Eligibility Criteria

You are eligible for our support if your innovative project serves a social interest, has the potential to make an impact on one of our focus areas and can continue to exist after our funding period. Moreover, it is essential that the results of your project are shared, as is the knowledge and experience gained. We take the following general criteria into account when assessing an application. Please note: additional criteria are sometimes set for theme calls.

Application

https://fundpro.se/calls/2399

Deadline

Closes: 2023-12-31 23:59.

Sloan Foundation

About

We fund research and education in science, technology, engineering, mathematics and economics

1. Better Software for Science
Open source in research

Open source is much more than a licensing strategy, it is a set of community practices that enable the distributed production and maintenance of software that are not widely adopted in the research enterprise. The Better Software for Science program seeks opportunities to better understand and align best practices in open source with academic research, with a particular eye toward the health and maintenance of digital infrastructural dependencies upon which computational research relies.

Software Publication and Archiving

Software is not well-integrated into the scholarly communication system; scientific software is often not cited or well-archived, and can require substantial work to reuse. The Better Software for Science program seeks opportunities to elevate software as a first-order research product as well as efforts that aim to improve the linkages between software and other research outputs such as articles, preprints or data.

Career paths and incentives

The work of building and maintaining research software is often undervalued and marginalized in the research enterprise. The Better Software for Science program seeks opportunities to foreground and institutionalize the individuals and communities who are essential to the utility and durability of software in science, with particular attention to the roles of research software engineer, data scientist, and software curator.

2. Exploratory grant making in technology
Open Hardware

Open and cheap hardware has the potential to revolutionize the creation and deployment of sensors and other scientific instruments, expanding access and lowering barriers to innovation in data-driven research methods. Grants in this focus area seek to explore the potential for Foundation support to have an impact on the development of best practices, data standards, and emerging new practitioner communities in open hardware.

Trust in Algorithmic Knowledge

The complexity and opacity of AI-driven research methods has raised new questions about the degree to which their results can or should be trusted. Issues examined in this focus area include identifying and mitigating algorithmic bias, the role of training and benchmarking datasets in AI development, how Machine Learning techniques enhance or degrade rigor and reproducibility, and the ways that algorithmic recommendation systems influence trust in knowledge. Grants focus on exploring these issues with an eye toward understanding the potential for Foundation impact.

Virtual Collaboration

Health, safety, and travel restrictions imposed in response to the global coronavirus pandemic made co-located scientific activities impossible. From conferences to classrooms to lab work, research communities responded by using new approaches and technology platforms to continue the practice of science. Grants in this focus area explore these innovations, their effects on research outcomes, and their post-pandemic durability, and encourage continued experimentation by research communities in how scientific practice might be effectively mediated by digital platforms and immersive technologies.

3. Data & computational research

Grants in this program sought to partner with research communities to develop tools, standards, practices, and institutions that enable the efficient management and sharing of data and code at every point in the scientific pipeline—from acquisition through analysis to archiving.

Eligibility Criteria

In selecting projects for funding, the Foundation seeks proposals for original initiatives led by outstanding individuals or teams. We are interested in projects that have a high expected return to society, exhibit a high degree of methodological rigor, and for which funding from the private sector, government, or other foundations is not yet widely available.

The Foundation does not generally make grants to for-profit institutions.

From their webpage:

The Sloan Research Fellowships seek to stimulate fundamental research by early-career scientists and scholars of outstanding promise.

and:

These two-year fellowships are awarded yearly to 126 researchers in recognition of distinguished performance and a unique potential to make substantial contributions to their field. The 2018 Sloan Research Fellows will receive fellowships in the amount of $65,000

There is also a grant program, but individuals are excluded

does not make grants to individuals except through its Books program

Application

Interested grantseekers should send a two-page letter of inquiry to technology@sloan.org. After that follows the real grant proposal process

Letter of Inquiry should include (1 or max 2 pages)

A brief statement (1-2 sentences) about the nature and purpose of the proposed project; A description of the proposed work to be supported; An estimate of the total cost of the project and the amount of this total the proposer would likely seek from the Sloan Foundation; An estimate of the duration of the project; The grantseeker's title and contact information; The names, affiliations, and titles of other key members of the project, if any.

Deadline

N/A

Sovereign Tech Fund

About

The Sovereign Tech Fund supports the development, improvement and maintenance of open digital infrastructure. Our goal is to sustainably strengthen the open source ecosystem. We focus on security, resilience, technological diversity, and the people behind the code.

Eligibility Criteria

Application

https://sovereigntechfund.de/en/applications/

Deadline

N/A

Sovereign Tech Fund - Maintainer Fellowships

About

The Sovereign Tech Fund is piloting a fellowship program to pay open source maintainers, aiming to address structural issues and support open digital infrastructure in the public interest.

Eligibility Criteria

N/A

Application

Deadline

closed for 2024 - deadline was 23:59 on Sunday 20 October 2024

Swedish Internet Foundation :sweden:

About

The Swedish Internet Foundation (Internetstiftelsen) is a Swedish fund run by Internetstiftelsen i Sverige or IIS, which administer the Swedish .se TLD. Parts of the earnings from selling .se domains goes to various projects that benefit the development of internet in Sweden and one of them is InternetFonden. Since 2004 the fund has financed 323 projects for a total of 65M SEK (7.7M USD/7.1M EUR/5.2M GBP). Applicants can be companies, organizations or private people as long as they have a Swedish organization number or social security number.

Eligibility Criteria

N/A

Application

N/A

Deadline

N/A

Unreal Engine Megagrants

About

Epic Games has committed to providing financial grants to creative, noteworthy, and innovative projects built in and around Unreal Engine or projects that enhance the open source 3D graphics ecosystem.

Our average grants range from 5,000 USD to 250,000 USD, with some extraordinary projects receiving up to 500,000 USD Projects selected cover a variety of endeavors from game development, architecture projects, and film production, to educational uses and software tool development. No matter what size grant you receive, you will continue to own your IP and will be free to publish it however you wish.

Eligibility Criteria

N/A

Application

N/A

Deadline

N/A

Top10vpn Research Grant

About

PrivacyCo’s funding opportunities provide a platform for researchers and postgraduate students to conduct original research and promote digital rights globally.

PrivacyCo is committed to provide funding for original research that helps advance digital rights globally. We are particularly interested in funding research that uncovers hidden threats to our digital rights through technical research methods.

We will be accepting applications on a rolling basis, with candidates invited to apply for up to 10,000 USD in funding. Approval will be dependent on the quality and originality of the proposed research coupled with its potential to shape and influence digital rights debates.

Eligibility Criteria

Researchers and postgraduate students.

Application

To apply, please email samuel@privacy.co a one page concept note outlining your methodology, potential findings and funding requirements.

Deadline

Open

Vinnova :sweden:

About

Vinnova is Sweden’s innovation agency. We help to build Sweden's innovation capacity, contributing to sustainable growth. Our vision is that Sweden is an innovative force in a sustainable world.

Eligibility Criteria

N/A

Application

N/A

Deadline

N/A

Web3 Foundation Grants

About

As part of our commitment to promoting the Web3 ecosystem, we offer a comprehensive grants program focused on funding software development and research efforts related to Polkadot and Kusama. You don't need to start your own project in order to be eligible for a grant. Instead, some teams choose to port existing work to Substrate, where the pertinent licenses allow, or even to contribute to an existing open-source project. In the latter case, you should check in advance that the maintainers of the project are interested in your contribution, and the acceptance of the milestones will generally be tied to the inclusion of your work in said project. See the Maintenance Grants section for more info.

Eligibility Criteria

Generally, your project will have better chances to be accepted if:

It presents a well-researched or tested concept, for which ideally you are able to show some prior work. You can demonstrate that the project will be maintained after completion of the grant, be it through an obvious commitment to the technology from your side, additional funding sources or an existing business model. Your team has proven experience with the relevant languages and technologies and/or a strong technical background. You will be asked to provide the GitHub profiles of your team members as part of your application, which we will examine for past activity and code quality. Naturally, you can also link to projects on other platforms. Your application is rich in technical details and well-defined. You can clearly present how your project stands out among competitors or implements technology that doesn't exist in the ecosystem yet. Additionally, it must fulfill the following requirements:

All code produced as part of a grant must be open-sourced, and it must also not rely on closed-source software for full functionality. We prefer Apache 2.0, but GPLv3, MIT or Unlicense are also acceptable. We do not award grants for projects that have been the object of a successful token sale. Applications must not mention a specific token. Furthermore, the focus of the application should lie on the software that is being implemented/research being carried out as part of the grant, and less on your project/venture/operation. For the purpose of the application and delivery, think about how others might also benefit from your work. As a general rule, teams are asked to finish a grant before applying for another one. Lastly, we do not fund projects that actively encourage gambling, illicit trade, money laundering or criminal activities in general.

Application

https://github.com/w3f/Grants-Program/#mailbox_with_mail-suggest-a-project

Deadline

N/A

Currently Not Applicable

Outreachy

About

Outreachy provides internships in open source and open science. Outreachy provides internships to people subject to systemic bias and impacted by underrepresentation in the technical industry where they are living.

Eligibility Criteria

"people subject to systemic bias and impacted by underrepresentation in the technical industry where they are living"

Application

N/A

Deadline

mid August 2024

Sage Concept Grants

About

SAGE’s Concept Grant program provides funding for innovative software solutions that support research in the social sciences.

Eligibility Criteria

N/A

Application

N/A

Deadline

2024 deadline has passed. It is unknown is this grant project will be repeated.

Internet Society Foundation

About

We support the global Internet community – researchers, developers, nonprofits, educators and more – through the following grant programs:

Bolt Program https://www.isocfoundation.org/grant-programme/bolt-grant-program/

Eligibility Criteria

N/A

Application

N/A

Deadline

Nothing open at the moment.

Interledger Ambassador Program

About

6-month project that advances the digital financial inclusion agenda specific to their expertise and networks. This program is ideal for researchers, developers, open-source contributors, entrepreneurs, educators, policy regulators, open standards enthusiasts, digital and financial rights advocates, creators, and artists operating at the intersection of technology and community. All ambassadors will receive a $30,000 grant for research, building, organizing, and advocacy.

Eligibility Criteria

N/A

Application

https://submit.interledger.org/submit/02298804-6736-4ff5-8173-234e211e0328/2024-ambassadorship-grant-program

Deadline

Applications will be accepted via Submittable from June 4th, 2024, 12 am EDT until August 31st, 2024.

Isif Asia

About

The challenges of improving Internet growth are multi faceted and interrelated, particularly in developing countries. They include, for example, access to technical skills and knowledge, the diffusion and reliability of infrastructures and services, an enabling business and policy environment for information and telecommunications, as well as unique local economic and social challenges.

Meeting and overcoming these challenges requires innovative solutions and the involvement of local actors, who are best placed to understand their needs and requirements. Critical to reach these goals are the availability of Internet infrastructure and services that are affordable and efficient; innovative Internet applications; successful and sustainable models for the provision of Internet services and finally, business environments which can become commercially competitive and sustainable.

Support research on Internet operations, infrastructure, technologies and protocols, conducted within the Asia Pacific region. Support implementation and refinement of digital solutions that make strategic use of Internet technologies in an innovative way, responding to the needs and challenges that different communities face. Provide higher visibility and share evidence of the positive influence that the Internet is having in the Asia Pacific region, and in particular the contributions from Asia Pacific digital innovators to these developments. Build the capacities needed by organizations and their project teams, to scale-up their solutions; whether through better management, fundraising, or partnership development.

Eligibility Criteria

"Applications for funding can be made by organizations legally registered in the Asia Pacific region, based on funding available from our funding partners."

Application

https://apnic.foundation/isif-asia/apply-for-funding/

Deadline

2024 applications now closed

Lacnic Frida

About

FRIDA is an initiative of LACNIC, the Internet Address Registry for Latin America and the Caribbean.

Eligibility Criteria

N/A

Application

Opens 26.04.2023.

Deadline

Deadline for 2024, has passed: https://programafrida.net/en/projects/preselected-projects-2024

Beta Nsf Gov

About

https://beta.nsf.gov/funding/opportunities/secure-trustworthy-cyberspace-satc

Supports research addressing cybersecurity and privacy, drawing on expertise in one or more of these areas: computing, communication and information sciences; engineering; economics; education; mathematics; statistics; and social and behavioral sciences.

Eligibility Criteria

Limited US organisations:

Application

N/A

Deadline

Full proposal accepted anytime

Google Summer of Code

About

Google Summer of Code is a global, online mentoring program focused on introducing new contributors to open source software development. GSoC contributors work on a 12+ week programming project with the guidance of mentors from their open source organization. https://summerofcode.withgoogle.com/ https://developers.google.com/open-source/gsoc/help/student-stipends

Eligibility Criteria

Application

N/A

Deadline

Timeline for 2025 is not announced yet.

Google Grants

About

Free google ads to attract donors.

Eligibility Criteria

Non profit.

Application

https://www.google.com/nonprofits/account/u/0/f/apply

Deadline

N/A

Coding It Forward

About

The Civic Digital Fellowship and Civic Innovation Corps are paid, 10-week summer fellowships for early-career technologists

Eligibility Criteria

N/A

Application

N/A

Deadline

2025 Fellowship will run from June 9 to August 15, 2025. Applications will open in October.

Google Season of Docs

About

Create a proposal outlining the documentation your project needs to create, update, or improve. Show us how you'll measure the impact of your project. Google Season of Docs provides financial support for your documentation project. At the end of the program, share what you've learned to improve knowledge of documentation in the open source community as a whole. https://developers.google.com/season-of-docs

Eligibility Criteria

N/A

Application

N/A

Deadline

April 2, 2024 at 18:00 UTC

Knight Foundation

About

We are social investors who support a more effective democracy by funding free expression and journalism, arts and culture in community, research in areas of media and democracy, and in the success of American cities and towns where the Knight brothers once published newspapers. https://knightfoundation.org/grants/6001/ https://knightfoundation.org/funding-opp-research-norms-rules-governance-internet-digital-platforms/

From their webpage:

Knight Foundation is a national foundation with strong local roots. We invest in journalism, in the arts, and in the success of cities where brothers John S. and James L. Knight once published newspapers. Our goal is to foster informed and engaged communities, which we believe are essential for a healthy democracy.

Eligibility Criteria

We primarily fund U.S.-based organizations.

Application

We seek innovative ideas that advance informed and engaged communities. To apply for funding, please submit a brief letter of inquiry.

The letter of inquiry is one way to apply for funding but not the only way. Applying to our open challenges is a separate process.

https://knight.fluxx.io/lois/new?utf8=%E2%9C%93&lang=en&commit=Apply+Now

Deadline

N/A

Seedfund NSF

About

We invest up to 2 million usd in seed funding and take zero equity.

Eligibility Criteria

Your company must be a small business (fewer than 500 employees) located in the United States. At least 50% of your company’s equity must be owned by U.S. citizens or permanent residents. NSF does not fund companies that are majority-owned by multiple venture capital firms, private equity firms, or hedge funds, to participate in SBIR and STTR. All funded work, including work done by consultants and contractors, needs to take place in the United States. The project’s principal investigator (tech lead) must be legally employed at least 20 hours a week by the company seeking funding. The PI doesn’t need any advanced degrees. The principal investigator needs to commit to at least one month (173 hours) of work on a funded project per six months of project duration.

Eligibility Criteria

N/A

Application

N/A

Deadline

N/A

Software Sustainability Institute

About

The following evaluation is a short, free, online version of the full sustainability evaluation that the Institute can perform for your project.

It takes about 15 minutes to complete the questionnaire, which gives you the opportunity to review the main issues that affect the sustainability of your software. At the end of the evaluation, a report will be generated and emailed to you with sustainability advice that is tailored to your project.

The online evaluation investigates the following areas of your software:

What does your software do?

Eligibility Criteria

N/A

Application

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf0ccsVdN-nXJCHLluJ-hANZlp8rDKgprJa0oTYiLZSDxh3DA/viewform

Deadline

N/A

Horizon Europe Guarantee

About

You will be eligible to register with UKRI for the Horizon Europe guarantee through this route if you are a UK-based organisation which has been successful through a Horizon Europe call in scope of the first or second wave of the guarantee. For the consortium-style grants, you must remain a partner on the project and be listed on the Horizon Europe grant agreement as an Associated Partner.

Eligibility Criteria

"UK-based organisation which has been successful through a Horizon Europe call in scope of the first or second wave of the guarantee"

Application form:

https://apply-for-innovation-funding.service.gov.uk/application/create/start-application/1181

Deadline

N/A

Internet Society

About

Eligibility Criteria

N/A

Application

N/A

Deadline

N/A

CISCO Grant Program

About

USA

Eligibility Criteria

N/A

Application

N/A

Deadline

N/A

Google Research Outreach Program

About

Google Outreach Program - Includsion Award Program https://research.google/outreach/air-program/

Eligibility Criteria

N/A

Application

N/A

Deadline

N/A

UK Innovation competition list

About

List of many open competitions from many innovation areas (digital technology etc.)

Eligibility Criteria

N/A

Application

N/A

Deadline

N/A

BBSw Fellowship Program

About

Eligibility Criteria

N/A

Application

Re-opens in Summer 2023

Deadline

N/A

Mozilla Technology Fund (MTF)

About

Eligibility Criteria

Supports "AI auditing tools" at the moment.

Application

N/A

Deadline

Expired, 2024 grants awarded. 2025 plans not known yet.

QGIS

About

Eligibility Criteria

N/A

Application

N/A

Deadline

May 2 2023.

Rubycentral

About

Eligibility Criteria

N/A

Application

N/A

Deadline

N/A

Wikimedia Grants

About

Research fund We welcome submissions that describe in-depth research proposals to improve and expand our understanding of the Wikimedia projects and their impact, introduce technical and socio-technical solutions that can enhance the technology in support of the Wikimedia projects, and advance the Wikimedia Movement towards the 2030 strategic direction. We will also consider funding proposals that focus on expanding and diversifying the community of researchers studying Wikimedia projects. For non-research related work, please see other sources of funding, including the Wikimedia Community Fund, the Wikimedia Alliances Fund and the forthcoming Wikimedia Technology Fund. Requests can be up to USD 50,000 and we intend to give a minimum of six grants during this funding cycle. Detailed budgets are not required as part of initial submissions but we request rough estimates in the following categories (if applicable) along with a brief explanation:

Salary or stipend Benefits Equipment Software Open access publishing costs Institutional overhead (up to 15% of total budget requested) Other (as specified) Final grant amounts are up to the discretion of the Research Fund Committee, who may reach out to finalists to ask for a reduced budget and a proportionally reduced scope of work. Funds will be disbursed in one payment at the beginning of the funding period (June 2023).

Eligibility Criteria

Research fund Individuals, groups, and organizations may apply. Any individual is allowed three open grants at any one time. This includes Rapid Funds. Groups or organizations can have up to five open grants at any one time.

Application

Research fund https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Programs/Wikimedia_Research_%26_Technology_Fund/Wikimedia_Research_Fund

Deadline

Amateuer Radio Digital Communications

About

ARDC makes grants that align with our mission to support amateur radio and digital communication science and technology. In addition to aligning with our mission, your project must align with at least one of our grantmaking categories:

Eligibility Criteria

Application

https://grants.ardc.net/

Deadline

Grants - Listings

Notable Projects

List of notable projects that have received grants.

Peermaps

Decentralized maps with an emphasis on building a modular map stack. Received a 100.000 USD donation from Samsung NEXT in January 2019 and a 49.000 EUR grant from NLNet in December 2021.

DeltaChat

Decentralized email-based instant messaging with end-to-end encryption based on Autocrypt. There are mobile applications for Android and iOS and also a desktop version. All implementations use an underlying core, which is being rewritten in rust.

Funded by OTF.

equalit.ie

Read about the launch of their multiparty chat encryption.

Funded by OTF.

DAT

From the DAT homepage:

Dat is a grant-funded, open-source, decentralized data sharing tool for efficiently versioning and syncing changes to data.

Funded by Knight Foundation.

OpenCare

OpenCare is a project trying to figure out ways of combining modern science and technology with communities. It got funded 1.6M EUR by Horizon 2020.

Ghost

Ghost is an open source blogging platform. The project is run and organized by The Ghost Foundation, which is a non-profit organization. Ghost is completely free to use if you host it yourself. You can pay for it if you need help with hosting your blog. This is what funds further development and The Ghost Foundation calls this Sustainable Open Source.

Read the Docs

Funded by MOSS.

StreetComplete

Work of one of contributors was sponsored by NLNet Foundation, work by the main author was funded by OpenStreetMap foundation and Prototype Fund.

Time-bounded Opportunities

2024 September 13 - Open Tech Fund Impact and Engagement Lab RFP

From the site:

OTF is soliciting proposals from service providers, organizations, and individuals interested in providing services to our Impact & Engagement Lab.

For more, go here.

Other Organisations

This section lists organizations that aren't necessarily offering grant funding, but are still very important for creating a sound and healthy environment for open source projects.

:sparkles: Software Freedom Conservancy

From the Software Freedom Conservancy homepage:

Software Freedom Conservancy, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization incorporated in New York. Software Freedom Conservancy helps promote, improve, develop, and defend Free, Libre, and Open Source Software (FLOSS) projects.

Conservancy offers a range of important services. From donations to assistance with fundraising, legal advice, contract negotiation to logistical support for conferences. Read more about their services here.

Some notable projects under their umbrella are:

Check out all their current 46 member projects.

Crowdfunding

The concept has been around for a while and can at times be the spark that makes a project take off.

There are different models, the traditional crowdfunded project asks for funds given some budget and project proposition. If the project reach the donation goal you can receive extra benefits apart from the actual product.

Other models are more focused on the community, where members of the community pitch in a certain amount of money per time unit, e.g. once a month.

Links

License

<a rel="license" href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"><img alt="Creative Commons License" style="border-width:0" src="https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-sa/4.0/88x31.png" /></a><br />All content submitted to this project is licensed under a <a rel="license" href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License</a>.