Who funds them, what they fund and how to apply.
The funding channel through which OpenSSF allocates resources for audits, technical writers, interns, and other needs across its technical initiatives, working groups, and projects. Its defined request process includes tiers up to $70,000–$150,000. A separate $12.5 million coalition investment announced in March 2026 supplies OpenSSF and Alpha-Omega with capital for sustainable open source security work; it is not a standalone public application round.
Outreachy is a paid open-source internship program (administered with Software Freedom Conservancy support) offering $7,000 USD stipends, running two rounds a year. December 2026 initial applications are open from 24 August to 31 August 2026 at 16:00 UTC. Internships run 7 December 2026 to 8 March 2027.
In-kind security-engineering support for critical open source projects: a dedicated Trail of Bits review week producing patches, tooling improvements, and coordinated disclosures, plus six months of ChatGPT Pro/Codex access for selected maintainers. No cash grant.
A donation-funded grant initiative of The Perl & Raku Foundation supporting development of the Perl core language. Proposals are reviewed on a bi-monthly cycle (call opens every two months, two-week public feedback window before committee vote).
Ethereum Foundation program embedding strategic advisors with a small set of prior grantees for 12 months of sustainability planning and execution. The two-year objective is to help critical open-source teams diversify funding and reduce dependency on a single grant source.
Nomination-based honorary recognition for people who have made significant contributions to the Python community. The Fellow Work Group reviews nominations each quarter. The Q3 2026 cutoff was August 20. Q4 nominations open in October and close November 20, 2026.
A donation-funded grant initiative of The Perl & Raku Foundation supporting development of the Raku language. Proposals are reviewed on a bi-monthly cycle (call opens every two months, two-week public feedback window before committee vote).
The Open Technology Fund's Rapid Response Fund provides short-term, urgent digital security support for at-risk users facing clear, time-sensitive, state-sponsored digital emergencies. Applications are rolling.
Provides stable, long-term funding and a Maintainer in Residence program for key Rust maintainers, funded through donations and contributions.
Rust Foundation's Outreachy internship and grants/fellowship program supports people underrepresented in tech, offering paid internships and up to 12 months of financial support.
Annual Linux Foundation Education scholarship that awards free training courses and a certification exam to increase diversity in open source. The 2026 round selected more than 500 recipients from 123 countries across 16 categories after more than 5,900 applications; more than 4,250 scholarships have been awarded since 2010. The 2027 cycle opens in April 2027.
A fellowship funding individuals implementing an innovative idea for social change around openness, technology, knowledge, and learning. Fellows receive annual salary-equivalent funding, expense contributions, a travel allowance, and project funding matched at a 10:1 ratio. Applications are accepted throughout the year for March and September intakes.
Flexible direct support (freelance or employment contracts) for maintainers, community managers, and technical writers doing critical open-source work.
The Sovereign Tech Agency's core investment program for open digital base technologies that are widely used and benefit society or critical sectors: libraries, package managers, communication protocols, developer tooling, and encryption. Applicants must demonstrate the knowledge and technical skills to do the proposed work; prototype development and user-facing applications are not funded. Applications go through a multistep review of up to ~10 weeks, with published investments ranging from ~EUR 99,060 (coreutils) to ~EUR 1,436,729 (Prossimo/Rustls).
Annual fund (established at €100,000 in 2022) paying maintainers of critical independent open-source projects Spotify depends on. No external application: Spotify's internal engineers nominate projects, informed by internal dependency data, and a fund committee selects recipients.
Umbrella grantmaking program for the Wikimedia movement, comprising the Rapid Fund (avg. $500-$5,000, short-term projects), the General Support Fund (flexible multi-year operating support up to 3 years), and the Hub Fund (multiple rounds per year), open to individuals and organizations advancing knowledge equity.
Mozilla's 2026 Fellowship program offered up to 10 fellowships across embedded and independent tracks. Nominations closed January 30, 2026; embedded fellows received a $75,000 stipend and $25,000 project budget, while independent fellows received a $100,000 stipend and $25,000 budget.
The Confidential Computing Consortium's 2026 Research Fund supported practical academic research in confidential computing. Applications closed June 1 and the two recipients were announced July 1.
Status describes whether a program is running. Application methods are recorded separately. Read the funder’s terms before applying.