Free and Open Source Software Sustainability Fund
Forecasted
Free and Open Source Software Sustainability Fund supports developers maintaining open-source internet freedom tools and shared infrastructure to strengthen security and resilience in repressive contexts.
Funder: Open Technology Fund
Due Dates (Anticipated): January 2027 (Application deadline, anticipated)
Funding Amounts: Example single-maintainer support: USD 7,000/month for 6–24 months; larger initiatives: up to USD 400,000 for up to 24 months
Summary: Supports long-term maintenance, interoperability, reproducibility, security, and resilience of open-source internet freedom technologies and shared infrastructure.
Key Information: Projects must demonstrate core dependency status or substantial active use in repressive contexts, with limited development-history exceptions.
Description
Open Technology Fund’s Free and Open Source Software Sustainability Fund makes targeted investments in the infrastructure behind internet freedom technologies. It supports circumvention tools such as VPNs, secure messaging apps, shutdown-resilient tools, anti-censorship and privacy-preserving technologies, and their foundational software. Its goal is to sustain technologies relied upon by users in repressive contexts while enabling developers to securely fork, improve, update, and integrate code as censorship conditions and user needs change.
Competitive projects strengthen shared upstream dependencies such as libraries, packages, modules, and protocols; improve the interoperability or open-source integrity of existing, impactful tools; or enable safer alternative distribution through reproducible builds. The fund emphasizes ecosystem-wide resilience rather than short-term maintenance of individual tools, including quality documentation and both technical and non-technical dimensions of sustainability.
