NLNet Foundation Grant Program

NLNet Foundation Grant Program is a grant from NLNet Foundation that funds free and open source software, hardware, data, and standards projects that strengthen an open, resilient, and privacy-respecting internet. Awards typically range from €5,000 to €50,000 and support individuals, nonprofits, research organizations, companies, and public institutions.

Deadlines fall on the first of every even-numbered month, with rolling back-to-back open calls. All scientific outcomes must be published as open access, and all software and hardware must carry a recognized free/open source license. Active fund tracks include NGI0 Commons Fund, NGI TALER, and NGI Fediversity, each targeting specific open-internet infrastructure challenges.

Send in your ideas. Deadline June 1, 2026 We support projects that contribute to an open, resilient, trustworthy, sustainable and human-centered internet. Are you working on open hardware, open software, open data or open standards?

We financially support organisations and people who are developing open solutions that empower users on all layers of technology. We have back-to-back open calls, so you can always submit a proposal. There is a deadline on the 1 st of every even month.

We do our best to offer a low-threshold application mechanism. We've kept the application form short so as not to waste your time. In principle anyone can apply: individuals, research organisations, non-profits, public institutions, companies of any size and type, etc. However, do read the eligiblity section of the fund you are applying for, as specific conditions may apply.

All projects must be free/libre/open source: all scientific outcomes must be published as open access, and any software and hardware developed must be published under a recognised free and open source license in its entirety. Below you find a basic overview of our currently active funds. You can find more information on each fund's main page.

There you'll find the Guide for Applicants, FAQs and eligibility criteria. We advice you to have a thorough look. It gives you an idea of the type of projects we are looking for and which conditions apply.

If you are unsure which fund best fits your project, submit to our open call. Reclaim the public nature of the internet The commons model works. Free and open source software and hardware, open standards, open data & AI, open science and creative commons benefit everyone instead of a few.

The goal of the NGI0 Commons Fund is to help deliver, mature and scale new internet commons across the whole technology spectrum, from libre silicon to middleware, from P2P infrastructure to convenient end user applications. Open calls within pilot programmes Pilots are existing larger R&D efforts with a fairly specific and often very concrete (= more applied/constrained) objective and scope.

Typically a consortium of organisations has received budget to develop or enhance a specific open technology or set of open technologies of interest, and/or applying these to specific (real-world) use cases. The role of NLnet in such pilots is often to involve additional parties through open calls, providing grants to free and open source projects which are aligned with the goals of the pilot and strengthen its overall proposition.

If you do not specifically target the technologies developed within the pilot, you are generally better off applying to our other open calls. Privacy-preserving digital payments NGI TALER is a pilot programme with the objective to roll out a new, best-in-class electronic payment system called GNU Taler.

Part of the budget is reserved for open calls to fund additional free and open source efforts that improve/build on top/integrate this payment system. Creating the hosting stack of the future NGI Fediversity is a pilot programme to bring easy-to-use, hosted cloud services that have service portability and personal freedom at their core to everyone. Funding is avialable for projects that contribute to the objectives of Fediversity.

Supporting quality and maturity of digital commons NGI Zero funds are made possible with financial support from the European Commission 's Next Generation Internet programme, under the aegis of DG Communications Networks, Content and Technology . Come meet us in the Fediverse Currently open for proposals: And help us support the open internet! NLnet is looking for a junior/senior technology assessor.

Come by for a chat every last Wednesday of the month at 4 PM CET in our Matrix room. Conversations with people building the Next Generation Internet Nominate Free Software Projects for the four €10. 000 BlueHats Prizes.

Help us with 5 minutes of your time. 2026-06-24 - Office hour: Ask us Anything Internet pioneer Jaap Akkerhuis Knighted for Exceptional Contribution to Society 2026-04-28 57 Projects Receive NGI Zero Grants to Fix the Internet 2026-04-09 Apply for funding before June 1st 2026 2026-04-01 Help us by protecting open source and its users with 5 minutes of your time. Nominate Free Software Projects for the four €10.

000 BlueHats Prizes.