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Nominate OSS for Funding

Know an open source project that deserves support? Help us find the most critical yet underfunded OSS. Community nominations are an important input for our model, and self-nominations are welcome too!

Eligibility

Only independent free and open source software is eligible — no corporate or VC-funded projects, and no projects with associated startups. See our FAQ for details.

Community Input

Projects are selected through an open model, co-developed with OSE Members. Your nominations are one of many data inputs used by the selection model.

Funding Format

OSE provides ~$5,000 microgrants to the most valuable independent OSS. Funding is dedicated to improving security and stability or rewarding long-term maintainers.

Your name 
Your email 
GitHub Repo URL of the project you're nominating 
Comments

Selection Process

1

Collecting Inputs

We collect nominations from the open source community, which highlight valuable projects that need support most.

Such inputs help OSE and its Members finalize the grant model that shapes how nominations and other signals are scored.

2

Scoring Projects

Nominations feed into our Value-Risk framework, which has many other inputs: downloads, dependents, security, bus factor, etc.

The model finds high-value, at-risk projects: widely used software that lacks funding or active contributors.

3

Outreach & Due Diligence

The OSE team contacts top-scoring projects to verify eligibility, independence, and interest in a grant.

An operational review ensures funds can be received by maintainers directly or via fiscal sponsors.

4

Approval & Distribution

The Board of Directors reviews due diligence results and approves the final grant list for each funding round.

The first grant distribution round is planned for Q2 2026.