Build Grants

A catalog of official grants and fellowships for building open source, security, and public-interest tech — NLnet, Mozilla, GitHub Secure OSS, protocol foundations, and similar. Not scholarships-for-tuition (see sister repo) and never “pay us to review your grant.” You can navigate, find Hub (all catalogs), and browse Sister repos.

Disclaimer: Deadlines, eligibility, and amounts change. Apply only on official domains. Open a PR to fix stale links.

Scams: Fake “foundation grants” and advance-fee applications → resources/grant-scams.md

Pages: student-dev-catalogs · oss-programs-and-hackathons · build-grants · hack-safe · ai-catalog · coding-platforms · public-apis · design-for-devs · cloud-student · maker-student · game-dev-student · never-your-sounds

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FOSS & internet infrastructure

Program	What it funds	Official
NLnet Foundation	Open internet, privacy, open standards (NGI etc.)	nlnet.nl
Sovereign Tech Fund	Critical open digital infrastructure	sovereign.tech
Open Technology Fund	Internet freedom tools	opentech.fund
Prototype Fund (DE)	Public-interest software	prototypefund.de
NGI (Next Generation Internet)	EU umbrella; calls via NLnet & partners	ngi.eu

Security & secure OSS

Program	What it funds	Official
GitHub Secure Open Source Fund	Security improvements for OSS	resources.github.com/security/secure-open-source-fund
GitHub Security Lab	Research, CodeQL, OSS partnerships	securitylab.github.com
Alpha-Omega	Open source software security	alpha-omega.dev
OpenSSF	Foundation + grants / initiatives	openssf.org
Internet Security Research Group (ISRG)	Let’s Encrypt, Prossimo, etc.	abetterinternet.org

Mozilla & web ecosystem

Program	What it funds	Official
Mozilla Foundation	Tech + society, fellowships, awards	foundation.mozilla.org
Mozilla Builders	Experimental products / OSS	builders.mozilla.org

Protocol & ecosystem foundations (verify scope)

Foundation	Typical focus	Official
Ethereum Foundation	Protocol / ecosystem public goods	ethereum.org/foundation
Protocol Labs	Research, Filecoin/IPFS ecosystem	protocol.ai
Stellar Development Foundation	Payments / financial access	stellar.org/foundation
Interchain Foundation	Cosmos ecosystem (grants)	interchain.io

Linux / cloud vendor programs (OSS)

Program	Notes	Official
CNCF (TAG + sandbox path)	Not a cash grant for everyone; ecosystem support	cncf.io
Google Open Source Peer Bonus	Maintainer recognition (not application portal)	opensource.google
AWS Open Source / SNS for builders	Programs vary	aws.amazon.com/open-source

Fellowships (build, not degree)

Fellowship	Notes	Official
Mozilla Fellows	Policy + tech	foundation.mozilla.org/fellowship
Ford / Shuttleworth / Ashoka	Search official sites per cohort	Use org .org domains only
Recurse Center	Self-directed builder retreat (need-based grants)	recurse.com

Related (not duplicate here)

Need	Sister catalog
Tuition & study scholarships	oss-programs scholarships.md
Paid summer OSS internships (GSoC, etc.)	oss-programs-and-hackathons
Security learning (CTF, OWASP)	hack-safe

JSON index: data/grants.json

Contribute

CONTRIBUTING.md — official links only; no pay-to-apply schemes.

License

CC BY 4.0