NLnet Foundation: open call for proposals with a November 3 deadline
NLnet funds open source and open hardware projects with first grants between 5,000 and 50,000 euro. The current call closes on November 3, 2026 at noon CET.
NLnet Foundation has opened a new call for proposals. It offers between 5,000 and 50,000 euro for a first grant. The money goes to projects that build open technology for the digital commons and the open internet stack.
Two funds are part of this call. The Restack fund is about building a scalable open internet stack. The CodeSupply fund is about software supply chain security through packaging metadata. Several smaller theme funds are open as well. NLnet notes that this is the first deadline under the new European Commission Open Internet Stack initiative, and that its deadline cycle has moved from even months to odd months.
Projects must involve technical development. Software, hardware and content must be released under open licences and must apply open standards. Some funds financed by the EU are limited to applicants from countries eligible for Horizon Europe.
Proposals are submitted through the form on the NLnet website. NLnet asks for plain English written in your own words. Proposals mostly generated by large language models are not accepted. If generative AI was used, the prompts and interactions must be disclosed.
The deadline is November 3, 2026 at 12:00 noon CET.