Over the last few months, with the Advisory Community and CS&S support, I’ve been working on a more procurement-friendly way for institutions to support OpenRefine. As mentioned in my latest funding update, our current grant cycle ends in 2025, and we need to explore new models that match how OpenRefine is actually used inside universities, libraries, GLAM institutions, research labs, and government teams.
Many organizations rely heavily on OpenRefine but can’t donate directly because of procurement requirements. This new model aims to address that gap and support long-term sustainability.
I’m sharing two documents here:
- The proposal for the Institutional Support Program including
- Program Purpose,
- Values for the Institutions
- How this program helps the OpenRefine project
- Deployment Plan
- Governance and Transparency
- The document 20251125 - Institutional Support Package Presentation.pdf (200.7 KB) to present the program to institutions.
Why this matters
This work connects to a few threads from earlier this year:
- The Misunderstood requirements preventing the use of OpenRefine discussion, which highlighted real barriers institutions face with OpenRefine (install, procurement, policy, governance:
- The 2025 Barcamp session on the operating model and upcoming fundraising campaign: 2025 Barcamp Session Proposal: OpenRefine budget, operating model, and upcoming fundraising campaign - #2 by Martin (see the conversation in the linked Etherpad note)
- And of course, the recent funding update about the end of our current grant and why we’re exploring new options: Funding Opportunities 2025 - #5 by Martin
I understand that the institutional model can be seens as a bold shift compared to our past grant-only approach. So this post is partly “testing the water” with the community and opening the conversation about what this could mean for OpenRefine’s long-term sustainability.
Looking ahead
A few things on the roadmap:
- Feedback is welcome, regarding structure of the proposition and the impact this model could have on the community.
- I’ll start sharing the two-pagers with a small group of relevant institutions to collect their comments and see how it fits their internal processes.
- If there is alignment between the community and interested institutions, the plan would be to start the program in 2026.
The goal isn’t to change what OpenRefine is or how people use it. The idea is to give institutions a practical way to support the project as a shared public-good tool and to reduce the fragility of relying only on grants.
I am looking forward to your thoughts.
Martin