Funding Opportunities 2025

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Hello everyone,

I wanted to provide a consolidated update on OpenRefine's fundraising efforts, as information has previously been available in bits and pieces through the Advisory Committee minutes (see Topics tagged minute-advisory).

I have been working with CS&S's dedicated fundraising consultant, Lila Jane Mabe, from Serial Comma Consulting. Below is an overview of the current funding landscape and opportunities we are exploring.

Current Funding Status

Wikimedia Foundation

No further funding is available at this time. We are exploring the possibility of Creating an OpenRefine Wikimedia Group

OTF - Superbloom

I am currently discussing with Superbloom Design to explore support for some design work. I shared with them some of the projects identified during the BarCamp, the 2025 Year Ahead blog post, and the 2024 User Survey.

While Superbloom is directly funded by the OTF User Experience Discovery Lab (UXD Lab), meaning there is no new funding specifically for OpenRefine, their involvement is still valuable in helping us advance specific projects. They will share a proposal by the end of the month, and I will post it here on the forum for discussion.

Goal Post

This effort made me realize that having a roadmap/goal post page would be incredibly useful. I have started compiling notes and plan to publish a dedicated page soon.

Upcoming Outreach & New Proposals

As part of our next outreach phase, we want to initially focus on two communities: Internet Freedom and Open Science, for which I opened a dedicated thread Discussion: How OpenRefine Can Support Federated Data Repositories for Open Science?

Regarding the Internet Freedom angle, we are preparing proposals for the following organizations and would appreciate any connections, insights, or advice on how best to engage with them:

  • Futo Grants, OpenRefine aligns with Futo’s mission as an alternative to big tech software. You can learn more about their philosophy: What Does Futo Believe?.
  • FlossFund: OpenRefine is an alternative to big tech software. While funding chances might be limited, they offer the funding.json format to publicize funding needs. I am interested in this format to increase the transparency within OpenRefine regarding our funding needs and plan. You can refer to Announcing Floss Fund blogpost and this SustainOSS Podcast episode.
  • Open Society Foundations: We want to prepare for their next funding round, focusing on Future Worlds initiatives.
  • Arcadia Fund: We are exploring potential funding under their Open Access & Cultural Heritage program.

How You Can Help

  • If you have connections with any of the above organizations, insights on the best way to approach them, or ideas you would like to pitch, please let us know on this forum or reach out privately.
  • If you have other funding suggestions, feel free to share them in this thread.

I’ll keep you updated as we progress with these discussions. We will publish the details of each application publicly before submitting them. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts and input!

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July 24, 2025 Advisory Committee
Partnership opportunity with Superbloom via the OTF
April 3, 2025 - Advisory Committee Call with CS&S
March 20, 2025 Advisory Committee only
March 13, 2025 Advisory Committee only
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Here is an update on my recent progress in fundraising.

With the support of the Advisory Committee and CS&S, I drafted a two-page document to present OpenRefine. You can review it here.. My plan is to use this document, or variations of it, when reaching out to potential funders. As always, I welcome any feedback, and I know that @Ainali has some ideas for improving the design. I'm also interested in how we can integrate this document into our website.

Regarding the Discussion: How OpenRefine Can Support Federated Data Repositories for Open Science?

  • I have the introduction email ready for the Navigation fund
  • I will also contact Schmidt Sciences.

Other progress

If you have any ties to the organizations mentioned above, suggestions for the most effective ways to engage with them, or ideas you would like to share, please feel free to contribute to this forum or contact me privately.

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May 1st, 2025 - Advisory Committee Call with CS&S
April 17, 2025 Advisory Committee
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Hello here,

Here’s another update on our fundraising efforts:

Currently, we do not have any identified grant opportunities. My next focus will be on reaching out to individual funders and Program Officers based on the two-pagers I shared previously and the updated sponsorship tier.

If you know of any funding sources that may meet our needs, please let me know. I would be happy to explore how we can engage with them.
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June 19, 2025 Advisory Committee
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It's time for an update on our funding application pipeline.

Next in our application pipeline are

July 10, 2025 Advisory Committee
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As you may have noticed since September, we entered a more proactive fundraising period for OpenRefine. As presented during the Barcamp session, our current grant funding ends in December 2025. In our fiscal year budget (ending June 30, 2026) we planned for a deficit of USD 36,184. Including the recent USD 25,000 FLOSS Fund commitment, we can sustain our minimal team until April 30 2026.

Separately, we are currently waiting to hear back from the NLNET and Digital Science applications, while also exploring other fundraising avenues. These include the OpenRefine Store and our 2025 Year-End Giving Campaign, as outlined in the 2025 Year-End giving update.

Finally, we have not received a response from the Mellon Foundation, and we decided not to pursue the following grants:

  • The John Templeton Foundation
  • Pathways to Enable Open-Source Ecosystems (POSE)
  • R Consortium

A fragile grant-based model in 2025

I want to take a moment to reflect on our fundraising efforts over the past two years and share what we’ve learned from the current campaign.

In 2024 and 2025, grant-based fundraising has become increasingly difficult. Many applications have been unsuccessful due to growing competitiveness and narrower eligibility criteria, often limited by geography (for instance, Europe-focused) or technology (particularly AI). The total funds available have also decreased, and a single grant now rarely covers our operating costs for a full year.

After discussions with leaders of other open-source projects and funders, it’s clear that the 2019-2024 period of large, community-focused grant funding has ended. Funders now emphasize AI and LLM initiatives, prioritizing “breakthroughs” rather than ongoing maintenance and sustainability.

In short, relying mainly on grants to fund our core staff is now a risky and unpredictable model. Looking ahead, sustaining OpenRefine will likely require a combination of approaches to reach our target of roughly USD 140,000 per year.

Exploring new funding models

With the support of our Advisory Committee and Code for Science and Society, we’ve been exploring alternative models to complement grant applications. We expect future funding to come from a mix of these options:

  • Unrestricted large-donor grants. These allow more flexibility than project-tied funding. With our moderate yearly budget of about USD 140,000, a few large donors under our partner and patron tiers could sustain the project.

  • Fellowship or institutional support. Since our model relies mainly on a single developer-support role (details here), we are exploring the possibility for universities, research labs, or consortia to host part-time roles or support fellowships aligned with OpenRefine’s needs.

  • Institutional Support Program. We are exploring a model where institutions “procure” rather than donate, to secure the sustainability of the tool they rely on. This includes access to resources such as newsletters and webinars. You can review and comment on the draft plan here. We plan to share it with institutions we already collaborate with and refine it based on their feedback.

Looking ahead

OpenRefine remains a resilient and collaborative community. Open Source Softwares thrives through distributed ownership and the creativity of its contributors, and OpenRefine is no exception. With a stronger governance structure, low infrastructure costs, and a small but dedicated team supported by a diverse global user base, we are well positioned to continue evolving.

As we approach the end of 2025, your support matters more than ever. You can help sustain OpenRefine by participating in our Year-End Giving Campaign, whether through a donation or by simply spreading the word within your network. Every contribution helps keep OpenRefine maintained, open, and accessible for everyone.

Together, we can continue to make OpenRefine a reliable and innovative tool for data exploration and transformation in the years ahead.

October 31, 2025 Advisory Committee
Exploring an Institutional Package Model
October 24, 2025 Advisory Committee
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3 posts were split to a new topic: How to align external grants with OpenRefine

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Hi everyone,

As we close November, I wanted to share an update on where things stand with our 2025 funding efforts.

We’ll continue to share transparent updates here as the campaign progresses. Thank you again to everyone who has supported OpenRefine through donations, feedback, or participation. Your engagement plays a key role in keeping the project healthy.

If you would like to support the project during our year-end campaign, you can find more details here: https://openrefine.org/2025-fundraising

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