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Funding

Grants & Financing
for OCC

OCC is financed through public grants and community support. No venture capital. No exit pressure. Sustainable for generations.

Active Grants Community Funding

Why grants are the right financing model

Public infrastructure should be financed through public means.

Mission-Aligned

Grants are sponsorships, not investments. No investor waiting for 10x return. Sponsors care about impact — not about exit.

Sustainable

Not dependent on single investors or acquisitions. Multiple sources (federal, EU, community) = diversified risk.

Legitimacy

BMBF + EU = democratic legitimacy. OCC is financed by society, not by capital markets.

Focused

Grants have clear deliverables + milestones. Creates structured development, not chaotic growth.

Active & planned grant programs

Multiple applications in preparation or review. Goal: €150–200k in 2027.

Prototype Fund 2026-II

Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF)

ACTIVE
Amount: €50,000–80,000
Deadline: 31 December 2026
Duration: 4-month development sprint (Jan–Apr 2027)
Focus: OCC Public LLM Core + Compliance Module. Focus: data protection & EU compatibility.
  • Funding for 4-month development sprint
  • Coaching & mentoring by BMBF team
  • Public funding = no governance dilution
  • All deliverables open source under CC0
Apply ↗ Program Info ↗

Next Generation Internet Initiative (NGI)

NLnet Foundation (Netherlands)

IN PREPARATION
Amount: €20,000–45,000
Deadline: Ongoing calls (every 3 months)
Duration: 6–9 months flexible financing
Focus: Open internet infrastructure. OCC: RAG Module + Knowledge Graph Persistence.
  • Reimbursement-based (no advances)
  • Flexible milestones (not fixed-date)
  • EU governance preferred
  • Community review instead of classic gating
Apply ↗ Program Info ↗

European Digital Innovation Hubs

European Commission (Horizon Europe)

PLANNED
Amount: €100,000+ (per project)
Deadline: H2 2026 (expected)
Duration: 24 months enterprise-scale
Focus: OCC as public AI infrastructure for EU countries. Scalability & enterprise security.
  • Larger budgets for multi-country adoption
  • Government buy-in (Paris, Berlin, Barcelona possible)
  • Requires consortium (OCC + 3–5 partners)
  • Preparation in Q4 2026
Apply ↗ Program Info ↗

Community Financing

Every euro from individuals, organizations, and communities helps OCC remain independent.

Alongside grants, OCC finances itself through community crowdfunding. These are not donations (OCC doesn't yet have nonprofit status), but technical sponsor relationships through external platforms. Goal for 2027: €500–2,000/month from the community.

Open Collective

Community Crowdfunding
Goal: €500–2,000/month (goal)

Advantage: Fully transparent. Every EUR visible. No gatekeepers.

GitHub Sponsors

Individual Sponsorship
Goal: €100–5,000/month (goal)

Advantage: Developers supporting developers. Low friction.

Buy Me A Coffee

Micro-Donations
Goal: €50–500/month (goal)

Advantage: Individual contributions (€5–20). Low barrier for supporters.

Transparency: All income + expenses are published monthly. Open Collective provides complete financial transparency.

Get involved in grant applications

Grant writing is collective work. Expertise welcome.

Grant Writer

Write or review grant applications. Technical expertise in AI, data protection, open source. Time: 20–40h per application

Proofreader

English copyediting + style review. Grant applications need to be flawless. Time: 5–10h

Budget Planning

Budgets + cost estimation. Deadline: always ≤2 weeks before submission. Time: 10–20h

Advocates

Networking with funders. Personal relationships with BMBF, NLnet, EU programs. Time: Flexible outreach

Interested? Write: hello@opencognitioncommons.org

Subject: Grant Support — [your expertise]