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Frequently Asked Questions About the Information Program

What countries or regions does the Information Program support?

The Information Program focuses on projects based in the following regions:

  • Africa
  • Central Asia and Caucasus
  • Central/Eastern Europe
  • Middle East
  • Southeast Asia
  • South-East Europe
  • Western CIS
  • Latin America
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Does the Information Program support project staff salaries?

Most of our funding goes to project grants rather than core operating grants; for project grants, the administrative overhead is usually expected to be under 10%, although this may vary depending on the nature of the project.

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What is the minimum and maximum budget I can apply for?

The Information Program rarely gives grants over $200,000, and the most common amount is less than $50,000.

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How do I apply to the Information Program?

The OSI Information Program is keen to make grants to NGOs and civil society groups not yet in its extended network. However, processing unsolicited grant applications can take a substantial amount of Program Managers’ time and like everyone, our resources are limited. Over the years that we have been funding interventions in the Information space, we have developed a keen sense of what does and does not work, and of the sorts of projects we can fund most successfully. So the best approach is to email one of our program managers with a short description of your project, and let them guide you through the process from there.

Please read through material provided on this website to ascertain whether your project might attract funding from the OSI Information Program. You will find guidance on the sorts of projects we fund, and the particular areas where we are looking to expand our activities, under each of the grant-giving initiatives listed on the website. The Information Program’s work breaks down into three major focus areas, with various grant-giving initiatives working in each of these areas, as follows:

Once you have found an initiative you think fits your project well, you will see a link to contact details for the relevant program manager at the bottom of the page. If none of the initiatives described fits with your project, then it is unlikely that the Information Program will fund it.

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How do I write a proposal? What should I include in my application?

You should not start writing a proposal until you have been invited to do so by Information Program staff. They will guide you through this process, but some basic guidelines are given below.

There is no application form to fill out. Proposal outlines should be in English and no more than two pages long. Each proposal outline should include:

  • Name of the project
  • Name of the applicant organization
  • Contact person and full contact information
  • An executive summary of the project (What do you plan to do and how? What is the problem your project seeks to address?)
  • Project objectives (What would the project accomplish?)
  • A draft budget
  • Background information about the organization or individual applying

The proposal outlines should be sent as attachments with any of the following file extensions: .pdf, .doc, .swx, .odt, .rtf

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Is there a particular format that the draft budget or financial report should follow?

Again, you should not submit a budget until you have been invited to do so by Information Program staff. There is no compulsory budget format, but we recommend using the financial forms and resources developed by Management Accounting for Non-Profit Organisations (Mango). Their website provides downloadable examples of financial spreadsheets and forms for nonprofit projects and organizations at www.mango.org.uk/guide/resources/financialsystem.aspx.

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Can I apply to more than one OSI program at the same time?

If you are applying to more than one OSI program/initiative, your proposal should clearly indicate which other programs/initiatives you are applying to.

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What if my English isn’t fluent?

Please make every effort to produce a clear and coherent proposal outline. Clarity is more important than flawless grammar.

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Does the Information Program give out scholarships?

No, the Information Program does not provide scholarships. Please refer to OSI's Scholarship Programs webpage at www.soros.org/initiatives/scholarship for more information on scholarships.

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Does the Information Program award travel grants?

The Information Program does not award individual travel grants. However, the program occasionally awards grants to event organizers who in turn may offer travel grants to interested participants on a competitive basis. The sponsored events are announced on the program's website.

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Where can I find information about the previous grants that the Information Program has given within a specific focus area in the past?

Under the grants section of the focus areas you will find a list of previous grantees and projects that were funded. Due to privacy and data protection policies we are unable to provide a complete list of grantees. This list is currently out of date, but we are updating it as fast as resources allow.

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Can you give grants to organizations based in the United States/Western Europe?

The Information Program can support organizations based outside of our focus regions in cases where the beneficiary is inside of our focus regions. We do not support projects where the beneficiary is solely in the United States/Western Europe.

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How do I look for employment opportunities at OSI?

Information on employment opportunities at OSI is available at www.soros.org/about/careers.

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If there is a regional or national OSI organization for the country I'm applying from, should I get in touch with them first?

Yes. We recommend that your first point of contact be the national or regional OSI foundation for your country/region. A list of these foundations can be found at www.soros.org/about/foundations.

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Does the Information Program support multi-year projects?

The Information Program does not have a restriction on a project’s duration, though in practice grants tend to cover periods of one to two years.

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Do you give grants to purchase equipment?

The Information Program occasionally supports the purchase of equipment, but only when it is necessary to achieve the goals of a funded project. We do not support the purchase of equipment alone.

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Do you give research grants?

The Information Program does occasionally support research when it directly informs the work of the nonprofit organizations in the Open Society Institute's network.

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What kinds of projects do you usually support?

Funded activities in the past have included information and knowledge capacity-building events, technology and policy analysis, advocacy campaigns, and innovative projects that test new ground or demonstrate new models.

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Where can I find additional information about the Information Program's priorities in assessing the types of projects to which they will grant? For example, are there particular substantive areas that OSI is interested in funding, e.g. organizations that improve communications in order to alleviate poverty?

The Information Program generally works with other OSI programs or Soros foundations. This means that we work in content areas that are central to OSI: for example, education, public health, rule of law, human rights, or government transparency and accountability.

The Information Program’s work breaks down into three major focus areas, with various grant-giving initiatives working in each of these areas, as follows:

You can find detailed analysis of our various mission goals under each of the grant-giving initiatives listed in the three focus areas on the website. You might also like to read our contribution to the most recent OSI annual report

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How long does it take for OSI to process a new grant?

Once a grant proposal has been approved, it takes about 4–6 weeks to process a grant contract.

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How long do grantees have to hold on to their receipts and paperwork related to a grant?

Grantees are required to retain receipts and invoices for all matters pertaining to a grant, and must have these available for inspection or audit by OSI or its designee for five years following the termination date of the grant.

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Does the Information Program require grant reports to be in a certain format?

All final reports should have both a narrative report and a financial report. For examples of formats to use for the financial report please go to www.mango.org.uk/guide/resources/financialsystem.aspx, which has downloadable examples of financial spreadsheets and forms for nonprofit projects and organizations.

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What happens if I do not submit a report in time?

Any likely delays have to be reported to the responsible grant manager in advance. Overdue reports can prevent grantees from receiving any further funding from OSI.

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Can I submit proposals for the eIFL Consortium?

The Information Program does not review proposals sent for the eIFL Consortium. More information on funding from the eIFL Consortium can be found on their website www.eifl.net.

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