Submitting Proposals

The Information Program welcomes unsolicited grant proposal outlines throughout the calendar year. We will review proposal outlines on a rolling basis at the end of each month. If your proposal outline is reviewed positively OSI will request a more detailed proposal. Grant proposals should address one or both of the program's two aims:

• to enhance the ability to access, exchange, and produce knowledge and information for key open society constituencies and disadvantaged groups, especially in the poorer parts of the world;
• to use new tools and techniques to empower civil society as a force for open society in national, regional and global arenas.

Please submit grant proposals to infoprogram_proposals@osi.hu. Please click here for a list of FAQs that you should read before you apply. Program staff will endeavor to review the proposal outlines at the end of each month and respond 30 days afterwards.

Criteria

As a general rule the Information Program prefers to receive grant applications made on behalf of an organization rather than an individual. The Program also prefers to fund project proposals rather than core funding requests. 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.

The Information Program will review unsolicited proposals for projects within three main focus areas:

• Access to Knowledge (excluding the Open Access Initiative)
• Civil Society Communication
• Open Information Policy

For information on each area's goals and interests, please visit the Information Program Focus Areas section.

Please note: the Information Program will not review proposals sent for the eIFL Consortium or East-East/South-South Translation Support . More information on funding from these organizations can be found on their respective websites. The Information Program is also not accepting unsolicited proposals for the Open Access Initiative.

Format

The program requests that grantees submit proposal outlines (no longer than two pages long), rather than sending fully developed proposals. The proposal outlines should be sent as attachments (.pdf, .doc, swx, .rtf).

Each proposal outline should include:

• Name of the project
• Name of the applicant organization
• Contact person and full contact information
• An indication of which grant you are applying for (Intellectual Property Reform and Open Knowledge, Capacity for Civil Society Communication, Tools for Open Society, Affordable Communications Access, Free Expression on the Internet)
• An executive summary of the project (What do you want to do and how? What is the problem your project seeks to address?)
• Project objectives (What would the project accomplish?)
• A draft budget (in either USD or Euros)
• Background information about the organization or individual applying
  

Please note that if your proposal outline is reviewed positively OSI will request a more detailed proposal.

All proposals outlines or questions on this process should be sent to infoprogram_proposals@osi.hu.