October 15, 2026: Grant application deadline for open-source circumvention tools’ service providers in censored areas
by Piyush Mathur
If your group has been providing services involving ‘established, open-source circumvention tools’ at scale in highly censored environments not facing relevant US trade sanctions or export restrictions, then you can apply for a grant from the Washington, D.C.-based Open Technology Fund (OTF). For the US sanctions-related information, check out this link: https://ofac.treasury.gov/.
The grants will be issued from the so-called ‘Surge and Sustain Fund’ (SaSF) maintained by OTF, which claims to prioritise users living in ‘China, Cuba, Iran, Myanmar, Russia, and other closed information environments.’
The deadline to make your application is October 15, 2026. OTF has laid out very restrictive conditions and information requirements for eligible applicants; these have to be grasped clearly via this link, which contains the link to the application portal (which will require registering with OTF):
https://www.opentech.fund/funds/surge-and-sustain-fund/
OTF’s SaSF funds are not meant to support the development or deployment of a new tool or infrastructural facility—but to support an existing at-scale endeavour (particularly involving Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) or similar anti-censorship overrides), especially if it were facing sudden high demand in a stressed environment.
Do note that OTF’s call also refers to its Internet Freedom Fund (IFF) for a broader range of funds meant to support the development and deployment of open-source circumvention tools as well as associated ‘applied research, convenings, and digital security projects.’ For these funds, too, applications are open—and they are screened on ‘a rolling basis’, via this Unique Resource Locator (URL): https://www.opentech.fund/funds/internet-freedom-fund/
OTF is legally organised as Open Technology Fund, Inc., a US 501(c)(3) public charity.