The Internet Society Foundation exists to support the positive difference the Internet can make to people everywhere. It promotes the development of the Internet as a global technical infrastructure, a resource to enrich people's lives, and a force for good in society.
Funding areas
Supporting inspirational work by people who believe in the power of the Internet.
Emergency Response Grant Programme: COVID-19
Our Emergency Response Programme will provide funding to organizations working on projects that utilize the Internet to improve lives during or in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Beyond the Net Large Grant Programme
Beyond the Net Large Grants support innovative projects from Internet Society Chapters and Special Interest Groups (SIGs) seeking to improve the quality of people’s lives by providing meaningful access to an open, trusted, and global Internet.
Tracing Journeys
Course guides Brazilian community networks on how to get legal recognition
Brazil is known for its complex bureaucracy and misunderstandings or attempts to avoid it have left many community networks operating irregularly or even illegally. As a result, many fear getting classified as ‘clandestine telecommunications services’, which can bring fines of $10,000 reais (USD $1,790) or imprisonment of two to four years.
Three new community networks are helping safeguard communities in rural Brazil
On the fringes of the Amazon in northeastern Brazil, many communities live in fear of attacks by invaders who slash and burn forest to make way for illegal mining, cattle and soy plantations. This is also one of the country’s poorest regions and the low potential profits have left most communities without Internet access.
Haiti’s ISOC Chapter pushes for community networks with two grants from the Internet Society Foundation
Like many Haitian youth, Obed Sindy first accessed the Internet in a high school computer lab. In Haiti, the Internet is still considered a luxury, with just 32% of the population using it in 2018.