Project Funding Overview
OpenRefine relies on a combination of volunteer contributions and financial support to sustain its development. This diversified funding keeps our core team in place, supports essential infrastructure, and enables strategic community outreach.
Operating Budget
We are seeking your support to fund OpenRefine's core team, a small group of part-time staff who maintain the project's infrastructure, respond to community needs, review and guide volunteer contributors, handle security reports, and steward the ecosystem of extensions and reconciliation services.
Our annual operating budget is US$140 000 (or appx US$11,500 per month), covering:
- US $7,500 per month for OpenRefine Developer & Contributor Engagement lead
- US $2,500 per month for project coordination
- US $70 per month for essential software licenses (Figma and Discourse)
- 15% of donations to our fiscal sponsor, Code for Science and Society, to handle administration and compliance
Additional funding enables us to organize community events, conduct outreach efforts, and undertake special projects. OpenRefine maintains a curated list of goalposts based on the interests and priorities of our community. We are currently seeking resources to achieve them. You can help by forming partnerships between your organization and OpenRefine or providing financial support.
Individual and corporate donations
OpenRefine is a fiscally sponsored project of Code for Science & Society, a 501(c)(3) charitable organization in the USA. Donations are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by US law (Tax ID: 81-3791683).
Ways to donate:
- GitHub sponsorship
- Online form for Credit Card, PayPal, and Bank Transfer (up to USD 25,000)
- Via Code for Science & Society from their donation page for larger donations.
We would like to thanks our current donors.
Grants
Since 2018, OpenRefine has relied on grants to sustain its development. Below, you can find information on past, current, and under-application grants. Please note that the actual execution of the grant may differ in terms of budget, scope, and timeline from the initial application.
Applying
OpenRefine is actively applying to grant opportunities listed in this section. We will update this section with the latest information as we progress. If you're interested in partnering with us for a grant, contact us.
Active Grants
OpenRefine is currently working on the following grants.
2022 EOSS-5
- CS&S code:
ORefine: 22 SVCF - 2022-252591
- Status: Awarded - Current
- Amount: USD 310,100 (USD 155,050 per year for two years)
- Source: Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative
- Start date: January 2023
- End date: December 2025 (extended from October 2024)
- Relevant links:
Completed Grants
OpenRefine completed the following grants.
2023 Wikimedia Foundation
- CS&S code:
ORefine: 23 Wikimedia
- Status: Awarded - Current
- Amount: USD 50,000
- Source: Wikimedia Foundation Funds
- Start date: June 2023
- End date: December 2024
- Relevant links:
2021 EOSS-Diversity
- CS&S code:
ORefine: 21 SVCF - 2021-237149 OR for Everyone
- Status: Awarded - Current
- Amount: USD 240,000 (USD 120,000 per year for two years)
- Source: Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative
- Start Date: September 2021
- End Date: December 2024 (extended from August 2023)
- Relevant link:
2023 NFDI
- CS&S code:
ORefine: General
- Status: Awarded - Completed
- Amount: EUR 10,000
- Source: NFDI4Culture
- Start date: August 2023
- End date: December 2023
- Relevant links:
2022 NFDI
- CS&S code:
ORefine: General
- Status: Awarded - Completed
- Amount: EUR 10,000
- Source: NFDI4Culture
- Start date: July 2022
- End date: December 2022
- Relevant link:
2021 Wikimedia Foundation
- CS&S code:
ORefine: 21 Wikimedia
- Status: Awarded - Completed
- Amount: USD 150,000
- Source: Wikimedia Foundation Funds
- Start date: June 2021
- End date: September 2022
- Relevant links:
- Blog post: Structured Data on Commons functionalities: welcome to OpenRefine's new team members!
- The Wikimedia Grant Page on meta contains all the grant details
2019 EOSS-1
- Status: Awarded - Completed
- Amount: USD 200,000
- Source: Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative
- Start date: December 2019
- End date: November 2020
- Relevant links:
2018 Google News Initiative
- Status: Awarded - Completed
- Amount: USD 100,000
- Source: Google News Initiative
- Start date: December 2017
- End date: December 2019
- Relevant link:
Unsuccessful applications
We applied for the following grant opportunities, but our proposals were not selected.
2025 Research Software Maintenance Fund
- CS&S code:
- Status: Expression of Interest Submitted
- Amount: up to GBP 500,000 available in partnership with other organizations.
- Source: Research Software Maintenance Fund
- Start date: January 2026
- End date: Februay 2028
- Relevant links:
2024 Wikimedia Foundation
- Status: Application submitted. Results expected by November 29, 2024
- Amount: asking for USD 69,758
- Source: Wikimedia Foundation Funds.
- Start date: January 2025
- End date: December 2025
- Relevant links:
2024-DEF
- Status: Not Awarded
- Amount: asking for USD 100,000
- Source: Data Empowerment Fund
- Start date: April 2024
- End date: March 2025
- Relevant links:
2023 EOSS-6
- Status: Not Awarded
- Amount: asking for USD 400,000 (USD 200,000 per year for two years)
- Source: Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative
- Start date: June 2024
- End date: June 2026
- Relevant links:
2023 Mozilla Infrastructure Fund
- Status: Not Awarded
- Amount: USD 50,000
- Source: Mozilla Foundation
- Relevant links:
2021 EOSS-4
- Status: Not Awarded
- Amount: USD 400,000 (USD 200,000 per year)
- Source: Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative
- Relevant links: