# Updates to the Grants Program (Maintainer Programs) **URL:** \ **Category:** Maintainers\ **Created:** [29 October 2025 07:45 UTC](https://forum.fossunited.org/t/updates-to-the-grants-program-maintainer-programs/6743 "2025-10-29T07:45:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ansh](https://forum.fossunited.org/user_avatar/forum.fossunited.org/ansh/32/1423_2.png) [@ansh](https://forum.fossunited.org/u/ansh)\ **Post date:** [29 October 2025 07:45 UTC](https://forum.fossunited.org/t/updates-to-the-grants-program-maintainer-programs/6743/1 "2025-10-29T07:45:59Z")
The FOSS United grants program aims to provide financial support to FOSS projects and events all over India. To date, we have disbursed over INR 2.5 crores towards Indian FOSS projects and maintainers. All FOSS United grantees are listed here - [Funding and Grants | FOSS United](http://fossunited.org/grants) We have had various conversations over the last few months with grantees, GB members and at the [Maintainer Summit](https://forum.fossunited.org/t/proposal-maintainer-summit-indiafoss/5778/20) about grants and what we can do better. While [@Nemo](mailto:me@captnemo.in) works on the [Grants Working Group charter](https://fossunited.org/blog/organization/notes-from-the-october-2025-governing-board-meeting), we thought it would be best to rework the messaging around grants and add more structure to the program based on our learnings from the last few years. Overall, we plan to - Publish a thesis for FOSS United grants. This helps us communicate our vision for the program better, and also helps us decide which requests we should reject and on what basis. This is now live at [FOSS United Grants thesis](https://fossunited.org/grants/thesis) Revamp the application process from inbound emails to something more structured. Create a broader “Maintainer Programs” initiative that will subsume project grants, forklore.in etc. This will serve as a larger “Incubation Program” for our grantees that will go beyond financial support. Make funding requirements for Indian projects more discoverable. Link grantees (and eventually non-grantee Indian projects and maintainers) to [FOSS pledge](https://forum.fossunited.org/t/rfc-revamping-the-foss-pledge/5617), [Ten Rupee Fund](https://forum.fossunited.org/t/rfc-the-ten-rupee-foss-fund/6533), and other “giving-back” initiatives. This forum thread serves to update the community on the various changes that will happen to the grants program over the next few months. Meanwhile, if you’re a FOSS United grantee and have feedback/suggestions, please respond here. (Please join the [maintainers category](https://forum.fossunited.org/g/maintainers) to participate.) ---
**Author:** ![ansh](https://forum.fossunited.org/user_avatar/forum.fossunited.org/ansh/32/1423_2.png) [@ansh](https://forum.fossunited.org/u/ansh)\ **Post date:** [29 October 2025 08:20 UTC](https://forum.fossunited.org/t/updates-to-the-grants-program-maintainer-programs/6743/2 "2025-10-29T08:20:26Z")
> [@\[RFC\] FOSS United Grants thesis](https://forum.fossunited.org/t/rfc-foss-united-grants-thesis/6744): > > We have prepared the first working draft of the FOSS United grants thesis. A thesis (usually called an investment thesis) is “a reasoned argument for a particular investment strategy”. While FOSS United is not a VC and does not invest in projects in the traditional sense; we put money, time and resources towards grantees and this is a way for us to better communicate the goals and the broader structure of the grants program. More context in this [thread](https://forum.fossunited.org/t/updates-to-the-grants-program/6743). This will be a living document and conti… Update: Our grants thesis is now published - [FOSS United Grants thesis](https://fossunited.org/grants/thesis) ---
**Author:** ![ansh](https://forum.fossunited.org/user_avatar/forum.fossunited.org/ansh/32/1423_2.png) [@ansh](https://forum.fossunited.org/u/ansh)\ **Post date:** [22 January 2026 05:20 UTC](https://forum.fossunited.org/t/updates-to-the-grants-program-maintainer-programs/6743/3 "2026-01-22T05:20:09Z")
> [@FOSS United Grants - 2025](https://forum.fossunited.org/t/foss-united-grants-2025/7082): > > 2025 was an interesting year for the FOSS United Foundation in many ways. We started new programs ( [forklore.in](http://forklore.in), [Season of Commits](https://forum.fossunited.org/t/season-of-commits-2025/5960)), organised and participated in more events, and received [increased media coverage](https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/technology/times-techies/indian-open-source-ventures-take-on-google-photos-sap/articleshow/124081082.cms). We also organised the biggest ever and a [self-sustaining](https://forum.fossunited.org/t/indiafoss-2025-financial-report/6821) IndiaFOSS. We believe that the success of these initiatives is an indicator of the overall health of the growing FOSS ecosystem in India. For example, 11 out of 18 [IndiaFOSS](https://fossunited.org/blog/grants/fossunited.org/indiafoss) sponsors this year were Open Source companies. A sign… ---
**Author:** ![ansh](https://forum.fossunited.org/user_avatar/forum.fossunited.org/ansh/32/1423_2.png) [@ansh](https://forum.fossunited.org/u/ansh)\ **Post date:** [4 February 2026 09:39 UTC](https://forum.fossunited.org/t/updates-to-the-grants-program-maintainer-programs/6743/4 "2026-02-04T09:39:18Z")
We’ve created a Maintainer Community for Indian FOSS maintainers to interact with each other. This is in addition to the [forum subcategory](https://forum.fossunited.org/c/maintainers/). If you’d like to get added to the mailing group, please reach out to [maintainers@fossunited.org](mailto:maintainers@fossunited.org) ---
**Author:** ![ansh](https://forum.fossunited.org/user_avatar/forum.fossunited.org/ansh/32/1423_2.png) [@ansh](https://forum.fossunited.org/u/ansh)\ **Post date:** [13 February 2026 09:29 UTC](https://forum.fossunited.org/t/updates-to-the-grants-program-maintainer-programs/6743/5 "2026-02-13T09:29:52Z")
Our projects grant directory is now publicly visible - [FOSS Grants Directory](https://fossunited.org/grants/directory) While this is intended as a way for projects to apply to our grants program, the broader idea is to highlight funding requirements of Indian FOSS projects to other potential donors. We use the fundingjson ([http://fundingjson.org/](http://fundingjson.org/)) manifest to do this. You can submit yours here - [Application for grants](https://fossunited.org/grants/apply/new)