Oxford, UK – 25th June 2026: Nominet, guardians of the .UK domain, has now opened the Nominet DNS Fund for new applications. £650,000 is available to support open source projects and maintainers that keep the internet running.
The Domain Name System (DNS) sits at the heart of the internet, turning the web addresses we type into our browsers into the IP addresses computers use to connect. Many of the tools that support the global DNS are built and maintained by small, under-resourced teams and sometimes individuals operating voluntarily.
Launched last year, The Nominet DNS Fund tackles this by backing open source projects that keep this critical infrastructure secure and stable. So far, £370,000 of funding is supporting DNS software libraries and testbeds, and operational tools used by registries around the world.
Feedback from applicants and the global DNS community reinforced how important this work is, and helped shape the new funding window.
2026 Funding Window
Nominet invites applications from organisations and individual maintainers who are delivering or planning vital work to keep DNS secure, stable and resilient. Funding is available for one-off projects or for support up to three years to improve the sustainability of key open source software.
To be eligible for funding, proposals must benefit the public and respond to core DNS needs. All source code developed or modified with support from the Fund must be publicly released under a licence approved by the Open Source Initiative (OSI) or the Free Software Foundation (FSF). All documentation must be released under a Creative Commons-style licence.
“The response to the first round of the DNS Fund was incredible and made it clear how fundamental funding for open source developers is for the resilience of the internet”
“This time round, we have increased the funding and made the fund more flexible to ensure we can support the people keeping the internet running for us all.”
– commented Paul Fletcher, CEO of Nominet.
More information, including how to apply or sign up for updates, is available on the DNS Fund webpage. The closing date is 17th August at 9am BST.
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