Nominet DNS Fund Application
1. Eligibility Criteria
- Applications must come from a formally registered legal entity in its country of operation, and which has a bank account in its registered name.
- Applicants must not be based in regimes subject to UK sanctions, and must not be listed on UK, EU, US, or UN sanctions lists, or subject to comprehensive UK security restrictions.
- Current Nominet employees, Nominet Board members, and DNS Fund Advisory Panel members and their immediate families are not eligible to apply for funding.
- The proposed activities must not depend on securing future funding from other sources.
- The proposed activities should complete within six months of the start date. During implementation of your activities, Nominet will explore with you the need for, and feasibility of, continuation funding beyond this date.
2. Application Assessment
Applications will be assessed by the DNS Fund Expert Advisory Panel. This panel will make recommendations to Nominet on which proposals should be funded based on the following principles:
1. Public Benefit
To what extent your work enable safe, secure and resilient running or critical infrastructure, whose loss or compromise could severely impact society?
2. Core need
Is there a demonstrable need? To what extent does the successful, resilient operation of the global DNS depend on this solution to operate?
3. Proven use
Is the technology or capability already being used successfully and at scale?
4. The right people
Does the person or team have the skills, experience, and understanding needed for this task? Do they have a track record of getting similar things done?
5. Value and sustainability
Does the proposal represent good value for money, and would the funded activity help ensure long-term sustainability?
We recognise that some open source developers are making critical contributions across a high volume of projects – and that in this instance project specific funding may not be the best fit. If this applies to you, the application form has been designed to enable you to demonstrate your contribution, so that your funding needs can be evaluated accordingly. We are keen to support maintainers working across smaller, foundational projects.
As noted in #5 above, all other things being equal, we will prioritise applications which support long term sustainability. For example, we know that sometimes key technologies are maintained by just one individual. An application to enable this individual’s ongoing work could be made even stronger if it also sought to broaden the number of people capable of maintaining the technology, or proposed alternative solutions that would also make the technology more resilient and sustainable over time.
3. Selection process
We are committed to a transparent and fair selection process. The following stages outline the journey from initial submission to a final funding decision.
| Stage | Description | Timeline |
|---|---|---|
Stage 1: Submission | Applications are submitted exclusively via our online form. You will receive an automated confirmation of receipt. | Applications open 17th September Deadline for applications: 26th October |
Stage 2: Eligibility Review | The Fund’s team conducts an initial check to ensure the application meets all mandatory Eligibility Criteria. | Within 1 week of submission |
Stage 3: Assessment | Applications that pass the eligibility review are evaluated by the Expert Advisory Panel against the five Assessment Principles. The Panel will recommend applicants for funding. | Within 4 weeks of the deadline for applications. |
Stage 4: Scoping & Due Diligence | Recommended applicants will be reviewed by Nominet. Selected applicants will be invited to a collaborative scoping phase to refine deliverables, milestones, anticipated timelines, and budgets. | 2-4 weeks |
Stage 5: Final Decision & Contracting | Following successful scoping and due diligence, a final funding decision will be made and a contract prepared for signature. | 2-3 weeks |
4. Funding opportunity
In total the fund will distribute up to £370,000 in this round. The maximum amount we anticipate awarding to a single applicant is £100k. There is no minimum account that must be applied for – we know there are lots of important pieces of work that may require smaller amounts of funding, and we will welcome the opportunity to support these. We are aiming to be responsive to the needs of both larger projects and individual maintainers, including those working across multiple projects. The funding amount will be inclusive of any applicable VAT or other sales taxes. No additional amounts shall be payable in respect of such taxes.
5. Payment
Applicants that reach Stage 4 (i.e. those that have been recommended by the Advisory Panel for funding) will be asked to outline their approach to delivery and quality assurance (QA). As code is released, and once any proportionate QA has been completed, payments will be made by Nominet.
An anticipated schedule of payments will be agreed with Nominet and reflected in the contract. We will be flexible and supportive if there is good reason to change the schedule.
We will tailor our approach to payments to ensure it’s appropriate to your circumstances, accounting for the scale of funding and activity, and depending on whether you’re working on a single project or making wider contributions. It could be as simple as asking for the URL to a pull request to see proof of work.
6. Licensing Requirements
A core condition of funding is that the outputs of the work benefit the entire community. 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). This includes popular, permissive licenses like MIT and Apache v2. All documentation must be released under a Creative Commons-style licence.
7. Reporting Requirements
At the beginning and end of your Nominet funded work you will be required to complete a brief reporting form and interview. These will be used to gather qualitative and quantitative information which will help us understand the impact the funding has had on you personally, your work, and the wider ecosystem.
8. Preparing your application
A strong application is clear, concise, and provides the specific evidence the advisory panel needs to evaluate your proposal against the assessment principles. To help you prepare a high-quality submission, this section provides a detailed preview of the questions and structure of our online application form. We strongly recommend drafting your responses offline before beginning the online submission process.
It’s important to note that word counts are provided to guide the maximum length of your answers – they are not a target. We realise you are busy, and if you prefer to submit a concise proposal significantly beneath the maximum word limits this will not count against you, so long as the Advisory Panel has the information they need to make a recommendation against the 5 assessment principles of the fund. Do not feel you have to write 200 words when 20 will suffice. Please also note that the word counts are “soft” rather than “hard” limits. Please don’t waste lots of time trying to eliminate 10 words here or there to rigidly abide by them.
9. Application queries and feedback
Queries and feedback should be directed to Adam and Amy. They will connect you with the most relevant person to answer your enquiry.
Adam Groves
Social Impact Lead, Nominet
Email: adam.groves@nominet.uk
Amy O’Donnell
Social Impact Lead, Nominet
Email: amy.odonnell@nominet.uk