The Project must demonstrate consistency with Internet Society mission and goals.

In addition, preference will be given to projects that fall within the Board-approved Internet Society major strategic objectives:

Fostering an open, innovative, and trusted Internet worldwide.

We are committed to advancing the underlying open and interoperable architecture of the Internet, and its distributed and collaborative means of management and development, as these principles are essential for fostering a stable, open, and trusted Internet upon which innovation can flourish.

Advancing policies and strategies that strengthen the Internet’s growth and evolution.

We aim to influence policy makers, civil society, industry, and others to advance Internet policies and strategies that uphold the critical principles of openness, user-centricity, and stakeholder participation.

Enabling a vibrant organisation and vital global community to advance the Internet’s future.

We aim to further engage our members and the public towards positive action, as well as helping a new generation of Internet leaders, contributors, and innovators to emerge.

Empowering people to achieve human potential through unencumbered Internet use.

We aim to advance the access and use of the Internet on an open, nondiscriminatory basis, and empower individuals and communities, including the vulnerable and underserved, to maximize the transformative opportunities the Internet enables.

Focus Areas of Preference

In an attempt to address some applicants' difficulty in finding focus for project ideas, the Internet Society provides specific focus areas that directly or indirectly address key Internet Society strategic goals. The areas are intended to provide a more guided approach to grant project development.

It is important to note that these focus areas do not limit the topics that Chapters or Global Members might address with grants for their community. Rather, these focus areas may provide direction in formulating project ideas, which in turn may yield additional areas of investment and engagement for their local Internet community.

The current, preferred focus areas for project applications are:

• IPv6
• Local content creation (encouraging demand for and use of the Internet for a specific community)
• Encouraging the multi-stakeholder approach to technical and policy issues
• Interconnection and traffic exchange

If you have any questions about the above Focus Areas, please contact projects@isoc.org

Project Evaluation Criteria

All applications will be evaluated by the Community Grants Programme Committee who will use the following evaluation criteria, in addition to the above Value Criteria, to select the successful projects.

The Committee will not evaluate incomplete applications. Please complete the application to the best of your abilities while considering the criteria. The Committee is providing these criteria to facilitate the application process with the expectation of receiving quality submissions. Criteria are considered strong preferences of the Committee.

Not all criteria will be applicable to all project methodologies.

Each applicant is expected to complete the grant application that addresses all of the below Criteria.  

Applicants should prepare to provide clarification of, or revisions to, application materials immediately after the cycle closes.

Questions regarding any portion of the Application, should be addressed to projects@isoc.org.

Project Objectives

• The project objectives should be well defined and relevant to the Internet Society mission and goals.
• The project involves the development or application of electronic networking (Internet) technologies; ICT policy; work on policies in technology or in the application of technology.
• The project objectives are reasonable and concise, with clearly defined outcomes.

Demonstrated Capacity

The application sufficiently describes and demonstrates why the Chapter or individual member, along with additional key individuals, are the most capable to successfully conduct the proposed project. The description includes relevant qualifications and experiences of the principal players.

Similarly, the implementing Chapter or individual member has the capacity (or it will develop the capacity through this project) to undertake its responsibilities within this project.

Collaboration

To promote collaborative relationships in the Internet Society member community, preference will be given to multi-chapter projects, then to chapter projects and then to individual member projects. If two or more Chapters submit strongly similar project ideas, the Committee will favor the historically less-awarded Chapter.

Telecentres/Internet Cafes

Project applications to support telecentres or Internet cafes are eligible. However, the odds of securing award funds are low as we receive a high number of requests of this type. Telecentre projects should address all of the criteria mentioned on this page, as well as:

• detailed information on who will receive training at the centre;
• who will be creating and implementing the training materials;
• how the centre will be used after the Project period is over; how the centre will financially sustain its activities after Internet Society funds are used;
• and if any governmental support will be used as 25% matching funds for the Project, what the government's policy is on the use of those funds (for instance, government funds may only be used for centre electricity, or hardware, etc).

Methodology

Preference will be given to projects and research over events, unless the proposed event leads to a higher-level goal/outcome or clearly contributes to a Major Strategic Initiative (see above). An example of an outcome-focused event would be a meeting of technologists within a specific community with the goal of reaching a consensus for regional technology standards, including a plan for dissemination.

Coherence and Consistency

The application includes a complete project schedule.

Methodology, budget and deliverables are consistent and related to the project’s objectives.

Capacity Building

The project provides substantial capacity building in the development of the Internet in the fields of technical, educational or policy capacity building.

Projects that provide capacity building for the Chapter as a result of benefiting the greater community are more preferable than projects whose sole aim is furthering the Chapter's capacity building efforts.

Outputs

The project has clear outputs, such as reports relating to the primary project objectives, or useful new technologies, techniques, information or educational benefits.

The project’s benefits to the Internet community are cleared stated.

Key project phases are identified with metrics to review progress/success.

Dissemination

The project includes a clear description of how the results will be disseminated, or the outputs are produced in a form which can be readily disseminated.

Dissemination plans are verifiable for Project reporting requirements.

Replicability

As a result of the project, the outcomes are replicable in other situations or environments.

Outputs are formulated in such a way as to be useful elsewhere to other Internet Society members or Chapters.

Access

The project improves access to the Internet (technologies and/or information) and it develops or defends the principles of an open and accessible Internet.

Technical Soundness

For those projects that are technical, the project is technically sound, in terms of its research and/or development methodologies.

The technical scope and objectives are realistic within the requested funding.

Sustainability

For projects which involve ongoing activities, it is clear that the proposed activities will continue after the grant is expended.

For other projects, the project outputs will assist the sustainability of those who use them.

Internet Society funds will not support sustainability of a previously awarded project; continued funding for a previous award will only support demonstrated new activities that build on prior work.

Local Contribution

Internet Society will not fund the entire cost of the project. At least 25% of the total budget for the project must be contributed from other sources. This contribution can include cash contributions or in-kind donations. In general, in-kind donations demonstrate a strong collaboration with partner organizations and are preferred over cash contributions. In-kind sources of funding are accepted, provided they are from other sources, rather than from the applicants themselves.

Wherever possible, applicants should provide documentation to substantiate the contributions from other sources.

Budget & Financials

• Any one project may be eligible for an award of up to US$10,000.
• The project budget is complete & reasonable, including details of co-funding and local/partner contributions.
• Sources of support are clearly identified, including contact information.
• Documentation to verify sources of support are included in the submission.