Open about our funding, our mandate and our results.
As part of our commitment to transparency, we're open about where we receive all of our funding. Details about the funding that we receive are included below and captured in our annual reports.
How OTF is funded
Where the money comes from
OTF receives the majority of its funding from the U.S. government via the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM). Funding is appropriated for OTF through the annual Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs appropriations and provided to OTF via a grant agreement from USAGM.
For FY 2025, Congress appropriated $43.5 million to OTF. Per the appropriations, all Congressional funding provided to OTF is used to support "programs to promote Internet freedom globally."
In addition to funding from USAGM, OTF also accepts funding from other mission-aligned donors for discrete Funds, Labs, or Research Programs. For example, OTF's FOSS Sustainability Fund is supported in part by funding from Schmidt Futures' Plaintext Group, Okta for Good, and the Github Foundation.
- FY 2025 Congressional appropriation
- $43.5 millionused only for "programs to promote Internet freedom globally"
- Delivered through
- A grant agreement from the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), under the annual Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs appropriations
- Authorized by Congress
- 2021, under the National Defense Authorization Act, as Sec. 309A of the United States International Broadcasting Act of 1994 (22 U.S.C. 6201 et seq.)
- Legal form
- Independent 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation registered in the District of Columbia. The statute states that nothing in it "may be construed to make the Open Technology Fund a Federal agency or instrumentality."
- Other donors
- Schmidt Futures' Plaintext Group, Okta for Good and the Github Foundation (FOSS Sustainability Fund)
Congressional remit
What Congress requires of OTF
The Open Technology Fund was authorized by Congress in 2021 under the National Defense Authorization Act. Each heading below is a plain-language summary; open it to read the statute's own words.
Purpose: unrestricted access to uncensored information
OTF exists to make annual grants that promote unrestricted access to uncensored sources of information via the internet, so that journalists can create and disseminate news and their audiences can receive it.
"Grants authorized under section 305 shall be available to make annual grants for the purpose of promoting, consistent with United States law, unrestricted access to uncensored sources of information via the internet to enable journalists … to create and disseminate, and for their audiences to receive, news and information consistent with the purposes, standards, and principles specified in sections 302 and 303."
Sec. 309A(a)(1)
Functions: research, develop, implement and maintain circumvention and secure-communication technologies
OTF must research, develop, implement and maintain technologies that circumvent censorship and secure communication tools; support public and private research; analyze emerging technical threats; and prioritize programs for countries whose governments restrict freedom of expression on the internet.
"the Open Technology Fund shall seek to advance freedom of the press and unrestricted access to the internet in repressive environments oversees, and shall— (1) research, develop, implement, and maintain—(A) technologies that circumvent techniques used by authoritarian governments, nonstate actors, and others to block or censor access to the internet … and (B) secure communication tools and other forms of privacy and security technology"
Sec. 309A(b)
Methodology: open source, security audits, open competition and independent review
The statute sets out how OTF must work: support fully open-source tools where practicable, require comprehensive security audits, solicit proposals through an open and competitive process, and have proposals reviewed by independent experts.
"(1) support fully open-source tools, code, and components, to the extent practicable … (2) support technologies that undergo comprehensive security audits … (5) solicit project proposals through an open, transparent, and competitive application process to attract innovative applications and reduce barriers to entry; … (7) implement an independent review process, through which proposals are reviewed by such experts to ensure the highest degree of technical review and due diligence"
Sec. 309A(c)
Grant conditions: economy, accountability and no lobbying
Grant funds may only be used for activities consistent with the section; administrative and managerial costs are to be kept to a minimum; and no grant funds may be used to influence legislation.
"(5) Administrative and managerial costs for operation of the Open Technology Fund should be kept to a minimum and, to the maximum extent feasible, should not exceed the costs that would have been incurred if the Open Technology Fund had been operated as a Federal entity rather than as a grantee. (6) Grant funds may not be used for any activity the purpose of which is influencing the passage or defeat of legislation considered by Congress."
Sec. 309A(d)
Reporting: an annual report to Congress and an Inspector General assessment
Every annual report must assess the state of global internet freedom, describe the projects OTF supported and their impact, including where technologies were deployed and audience-usage metrics, and set out the coming year's initiatives. The State Department Inspector General was also required to assess whether OTF is technically sound and cost-effective.
"(A) An assessment of the current state of global internet freedom, including trends in censorship and surveillance technologies and internet shutdowns … (B) A description of the technology projects supported by the Open Technology Fund and the associated impact of such projects in the prior year, including the countries and regions in which such technologies were deployed, and any associated metrics indicating audience usage of such technologies, as well as future-year technology project initiatives."
Sec. 309A(g)(1)
Relationship to USAGM: same oversight as other grantees, not a federal agency
OTF is subject to the same oversight and governance by the U.S. Agency for Global Media as its other grantees, and its research and development is coordinated with State Department internet freedom programs.
"The Open Technology Fund shall be subject to the same oversight and governance by the United States Agency for Global Media as other grantees of the Agency as set forth in section 305. … Nothing in this section may be construed to make the Open Technology Fund a Federal agency or instrumentality."
Sec. 309A(e)
Report library
Every report and document, in one place
Annual reports back to FY 2012, the authorizing statute, funding disclosures, security audits, research publications and open solicitations. Filter by year or type, or search.
Questions about our funding or reports?
Press and public enquiries are answered by the OTF team in Washington, DC. Our PGP key is published in the footer for sensitive correspondence.