Our Governance

As a supporting organization of the Internet Society, the Foundation’s philanthropic work supports the Internet Society’s strategic goals, namely that:

• People everywhere have access to affordable, reliable, and resilient Internet.

• People everywhere have an Internet experience that is safe, secure, and protects them online.

In alignment with these goals, the Internet Society Foundation’s Philanthropy function operates a range of funding areas, providing grants to Internet Society chapters as well as organizations and individuals around the world working to better their communities through the Internet. The Foundation also funds Internet Governance Forums (IGFs) as well as Schools of Internet Governance, and provides funding to the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) LLC. Learn more about our programs.

A supporting organization is a type of public charity that supports other exempt organizations, usually other public charities. Supporting organizations have a strong relationship with the organizations they support, which allows the supported organization to oversee the supporting organization's operations.

The Internet Society Foundation is a supporting organization of the Internet Society, and to that end, operates for the benefit of, and to support, the Internet Society. In line with that purpose, the Foundation conducts programs and activities that benefit ISOC and furthers ISOC’s mission.

The Philanthropy function currently supports hundreds of grantees in 69 countries across 6 continents. You can see the details of the work we fund on Our Projects.

In 2002, the Internet Society created the Public Interest Registry (PIR), a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit corporation to manage, enhance and expand the .org domain. Sharing common goals, PIR provides considerable financial and advocacy support to the Internet Society in its efforts to defend and promote Internet policies, standards, and protocols that keep the Internet open, globally connected, and secure. To date, the Internet Society Foundation’s operating budget has included an annual contribution from PIR.

The Internet Society Foundation is governed by a Board of Trustees composed of the current members of the Internet Society Board of Trustees. Trustees serve in the interest of the Internet Society Foundation as a whole but are appointed or elected by the following groups: Internet Society Chapters, Organization Members, and the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF).

See the Funding Areas section of our site, designed to help applicants find out which programs are currently accepting applications and which ones are closed. Applications must be completed and submitted online through the Foundation’s Grants Management System, Fluxx.

To ensure transparency and accountability in our grantmaking process, the Internet Society Foundation works with independent External Reviewers to review, score and provide recommendations on applications submitted for funding. These experts are leading practitioners from across a range of Internet-related fields, including development, policy, security, research and innovation as well as international development.

As part of their review, they recommend which applications should be funded and at what funding level, as well as document feedback for the applicant that is compiled and shared by the Foundation. Throughout this process, External Reviewers are required to adhere to the Foundation’s Conflict of Interest Policy.