Beyond the Net Grant Program

Application Status

Closed. Opening for applications Jan 7, 2025.

Target Audience

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The Internet Society Foundation’s Beyond the Net Grant Program offers funding to support Internet Society Chapters to implement innovative projects that make a local impact by providing meaningful access to an open, trusted, and globally-connected Internet, as well as strengthening the Chapters’ presence in the surrounding community.

Program Objectives

Strengthen the impact of the Internet Society and the Internet Society Foundation’s mission and global initiatives with complementary local activities.
Develop new and strengthen existing relationships and partnerships at the local level.

Focus Areas

The Foundation will support Internet Society Chapters to implement initiatives within one or more of the following thematic areas:

Community-Centered Connectivity: Projects that support community-centered connectivity for unconnected and under-connected populations by providing easy, sustainable solutions, and training on productive use of the Internet.
Affordable and Reliable Access: Projects that make access affordable and resilient for unconnected and under-connected populations by improving local Internet interconnection infrastructure (IXPs) and community networks (including plug-and-play solutions).
Online Trust and Safety: Projects that equip recently connected people with knowledge and skills to protect themselves and their communities online.
Open and Trustworthy Internet: Projects that advocate for and educate policy makers, courts, decision makers, and commercial entities about threats to the Internet as an open and accessible platform for free expression and the exchange of ideas, safeguarding fundamental rights, ensuring the well-being of users, and fostering trust in digital technologies.
Understanding Internet usage and local needs: Projects that serve to better understand the needs of local communities, how these communities use the Internet, identify gaps in knowledge or uncover needs. Desk research or literature reviews are not permitted.

Eligibility

Beyond the Net grants are available to Internet Society Chapters who meet the following criteria:

Are in good standing (or pre-rejuvenation – on a case-by-case basis) and meet the minimum standards as outlined in the Chapter’s Charter.
Have an official bank account in their name (based on their legal registration) in order to receive Internet Society Foundation funds.
Are not undergoing a rejuvenation process.
Have submitted all required reports for other Internet Society Foundation-funded projects.
Are not in an election period.
Chapters may manage a maximum of two simultaneous Beyond the Net grants, not to exceed USD $55,000 in total. There is no annual cap on the number of grants a chapter can receive in a year.
The ISOC Foundation reserves the right to decline proposals where there is a clear and apparent conflict of interest.

PLEASE REVIEW ALL ADDITIONAL IMPORTANT ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA BELOW.
Chapters that wish to manage more than USD $35,000 must have successfully managed a single ISOC Foundation grant of USD $20,000 or more within the past 3 years.

For single grants exceeding USD $20,000, the proposed project must be conducted in partnership with at least one external partner. External partners can include: local non-profit organizations, businesses, universities, and other ISOC Chapters. Documentation of partnerships, such as MOUs, must be included in the application and make clear any apparent conflict of interest with chapter leadership.

Proposed projects should be designed within the following parameters:

Applications require at least eight to ten weeks from the project start date to process. This allows the Foundation sufficient time to review, conduct due diligence, make a determination, and complete administrative duties including issuing payment. Applications received less than 8 weeks in advance of a proposed start date will be declined immediately. Foundation funding cannot be used for any expenses incurred before signing of the grant agreement.
Proposals must have a clear focus and cohesive objectives. Applications combining multiple different projects under a single proposal will not be considered.
Projects exceeding $20,000 must be implemented in a period of at least 6 months. Projects should not exceed 24 months.
Names and qualifications of paid staff must be included in grant applications and budgets. Personnel expenses for elected chapter officers cannot exceed 20% of the total grant amount. External labor should be included under Contractual Services and can include chapter members (not officers). Elected chapter officers cannot be paid contractors in Beyond the Net projects.
Currency exchange rates should be shown in budgets. Please ensure that the most current exchange rate is used.

Reporting and Compliance with Grant Agreement

Beyond the Net grant recipients are responsible for submitting all required reporting to the Internet Society Foundation in a timely manner through the Fluxx platform. Reports include narrative information about the projects, workplan updates, data on project objectives, and financial reporting.

It is extremely important to carefully review a grant agreement before signing it in order to ensure your chapter carries out the project according to the standards required by the Internet Society legal team. We also ask that if you have any major changes to your project scope or budget that you notify your ISOC Foundation contact immediately for assistance.

All organizations, including ISOC Chapters, receiving Internet Society Foundation funding are required to maintain detailed financial records, including receipts, for projects and be prepared to share them with the Foundation’s accounting staff in a timely manner if requested. A project can be audited at any time during its implementation and up to four years after the project comes to an end.

The Internet Society Foundation has a zero-tolerance policy concerning fraud. Any misrepresentation of project activities or apparent mismanagement of grant funds is taken seriously. Failing to pass an audit or committing fraud can result in a chapter being placed in emergency rejuvenation.

How To Apply

Applications must be completed and submitted online through the Foundation’s Grants Management System, Fluxx. Chapter officers should use the same login credentials as Fonteva/AMS.

Apply now

Read the 2023 Program Impact Report

Cover of the Beyond the Net impact report 2013 — 2MB PDF

Required Documents

Budget, workplan, and equipment request form are required as part of your application). If you are requesting funding for equipment as part of your grant budget, please also complete the Equipment Tab.
3-Tab Budget Report Template (Required as part of all grant reports)

Questions?

If you have questions about this program or the application process, please email [email protected].

FAQ

How are proposals evaluated?
Applications are evaluated solely based on the content submitted and a chapter’s previous performance with Foundation grants, including reporting quality and compliance with grant agreement terms and conditions. Evaluation of proposals does not consider a chapter’s annual plan, and submission of an application does not guarantee that a project will be funded.

Who can be the signatory for a grant?
The signatory for a grant should be someone who is authorized to sign legally binding documents on behalf of your chapter. In most cases, this is either the Chapter Treasurer or the Chapter President.

I am a chapter officer. Can I be paid for my work on projects?

Reasonable compensation for chapter officers for work contributed to Beyond the Net grant projects is acceptable. However, please note that direct monetary compensation (salaries, stipends, honoraria, etc.) cannot exceed 20% of the total budget of a Beyond the Net grant.

Chapter officers cannot contribute to their own chapter’s projects as external consultants.

I am a chapter officer, and I also run my own independent organization. Is it a conflict of interest to implement a chapter project in partnership with my organization?

We recognize that there may be certain business cases where this type of collaboration may be required. However, the ISOC Foundation reserves the right to decline proposals where there is an apparent conflict of interest. Please note the following points for guidance:

Projects must clearly be branded as ISOC Chapter initiatives.
Organizations in which chapter officers occupy high positions of leadership do not qualify as external implementation partners for grants of over $20,000.
Chapters officers should not use their organizations as pass through organizations for the handling of grant funds. Chapters must maintain clear and accurate records of grant spending.
Chapter officers cannot contribute to their own chapter’s projects as external consultants.

What activities are prohibited with grant funds?

As a United States-based Foundation, our grants must be compliant with United States government regulations related to both domestic and international grantmaking. Because of this, our grant partners are explicitly prohibited from conducting certain activities with grant funds received from the Internet Society Foundation. These activities include:

Lobbying
Gifts, including meals or entertainment, above $25 USD in value
Bribes

As part of receiving Internet Society Foundation grant funds, ISOC Chapters and their officers must comply with all applicable laws prohibiting corruption and bribery, including the United States Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”).

To that end, Beyond the Net projects must not directly or indirectly, pay, promise to pay, or authorize the payment of any money or anything of value to any government official* for the purpose of influencing the actions of such government official or to otherwise gain an improper business advantage. In addition, Beyond the Net projects must not include anything worth more than $25 USD, including gifts, meals, or entertainment, to any government official in their budgets. Internet Society funds may not be used for any gifts unless they are pre-approved by the Internet Society as part of the grant budget.

Additionally, while chapters are encouraged to engage policymakers through their work, projects funded by the ISOC Foundation cannot support activities that constitute or which may appear to constitute lobbying. Because of this, it is advised that all engagements with policymakers and representatives of government agencies do not involve advocacy for or against specific legislation, and that advocacy is limited to education and awareness raising of mission-related issues.

*Government officials include government employees and agents, political candidates, employees of state-owned entities, and family and agents thereof.

Can I use Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools to prepare my grant proposal?

The use of AI tools to support the preparation of grant application materials is not prohibited. However, it is strongly recommended to limit use of AI to facilitating the organization of responses to application prompts or the presentation of your project. Fully AI-generated grant proposals will almost certainly not meet our project standards. It is important that grant proposals present clear and specific plans and describe the details of your chapter’s relationship with your collaborators and the communities you plan to work with, which an AI model is not capable of doing.

How should write my project objectives?
Please refer to the Objective Writing Guidance.

Can I collaborate with another chapter on a project?

If there is more than one organization/chapter involved, there would need to be a lead applicant. This is possible but would place the responsibility of distributing the funds among the project partners and the lead applicant takes all responsibility for the grant related reporting, including both the financial report (covering the full sum granted, including the money distributed to partners) and the overall project’s narrative report. If a chapter is proposing a collaborative project, a letter of acknowledgement should be submitted from each of the participating chapters in the attachment section.

Domestic and international travel to collaborate with other chapters is generally not permissible. Chapters must use alternative sources of funding to support these kinds of engagements.

Review and Selection

Applications are screened by the Foundation against the following criteria. Proposals of over $20,000 are subsequently reviewed by the Beyond the Net Selection Committee.

The proposed project aligns with the overall objectives and priorities of the Beyond the Net program.
The proposed project has clear objectives, relevant key performance indicators with realistic targets, and a coherent work plan with relevant activities.
The chapter demonstrates tangible relationships with their collaborators and the communities they work with. Technical specifications are suitable to accomplish the project activities and the equipment requested is appropriate for the execution of the project.

Applications are scored according to the above criteria.

Selection Committee

The Beyond the Net Grants Selection Committee is responsible for the review and selection of applications exceeding $20,000 USD, in accordance with the parameters listed above. Members of the Selection Committee must adhere to the Foundation’s Conflict of Interest Policy. Members include ISOC and ISOC Foundation staff, ISOC Chapter representatives, and qualified community experts.