Grant for the Web is a fund to boost open, fair and inclusive standards and innovation in Web Monetization. The program is part of the Interledger Foundation and is guided by the Grant for the Web Charter in collaboration with founding collaborators Coil, Mozilla and Creative Commons. The fund prioritizes innovation through openly networked payments enabled by the Interledger Protocol and the Web Monetization API.
Grant for the Web is a program of the Interledger Foundation, and is funded and led by Coil, working in collaboration with founding collaborators Mozilla and Creative Commons. (Additional collaborators may be added in the future.)
Grant for the Web operates as an independent program of the Interledger Foundation, funded by Coil and guided by the Grant for the Web Charter. Representatives from Coil and the program’s two founding collaborators — Mozilla and Creative Commons — make up the initial Grant for the Web Advisory Council, which governs all programmatic activities.
Grant for the Web funds projects that contribute to a privacy-centric, open, and accessible Web Monetization ecosystem. It prioritizes innovative ideas that incorporate or build upon the Interledger Protocol and the Web Monetization API. Funds support projects, content, experimentation, and learning around natively integrating monetization into the web using open protocols and standards.
Special consideration will be given to projects that reflect the Collaborators’ values of:
• Increasing access to the full capacity of the internet, both for content consumption and content creation, for communities and individuals that have historically been marginalized, disadvantaged, or are without such access
• Promoting a vibrant commons on the internet of shareable content
• Increasing users’ autonomy, privacy, and control over their own data
• Increasing access to the full capacity of the internet, both for content consumption and content creation, for communities and individuals that have historically been marginalized, disadvantaged, or are without such access
We seek to support a safe, respectful, and inclusive community dedicated to building a better, healthier internet. Grant for the Web does not fund projects that endorse bullying, harassment, threats, hate speech, doxing, or harmful or illegal activities. Nor do wethe grant fund the production or distribution of adult content, spam, or activities in violation of applicable laws. Read our Participation Guidelines to learn more.
Grant for the Web reserves the right to award or deny awards at its discretion in accordance with its charter and with the guidance of its Executive, Advisory, and Technical Advisory Councils.
We have funded projects in more than 25 countries around the globe. See a full list of awardees.
Grant for the Web periodically runs open Calls for Proposals. Sign up for email updates to learn when we launch our next open call.
Applicants from almost anywhere in the world can apply for funding. Individuals, organizations, companies, and institutions are eligible to apply. All applications must be submitted in English. Awards are subject to compliance with all applicable laws, including those enforced by the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). Applicants must be 18 years or older. Youth 13 years or older may participate in a proposed project, but an adult must be the project lead.
Grant for the Web seeks to specifically fund globally diverse and historically underrepresented groups to capitalize on new economic models on the web. Read more about our 2021 focus.
Grant for the Web is not currently running an open call. Our last open call ended in September 2021. Sign up for email updates to learn about our next opportunity to apply.
Awardees are selected based on a review of applications by a review committee. Review criteria will examine project goals and design, openness, creativity, inclusivity, and feasibility of the proposed budget and timeline. Only those projects meeting the award criteria for the award categories will be reviewed. All proposed award decisions are subject to a legal review to confirm the applicant’s eligibility.
Our open Calls for Proposals are reviewed by a panel of independent judges drawn from the technology, open standards, philanthropy, and arts and culture sectors. Read about our first judging cohort.
Web Monetization, in the broadest sense, is the conversion of web traffic into revenue. There are currently many business models in place to monetize the web, including advertising, paywalls, subscriptions, and data mining. At best, these models are inconvenient. At worst, they violate our privacy, expose us to malware, needlessly increase our data charges, and are nearly impossible to track.
We envision a healthier ecosystem that builds monetization natively into the web using open protocols (the Interledger protocol) and standards (the Web Monetization standard), which will give people more independence and control over how they distribute and monetize content, and generate better, more privacy-centric business models for the web.
Web Monetization is a JavaScript browser API that provides an open, native, efficient, and automatic way to compensate creators, pay for API calls, and support crucial web infrastructure. Coil has proposed the Web Monetization API as an open web standard to the W3C Web Incubator Community Group.
Web Monetization allows websites to earn revenue from users without:
• Requiring users to sign-up to a subscription
• Needing to deliver content/services through 3rd-party platforms
• Advertising
For a more detailed description, see the GitHub Explainer or visit webmonetization.org.
The Web Monetization API utilizes Interledger, which provides a simple, ledger-agnostic and currency-agnostic method for the transfer of very small quantities of money, such as $0,0001 (one hundredth of one cent). This opens up the possibility to pay websites continuously in real-time as you are browsing, which is very useful for Web Monetization.
There are a growing number of available technologies to explore.
To monetize your site, you can use the Web Monetization JavaScript API in combination with a payment pointer. Set up an account with a service provider capable of receiving payments, then add a <meta> tag to your website header. When a user visits the page with a supported browser, the <meta> tag will announce that the page is monetized, and indicate the payment pointer to begin the stream of payments. Learn more with this Quick Start Guide.
To stream money to content providers using the open standard, Coil is currently the only available technology. Grant for the Web aims to fund the development of competing platforms to encourage a healthy ecosystem of tools and products. Sign up for a Coil account and install the Coil add-ons/extensions in your browser. Desktop browser add-ons/extensions are available for Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Brave, and Microsoft Edge. Mobile browser add-ons/extensions are available for Firefox on Android. Or you can use the Puma Browser, available on both iOS or Android, which has web monetization natively included and does not require an add-on/extension. Similarly, the video platform Cinnamon is monetized using Coil.
The micropayments generated on this website are directed to non-profit organizations that support a healthy internet on a rotating basis. Read about our current and previous non-profit recipients.
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