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Sustaining GNOME by directly funding contributors

The GNOME Foundation is excited to announce the GNOME Fellowship program, a new initiative to fund community members working on the long-term sustainability of the GNOME project. We’re now accepting applications for our inaugural fellowship cycle, beginning around May 2026.

GNOME has always thrived because of its contributors: people who invest their time and expertise to build and maintain the desktop, applications, and platform that millions rely on. But open source contribution often depends on volunteers finding time alongside other commitments, or on companies choosing to fund development amongst competing priorities. Many important areas of the project – the less glamorous but critical infrastructure work – can go underinvested.

The fellowship program changes that. Thanks to the generous support of Friends of GNOME donors, we can now directly fund contributors to focus on what matters most for GNOME’s future. Programs such as this rely on ongoing support from our donors, so if you would like to see this and similar programs continue in future, please consider setting up a recurring donation .

What’s a Fellowship?

A fellowship is funding for an individual to spend dedicated time over a 12 month period working in an area where they have expertise. Unlike traditional contracts with rigid scopes and deliverables, fellowships are built on trust. We’re backing people and the type of work they do, giving them the flexibility to tackle problems as they find them.

This approach reduces bureaucratic overhead for both contributors and the Foundation. It lets talented people do what they do best: identify important problems and solve them.

Focus: Sustainability

For this first cycle, we’re seeking proposals focused on sustainability work that makes GNOME more maintainable, efficient, and productive for developers. This includes areas like build systems, CI/CD infrastructure, testing frameworks, developer tooling, documentation, accessibility, and reducing technical debt.

We’re not funding new features this round. Instead, we want to invest in the foundations that make future development and contributions easier and faster. The goal is for each fellowship to leave the project in better shape than we found it.

Apply Now

We have funding for at least one 12-month fellowship paid between $70,000 and $100,000 USD per year based on experience and location. Applicants can propose full-time, half-time work, or either – half-time proposals may allow us to support multiple fellows.

Applications are open to anyone with a track record in GNOME or relevant experience, with some restrictions due to US sanctions compliance. A GNOME Foundation Board committee will review applications and select fellows for this inaugural cycle.

Full details, application requirements, and FAQ are available at fellowship.gnome.org . Applications close on 20th April 2026.

Thank You to Friends of GNOME

This program is possible because of the individuals and organizations who support GNOME through Friends of GNOME donations. When we ask for donations, funding contributor work is exactly the kind of initiative we have in mind. If you’d like to sustain this program beyond its first year, consider becoming a Friend of GNOME . A recurring donation, no matter how small, gives us the predictability to expand this program and others like it.

Looking Ahead

This is a pilot program. We’re optimistic, and if it succeeds, we hope to sustain and grow the fellowship program in future years, funding more contributors across more areas of GNOME. We believe this model can become a sustainable way to invest in the project’s long-term health.

We can’t wait to see your proposals!