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The Rupee Fund

The Rupee Fund

Lots of us, a little each month, for great projects from India

The Rupee Fund pools your monthly contributions over UPI, and you decide which free and open source projects get funded.

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From silicon to software, every project needs support

More than 2 crore developers in India use GitHub. If 1 in 100 of us gives ₹15 a month, the pool gets more than ₹30 lakh every month.

Together, we can do great things.

Source: GitHub Octoverse 2025

How it works

  1. 1

    Subscribe

    Set up a monthly contribution with UPI AutoPay. Small, regular contributions from many of us keep the fund steady.

  2. 2

    Pool funds

    Your contributions pool through the season. The fund runs four cycles a year, following the Indian weather seasons.

  3. 3

    Vote and nominate

    Contribute regularly and you earn a vote each season. You decide how to split it across three kinds of projects. You may also nominate one project or person each season.

  4. 4

    Disburse

    Each season, the pool goes to the projects that you chose, over UPI. We publish every administrative cost, so you can follow your money all the way to a project.

Funding seasons

  • Winter

    Dec – Feb

    3 months

  • Summer

    Mar – May

    3 months

  • Monsoon

    Jun – Aug

    3 months

  • Post-monsoon

    Sep – Nov

    3 months

Why join us

  1. Nurture new projects

    Give a new project the start it needs.

  2. Encourage growing projects

    Help projects that already have a small community or user base grow further.

  3. Sustain well-established projects

    Help the projects that many of us rely on keep going.

Who you are

  • Students

    Give a little back to the tools you learn with. Small contributions count. Be part of the movement at Chai++ rates!

  • Users

    Thank the people behind the projects you use. Join others in helping local projects keep going.

  • Contributors

    We all build on each other’s work. Support fellow maintainers and the projects your work depends on.

Frequently asked questions

Why this fund?

People in India build great projects, but few of them find funding or other logistical support. When lots of us give a little each month, together we can back many of them. Contributions start small, so anyone can join in.

What kind of projects will be funded?

Indian individuals and projects that work in the open, as free and open source: anyone can use, study, change and share their work, for any purpose.

It can be software, hardware, or digital and physical designs: from high-tech chips to the cloud, from devices to tech art. Community efforts built on the same principles count too.

Each project must use a well-known free and open source licence. The fund can pay a person, a group or an organisation. They must also be able to receive money over UPI.

You and other contributors nominate and choose the projects.

How does voting work?

Each season, contributors nominate projects or people and vote on them. You may make one nomination a season, your own or someone else’s, or simply vote.

You split your vote across the three kinds of projects: new, growing and well-established. We will publish the full voting rules before the first vote.

How will the fund help projects?

With money, first of all, but not only money. Contributors and the people they back can share ideas, advice and other support, and grow together. Backing from many contributors also shows that people value a project, and that can bring it attention, more funding, collaborators or a path to a business.

Who runs the fund?

Volunteers from the FOSS United community, with experience in many fields, run it. You can meet them on the People page. When contributions open, the money will go into a FOSS United Foundation account.

How is this different from FOSS United grants or FLOSS/fund?

Those are large grant programmes, and each one is separate. FOSS United grants have given more than ₹3.3 crore in total to more than 130 grantees in India. FLOSS/fund, from Zerodha, gives up to US$1 million a year to free and open source projects around the world. The Rupee Fund works differently: volunteers run it, and many of us each give a little.

Sources: FOSS United grants, FOSS United grantees, FLOSS/fund

When do contributions start?

We have not set a date yet. There is nothing to pay now, and signing up costs nothing. Sign up, and we will email you as soon as contributions open.

How are costs handled?

The pool is the money we collect, minus administrative costs. We publish every cost, so you can see where your money goes.

See all questions