Digital Infrastructure Insights Fund

The D//F (Digital Infrastructure Insights Fund) is a multi-funder initiative by Ford Foundation, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Omidyar Network, Schmidt Futures and Aspiration sustaining a platform for researchers and practitioners to better understand how open digital Infrastructure is built and deployed.

We’re creating a body of research and implementation insights that advance our goal to ensure a public commons of technology, sustainably developed and maintained, for the benefit of everyone.

For its final RFP, the Digital Infrastructure Insights Fund is commissioning a small set of short, exploratory reports on emerging questions at the intersection of open digital infrastructure, criticality, sustainability, and the public interest.

Proposals are due 7 September 2026 via FORD FOUNDATION.

Each report is up to ten pages, funded at USD 5,000, and paired with a summary post for our website.

We’re looking for original, situated inquiry — the underexplored gaps and newly emerging tensions that only become visible from inside the field. The call takes stock of where the ecosystem for ODI stands — and points to the questions that now need closer attention.

Since 2018, D//F has worked to map, explain, and sustain the often-invisible foundations that our shared digital life depends on. As that phase closes, the work continues in a different form: going forward, D//F will act as a network- an independent knowledge partner and strategic advisor to funders, commercial actors, researchers, and public-interest institutions investing in open infrastructure.

The Digital Infrastructure Insights Fund (D//F) advances public-interest research and fosters coordination across the digital ecosystem. Rather than operating in isolation, D//F collaborates with partners who bring complementary expertise and networks to address key knowledge gaps.
At the heart of this mission is co-commissioning – a strategic approach that allows D//F to pool resources and generate insights that serve a shared goal: sustaining a public technological commons that is responsibly developed and maintained for the benefit of all.

These collaborations create pathways for more informed policymaking, stronger civil society engagement, and, ultimately, more resilient and equitable digital infrastructures.
They also enable deeper inquiry into critical challenges while amplifying impact across research communities, practitioners, and implementers.