About Internet Society Foundation
The Internet Society Foundation champions ideas and enables communities to unlock the Internet's potential to tackle the world’s evolving challenges.
Focus Areas
Internet access and adoptionDigital inclusionCommunity-centered connectivityInternet governanceInternet security and trustEnd-to-end encryptionResearch on the Internet and its societal/environmental impactsSustainable peering infrastructureChapter support and capacity buildingCybersecurity/public-interest cybersecurity
Funding Style
quasi-endowment / long-term capitalfoundation operational support
About Internet Society Foundation
The Internet Society Foundation’s largest recent grant was a $50,000,000 quasi-endowment to Connected Giving Foundation in Reston, Virginia, a signal that it uses long-term capital alongside annual grantmaking. Across the recent grant list, the foundation supports work tied to the Internet as infrastructure and public resource: connectivity, peering, cybersecurity, research, resilience, and capacity building. It also backs organizations that help translate those themes into practice, from Internet Society’s IETF work to Techsoup Global’s SCILLS and research projects. The foundation’s portfolio includes sizable support for organizations working at both the technical and civic edges of the Internet. Internet Society US received $6,750,000 in 2024 for IETF, while Global Cyber Alliance received $1,500,000 in both 2024 and 2025 for Opportunities. Other grants go to universities, research institutes, and intermediaries that work on Internet governance, security awareness, and infrastructure-related projects. Its grantmaking shows a mix of very large strategic commitments and repeated support for specialized Internet-related organizations. The presence of quasi-endowment and foundation operational support suggests an institution that funds beyond short project cycles and also invests in organizational stability.
What Internet Society Foundation Funds
Internet Society Foundation supports a cluster of Internet-infrastructure and Internet-governance work. In technical standards and coordination, it gave $7,000,000 in 2025 to Internet Society for IETF and $6,750,000 in 2024 to Internet Society US for IETF. In cybersecurity and online safety, it awarded $1,500,000 in 2024 and again in 2025 to Global Cyber Alliance for Opportunities. Research is another clear lane. The foundation gave $527,125 in 2025 to University of California Berkeley for Research, $519,941 in 2023 to Data & Society Research Institute for Research, and $472,671 in 2025 to Code for Science and Society Inc for Research. Capacity-building work also appears through $1,041,358 in 2025 to Techsoup Global for SCILLS, following a $887,791 grant in 2024 for the same program. It also funded rare and niche initiatives, including $499,574 to Ieee for RARE and $250,000 to Suboptic Foundation for RARE.
How Internet Society Foundation Gives
Financial Snapshot
Annual Giving
$14.5M
Total Assets
$90.3M
Total Revenue
$32.7M
Total Expenses
$33.9M
Typical Grant Size
Most grants fall between $76K and $299K, with a median of $175K.
25th Percentile
$76K
Median
$175K
75th Percentile
$299K
Geographic Reach
National20 states funded
About 9% of grants go to recipients in CA.
Funding intensity
LowHigh
Headquarters
Leadership
SALLY WENTWORTH
Accepts unsolicited proposals
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