Deadline: 07 November 2022

Mozilla is looking for organisations that create alternative, open crowdsourced data sets and inviting them to take part in the Data Futures Lab.

The Data Futures Lab is interested in supporting organisations in building technology platforms that mobilise communities to contribute their data for a shared benefit. Mozilla is looking for organisations that apply this idea in any domain (health, transport, labour rights, temporary work, research, consumer protection and others). Mozilla is specifically interested in projects committed to implementing ethical and fair data collection, storage and use to solve a problem of public interest.

Currently, a handful of private companies manage and reap the benefits of most of the data we generate online. Bucking this trend, some technology platforms have started to build alternative ecosystems promoting community-generated datasets, seeking to open data black boxes, fill data voids and create more value for society.

Financing information

• From the list of top candidates, the Mozilla Foundation will choose and distribute prizes of up to US$ 100,000.00 each out of a total of US$ 400,000.00.
• Mozilla will select 4 projects to receive individual prizes of up to US$ 100,000 and access to a network of experts and colleagues. These projects will receive support and mentoring from Mozilla for a period of 12 months from January 2023.

What Mozilla is offering

• Personalised guidance from the Mozilla team and the current network of fellows, made up of subject matter experts in different aspects of data and technology from around the world.
• Supporting media and public relations efforts, working with Mozilla's communications team to position Mozilla Fellows and their projects in their own relevant media, including MozFest, Mozilla communication channels and social media.
• Supporting campaigns and calls for data contributors, leveraging Mozilla's supporter base and the reach of its adjacent communities.
• Facilitating synergies with Mozilla's family of Internet products, including Firefox and Mozilla Rally, to carry out studies and deploy experiments.
• Training in ethical frameworks for working with crowdsourced data, according to the needs of the project.
• Participation in a cohort of up to four teams working collectively to meet similar needs and solve similar challenges.

Eligible projects

What kind of projects is Mozilla interested in?

• Platforms that allow users to upload their health, voice, shopping, environmental, financial or location data, to better generate insights that contribute to addressing a larger social problem, such as Mozilla's Common Voice.
• Projects that involve users donating data from their Internet-enabled devices in order to gain insights and/or choose to participate in studies or contribute to open data sets.
• Initiatives that seek to involve under-represented communities in generating datasets and making decisions about accessing and sharing them.
• Projects such as Mozilla's Rally or RegretsReporter, where users contribute their browsing data to research in the public interest, such as promoting better transparency in opaque data ecosystems.

What is Mozilla looking for?

Mozilla will focus its support on projects that have existing communities of data contributors, or are able to demonstrate effective capacity to recruit them and reach critical mass in the next 12 months. At the geographic level, Mozilla will seek to increase participation from the Global South and projects led by historically underfunded communities and/or teams in the global majority.

Candidates must fulfil the following requirements:

• Whether a non-profit, co-operative or other entity, developing a technology platform focused on solving a problem or issue of public interest. Mozilla is especially interested in technology platforms for consumers and communities. For-profit organisations, such as start-ups, can apply, as long as their project has a charitable purpose.
• Be legally able to receive funds in the form of grants from the Mozilla Foundation, a US 501(c)(3) non-profit organisation.
• Working to solve a problem or issue of public interest, providing value or gaining insights from data that directly benefit communities or user groups.
• Have a working product or prototype in hand - projects that have not gone beyond the idea stage will not be considered at this stage.
• Having a central team to support the development of the project.
• Be able to articulate a list of project priorities or product milestones for the next twelve (12) months.

Mozilla is especially interested in projects that:

• Involve communities and users in collective decisions about the data they provide, exploring different governance models.
• Work openly, establishing accountability or transparency mechanisms that aim to share learnings and tools with the wider ecosystem.

Eligibility criteria

These awards are open to all applicants, regardless of geographical location or institutional affiliation, except where legally prohibited. However, Mozilla is especially keen to receive applications from members of the global majority or the Global South; ; _ _ women, transgender and/or gender diverse candidates; migrant and diasporic communities; and/or people from climate-affected/displaced communities, etc. Mozilla strongly encourages all these candidates to apply.

Evaluation criteria

• Team . Who is on the team and how can their backgrounds and experiences be utilised in the project?
• Innovation . How innovative is the solution proposed by the project from a technological, social or economic point of view?
• Feasibility. How feasible are the goals proposed by the project in the period covered by the grant?
• Impact . How relevant and urgent is the problem the project is working on? What is the problem or issue of public interest that your project is solving and who is affected by it?
• Sustainability. How is the project planning to sustain its operations and expansion beyond this donation?
• Success and metrics . How successful is the project and what metrics are they using to measure it?

For more information, visit https://foundation.mozilla.org/en/data-futures-lab/grantmaking/2023-prototype-fund/