NLnet changes deadlines to odd months

Bi-monthly project calls "shift phase"

Since 2007, NLnet Foundation has organised its open calls in a bi-monthly cadence with a recurring deadline on the first day of every even month. With some major changes — notably the Open Internet Stack taking over from the Next Generation Internet initiative after a decade — NLnet takes the opportunity to pivot its calls to the odd months to better handle planning. Future deadlines are on the third day of every odd month.

Back in 2007 we put ourselves on a very strict non-stop regime, says Michiel Leenaars, director of Strategy at NLnet. We believed and still believe it is important for applicants to have predictability. A bi-monthly rhythm works best in our experience — it means the next deadline is always in sight. However, having call deadlines during the summer is suboptimal because it eats into applicants' holidays, and as submission volumes increase it is straining on our staff as well. The foundation processes thousands of grant applications every year.

That is why the foundation is 'shifting phase', says Leenaars. By moving from the even months to the odd months, we avoid having calls in the middle of the summer holiday period, and on February first, which almost always coincides with FOSDEM. Obviously that does mean we should avoid having a similar problem over New Years Day, which is why we take the third day of every odd month as the basis for the new deadline schedule.

NLnet will resume its open calls on September 3rd 2026, with the first deadline on November 3rd. Ongoing projects and proposals submitted in previous calls are not affected in any way by this measure, and are able to continue their important work without any interruption.