About CommonGrants
CommonGrants is an open standard designed to streamline the process of discovering, applying to, and reporting on funding opportunities across the grant ecosystem.
Core principles
The principles that guide the design of the CommonGrants protocol include:
- Standardization: Define a consistent format for sharing grant data
- Extensibility: Support customization without breaking integrations
- Interoperability: Enable teams to build tools that work across grant platforms
- Portability: Allow users to own and move their data between systems
Vision
The CommonGrants protocol envisions a future in which:
- Grant makers can publish to one platform, and be discovered on any platform
- Grant seekers can find opportunities based on fit, not which portals they’ve subscribed to
- Grant applicants can focus on delivering impact, instead of translating it between application formats
- Grant platforms can compete for users based on feature quality, rather than on data quantity
Inspiration
The CommonGrants protocol builds on the design and approach of several existing standards and protocols, including:
- JSON Schema - For defining and validating standardized data formats
- OpenAPI - For specifying consistent APIs and interfaces
- FHIR - For establishing shared data standards across an industry
- ActivityPub - For enabling decentralized data exchange between platforms