List of free and open-source software organizations
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The following are notable organizations devoted to the advocacy, legal aid, financial aid, technical aid, governance, etc. of free and open-source software (FOSS) as a whole, or of one or more specific FOSS projects. For projects that have their own foundation or are part of an umbrella organization, the primary goal is often to provide a mechanism to fund development of the software.
International Center for Free and Opensource Software (ICFOSS) – founded 2011; an autonomous organization set up by the Government of Kerala, India for free and open source software.
Open Source Industry Australia – founded 2004; promotes open source in Australia, and use of Australian open source software and services around the world.
OpenForum Europe – founded 2002; advocates for use of open source software in Europe.
Open Technologies Alliance (GFOSS) – founded 2008; promotes use of open-source software, open hardware, open data and content in education, in government and the private sector, at all levels, in Greece and cooperates closely with similar organizations in Europe and worldwide.
Open Source Observatory and Repository – a project launched by the European Commission, to support the distribution and re-use of software developed by or for public sector administrations across Europe
April – founded 1996; promotes free software in the French-speaking world.
Eclipse Foundation – founded 2004 with headquarters in Brussels, Belgium; supports development of over 350 Eclipse projects, including the Eclipse IDE.
Free Software Foundation (FSF) – founded 1985 with headquarters in Boston, MA, USA; supports the free software movement, which promotes the universal freedom to study, distribute, create, and modify computer software
KDE e.V. – founded 1997 with headquarters in Berlin, Germany; coordinates efforts of KDE Projects including KDE
Linux Foundation (LF) – founded 2000 with headquarters in San Francisco, CA, USA; supports development of the Linux kernel, and over 60 other projects, only some of which are connected to Linux, and advocacy, training, and standards.
OASIS Open - founded in 1993; provides communities with foundation-level support, IP and license management, governance, and outreach with an optional path for work to be recognized by de jure standards organizations and referenced in public procurement.
OpenInfra Foundation – founded 2012 with headquarters in Austin, TX; focused on the development and support of open source infrastructure projects, including OpenStack. Previously known as the OpenStack Foundation.
OW2 – founded 2007 with headquarters in Paris, France; focused on infrastructure for enterprise middleware
Software in the Public Interest (SPI) – founded 1997 with headquarters in New York, NY, USA; originally only for the Debian project, it now hosts around 35 projects, some of which are umbrella projects themselves.
VideoLAN – founded 2009 with headquarters in Paris, France; multimedia-related projects
Domain-specific organizations
The following organizations host open-source projects that relate to a specific technical area.
OSADL – founded 2005; supports development of various projects, mostly Linux-based, for the machine tool and automation industries.
Xiph.Org Foundation – founded 1994 as the "Xiphophorus Company"; became a non-profit under its current name in 2003. Directly develops, and supports outside development of, multimedia-related software and formats.
Project-specific organizations
A large number of single-project organizations (often called "foundations") exist; in most cases, their primary purpose is to provide a mechanism to bring funds from the software's users, including both individuals and companies, to its developers.
.NET Foundation – founded 2014; supports development of open-source projects around the .NET framework.
Ruby Central – founded 2002; supports and advocates for use of the Ruby programming language.
Rust Foundation - founded in 2021; supports the Rust programming language and ecosystem, with a unique focus on supporting the set of maintainers that govern and develop the project.
Sahana Software Foundation – founded 2009; develops the Sahana suite of disaster and emergency management software.
Signal Foundation – founded 2018; supports development of the encrypted communication application Signal.
SIPfoundry – founded 2004; develops the sipXecs communication system, and related advocacy.
Sourcefabric – founded 2010 as a spinoff from the Media Development Investment Fund; develops software for independent news media organizations.
Symbian Foundation – existed 2008–2011; supported development of the discontinued Symbian operating system.
X.Org Foundation – founded 2004; hosted by SPI since 2014. Does funding and advocacy related to the X Window System.
XMPP Standards Foundation – founded 2001 as the Jabber Software Foundation; renamed in 2007. Supports development around the XMPP communication protocol.
Zope Foundation – founded 2006; it promotes development of the Zope platform by supporting the community that develops and maintains the relevant software components.
Cause-specific
Ada Initiative – existed 2011–2015; advocated the participation of women in FOSS development.
PyLadies – founded 2011; advocates for female participation in the Python community.
Legal aid
IfrOSS – founded 2015; provides legal services for free software in Germany.
Software Freedom Law Center – founded 2005; provides free legal representation and other legal services to not-for-profit FOSS projects.
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