The Interledger on Local Impact Mini-Grant Program, launched by the Interledger Foundation, supports community-led innovation, learning, and community engagement focused on open payments and digital financial inclusion.
Through this initiative, community organizations and local community leaders worldwide may apply for funding ranging from USD $500 to $3,000 to design and implement projects that explore interoperable payment systems and expand awareness of equitable financial technologies. The program encourages local communities to take leadership roles in building local communities that understand and experiment with open financial infrastructure, including technologies such as the Interledger Protocol.
The Local Impact Grants program provides small, flexible grants to support local community groups and individual community leaders in designing and producing meetups, workshops, demos, sprints, hackdays and conversations at existing community spaces and groups, including but not limited to coworking hubs, open-source groups, hacker spaces, incubators, accelerators, startup communities and fintech meetups.
The primary goal of the Interledger Local Impact program is to empower local communities and leaders to explore, promote, and experiment with open payments and digital financial inclusion within their regions and surrounding communities.
Key Program Parameters
Applicants should review the following information carefully before preparing and submitting a proposal.
Target Audience:
This program is intended for community-led organizations around the world. Both individual community leaders and community groups are eligible to apply.
Individual Community Leaders
Civil society organizations
Cooperatives
Existing community spaces or groups such as coworking hubs, Innovation hubs, hacker spaces, incubators, accelerators, and startup communities
Communities centred around Policy, Consumer rights, FinTech, Financial access, Payments ecosystems, Open Source, Open Innovation, Open Standards, DPI/ DPG, SDGs, research groups and Community support groups
Mission-aligned businesses and social enterprises
Supported activities:
Meetups and community conversations
Workshops and demos
Hackdays, sprints or participatory learning sessions
Local ecosystem gatherings
Research, storytelling, and awareness campaigns
Content/material on open payments and digital financial infrastructure
Grant Amount:
Selected projects may receive between $500 to USD $3,000 to support their proposed project.
Project Duration:
Projects must be completed within 6 months of accepting the grant.
Application Deadline:
Wednesday, November 11, 2026, at 11:59 pm (ET/EDT)
Eligible Activities:
Funding may support community-organized initiatives that advance learning and experimentation around open payments, including:
Workshops and training sessions on open payments and digital financial infrastructure
Sprints or innovation challenges
Research projects, policy briefs, or publications
Awareness campaigns and community outreach initiatives
Design, development and production of content/material on open payments and digital financial infrastructure
Applicants are strongly encouraged to review the Interledger Local Impact Grants program RESOURCE FOLDER before completing this form to ensure their proposal aligns with program goals and eligibility requirements.
If you have questions about eligibility, application preparation, or program details, please contact the Interledger Foundation program team [Email: programteam@interledger.org] before submitting your application.
We look forward to learning about the innovative ways communities around the world are advancing open, inclusive financial systems.
