OBC Collective Development Fund Grant Programme

Deadline Date: May 31, 2024

Donor Name: Open Book Collective

Grant Size: $10,000 to $100,000

The Open Book Collective is pleased to launch the inaugural call for applications for funding from the Collective Development Fund.

One of the key aims of the Open Book Collective is to support publishers, infrastructure providers and other organizations to build capacity to increase the quantity, quality and diversity of Open Access books. One way it does this is by awarding grants from its Collective Development Fund.

The Collective Development Fund is funded from two sources: directly, from funders, as well as from the publisher and service provider members. The Open Book Collective allocates 5% of the Supporter Programme revenue received from subscribers to the Collective Development Fund.

Purpose of Collective Development Fund grants

• This fund is to support:
  • Work towards the publication of Open Access scholarly books
  • Work on the creation and support of infrastructures for the distribution, cataloguing and preservation of Open Access scholarly books
  • Building and sustaining networks and advocacy for the support of OA scholarly books and infrastructure
  • Other projects building capacity for scholarly OA book publishing
• Please note that the fund does not support costs directly associated with the production of specific scholarly publications, for example Book Processing Charges (BPCs).

Funding Information

• In this 2024 round, they expect to award:
  • At least one grant of up to £15,000
  • Two to four grants of up to £7,500
• Durations: No more than 12 months

Eligibility Criteria

• Applicants should ensure that proposed projects are eligible for funding, as follows:
  • This fund is open to applicants anywhere in the world, except for individuals or countries affected by UK sanctions or banking restrictions, including Afghanistan, Belarus, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo Republic, Crimea, Cuba, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Donetsk Peoples Republic, Eritrea, Iraq, Iran, Libya, Lugansk Peoples Republic, Myanmar, North Korea, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Russia, Venezuela, and Yemen
  • Both new and established initiatives are welcome to apply
  • Applicants must be at least 18 years of age
  • Individuals, teams and organizations are all eligible to apply. Teams and organizations must nominate a main contact person on the application form
  • Grants may be held alone or in conjunction with other funding. Other sources of funding must be declared as part of the application
  • Applicants should submit no more than one application in each Call
  • OBC members are permitted to apply
  • OBC staff, including employees and current contractors, are not permitted to apply
  • For-profit enterprises are not eligible for funding
  • Applicants must apply in one of three specified languages: English, Portuguese, or Spanish.
• In addition, proposed projects should meet at least some of the following criteria:
  • Contributing towards open source outputs/initiatives
  • Enabled for maximal re-use
  • Community-led
  • Supporting non-commercial work/initiatives
• They particularly encourage applications from small and medium publishers/infrastructure providers/organizations, in accordance with the principles of scaling small, as well as projects working to sustain OA book publishing beyond the Global North and/or working to support non-
• Anglophone publishing, in line with the commitments to supporting bibliodiversity.

For more information, visit OBC.