Grant Proposal: Building Resilient Infrastructure through Dialogue, Growth, and Exchange (BRIDGE)

Grant proposal submitted by Invest in Open Infrastructure to the Mellon Foundation in September 2025. From the proposal summary: "BRIDGE is a 30-month project to develop and pilot a blended cohort and partnership model to bridge divides between different types of organizations involved in knowledge stewardship and usage. This model is intended to test new approaches for IOI to directly support open infrastructure organizations in developing sustainable revenue streams and business models that move beyond heavy reliance on grants while facilitating collaboration between academic institutions, nonprofits, and commercial organizations to create mutually beneficial partnerships. This approach tests both a service model for a set of open infrastructures to diversify their funding and explore business models and frameworks that reduce their financial risk, while also cultivating a “safe space” for cross-sector dialogue and action, with the intention of bringing more diverse funder types (including commercial organizations) to the table. "