
Ask HN: Are grants sustainable for supporting open source projects? - burtonator
I posted the other day about how to sustain Open Source projects via donations and you guys gave great feedback:<p>https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=18527510<p>After that post I&#x27;m considering applying for grants from organizations like Mozilla, Alfred P. Sloan, Knight Ridder, etc.<p>The app I&#x27;m developing doesn&#x27;t really lend itself to being financially supported by corporations like the way Google supports Kubernetes.<p>Polar (https:&#x2F;&#x2F;getpolarized.io) is a personal document repository for PDF and web content and supports offline caching of pages locally for annotation and syncs with Anki for flashcard support.  It&#x27;s designed so that students and researchers can maintain their own personal knowledge repository for their entire life - not just while they&#x27;re in school.<p>Most people forget 80% of what they learned while taking classes.  I want to change that - mostly because I want to be the smartest guy in the room and I dislike forgetting things - which is only human.<p>The problem is that the grant application process is LONG. I suspect if I applied now I&#x27;m not going to see any money to support Polar for at least six months.<p>There HAS to be a middle path here.  Technology just moves too fast to wait six months and it seems like there must be a better option.<p>Additionally, I would LOVE advice from anyone who has gone down the grant application process before.  Specifically:<p>- Can I apply for more than one grant at the same time?<p>- How much work is involved in the grants. Many people were saying that you have to network and basically get your grant pre-approved by networking before it&#x27;s actually approved by a committee.  Seems like a ton of work.<p>Raising angel funding is another option but it&#x27;s a bit of a chicken and egg situation right now as our initial user base isn&#x27;t big enough to attract and angel.  This might change soon (hopefully) as I&#x27;m trying to grow the community as fast as possible.
======
burtonator
I also forgot to post the links to Polar:

Here's the main site:

[https://getpolarized.io/](https://getpolarized.io/)

And our Github (give us a star!)

[https://github.com/burtonator/polar-
bookshelf](https://github.com/burtonator/polar-bookshelf)

and our Discord:

[https://discord.gg/GT8MhA6](https://discord.gg/GT8MhA6)

