Funding the Commons El Salvador Fellowship 2026 – Fully Funded Residency for Public Goods Founders

Funding the Commons is accepting applications for the El Salvador Fellowship 2026, a fully funded six-day residency in San Salvador designed for founders building digital public goods and mission-driven technology products with real users.

Taking place from 12–17 October 2026, the fellowship will bring together four early-stage founders to refine sustainable business models, engage directly with public institutions, and develop practical pathways for scaling open technologies beyond pilot projects. Applications close 18 September 2026.

About the El Salvador Fellowship

The El Salvador Fellowship is an intensive residential programme created for entrepreneurs building products that already exist in the real world. Rather than focusing on ideas alone, the programme supports founders who are navigating one of the most difficult stages of innovation: transforming a successful pilot into long-term, sustainable infrastructure.

Hosted in San Salvador, the residency connects founders with government ministries, development finance institutions, investors, civic technologists, and experienced public goods builders. Participants will spend six days pressure-testing their products, funding strategies, regulatory positioning, and institutional adoption plans.

Fellowship Overview

What the Fellowship Covers

Funding the Commons provides comprehensive support throughout the residency without taking any ownership stake in participating companies.

Selected founders receive:

• Full participation in the six-day fellowship
• Meals throughout the programme
• Transportation to all programme activities
• Field visits and ministry sessions
• One-to-one mentorship with experts and investors
• Curated introductions to relevant partners
• Access to the Funding the Commons founder network

Importantly, the fellowship takes no equity, shares, options, or future ownership claims. Any future investment discussions occur independently after the programme.

Who Should Apply?

The fellowship is designed for founders who are already building working products rather than individuals with early-stage ideas.

Ideal applicants should have:

• An incorporated company
• Founders working full-time on the venture
• A live product with active users, regardless of size
• A pre-Series A business stage
• A compelling reason why El Salvador is strategically relevant to their solution

Applications are open internationally, and founders do not need to be Salvadoran to be eligible.

Focus Areas

The 2026 cohort will support founders working across five public goods and digital infrastructure themes:

• Funding Systems: innovative grant allocation, programmable funding, and treasury models
• Financial Access: payments, savings, remittances, stablecoins, and inclusive financial tools
• Coordination & Governance: civic participation, collective decision-making, and shared ownership platforms
• Identity & Trust: privacy-preserving identity, credentials, and reputation systems
• AI for Public Use: open, auditable AI supporting public institutions and collective decision-making

Projects should demonstrate meaningful public benefit while exploring sustainable financing and institutional adoption.

Programme Structure

The residency combines practical workshops, policy engagement, founder collaboration, and real-world testing.

Ministry Sessions

Participants spend a full day working alongside El Salvador’s Ministry of Economy to scope potential pilot projects in public services and financial inclusion.

Capital Mapping

Founders receive practical guidance on grants, venture capital, retroactive funding, development finance, and Digital Public Goods Alliance certification opportunities.

Mechanism Design

Participants explore funding innovations such as quadratic funding, hypercerts, conviction voting, and retroactive public goods financing before designing mechanisms for their own products.

Real Allocation Exercise

On the final day, founders collectively choose a funding mechanism and allocate a real grant pool, with the decision becoming binding and funded.

Field Research

The cohort visits El Zonte, where community-led financial technology transformed access for previously unbanked populations, providing valuable insights into implementation challenges and adoption.

What Founders Leave With

Rather than ending with a pitch presentation alone, participants complete the fellowship with tangible strategic outputs, including:

• A scoped pilot proposal linked to a named institution
• A tested revenue and sustainability model
• A capital roadmap identifying real funding sources
• Regulatory positioning for institutional partnerships
• Long-term introductions within government and funding ecosystems
• A 90-day implementation commitment following the residency

Why El Salvador?

El Salvador has emerged as an important laboratory for digital public infrastructure through its evolving digital asset regulatory framework, National AI legislation, and rapidly growing startup ecosystem. Its experience expanding financial access among previously unbanked populations offers founders a practical environment to test whether their products can deliver meaningful public impact beyond demonstrations and pilot programmes.

For entrepreneurs building open technologies, civic infrastructure, fintech, governance tools, or AI for public benefit, the fellowship provides direct access to institutional decision-makers and implementation partners rarely available through conventional accelerators.

Application Timeline

VISIT OFFICIAL WEBSITE TO APPLY