Date: Feb 6, 2026
Photo CC BY 4.0 Outreachy
Outreachy will be running the May 2026 internship cohort with reduced funding and activities. We are sad that we won't be able to fund internships out of Outreachy's general activities fund and further, we will have to reduce or simplify program activities during the internship period. Please read about Outreachy's financial challenges in the previous round's call for proposals.
Outreachy is enthusiastically seeking open source communities to mentor Outreachy interns!
Outreachy is a great way for your open source community to connect to new contributors from around the world. Outreachy provides internships to anyone from any background who faces underrepresentation, systemic bias, or discrimination in the technical industry where they are living. This May cohort is your community's chance to make a difference in the lives of new open source contributors.
If you are an open source community that is new to Outreachy, we encourage you to read the Mentoring FAQ sections below.
If you are a past mentoring community, please read about Outreachy's critical financial situation for more information about changes to internship funding, how the Outreachy organizer team is scaling back our program activities, and what changes are coming to our internship format.
Additionally, past mentoring communities should read about new tools Outreachy mentors can use to communicate their policy on AI generated contributions to Outreachy applicants.
What is Outreachy?
How are Outreachy internships funded?
What kinds of open source communities participate?
What kinds of projects do Outreachy interns work on?
Who makes a good Outreachy mentor?
What is Outreachy's policy on generative AI?
May 2026 internship dates
Outreachy is an internship program. Outreachy internships are:
💵 Paid - $7,000 USD total internship stipend
🌍 Remote - both interns and mentors work remotely
🕰 3 months - internships run May 18 to August 17
Outreachy's goal is to increase diversity in open source. Past Outreachy interns are:
♀️ 92% women
🏳️🌈 4% transgender, genderqueer, or non-binary people
🧕🏾 64% people of color
🧑🏿 12% people from a historically disadvantaged caste or tribe
Statistics are based on responses to the 2019 longitudinal study of Outreachy alums.
As everyone is aware, donations to Outreachy have decreased over the last few years. Because of this, Outreachy is not currently able to fund any internships out of our general activities fund.
Outreachy's finances are at a critical point. We would be so grateful if all of our communities help us identify fundraising leads so that Outreachy can continue to run.
Donation amounts
In order to run our program in the most basic way, Outreachy needs to receive donations of at least $8,000 to $10,000 USD per intern we accept. This breaks down to:
Outreachy is currently facing critical financial challenges. At this time, communities must donate at least $8,000 USD per intern they wish to mentor. We really hope communities increase their donation beyond that to ensure Outreachy can continue running.
Outreachy is a labor intensive program. Outreachy organizers are highly involved with interns. Outreachy organizers work closely with your community's mentors to empower your interns to pursue a future in FOSS. While most of our internships complete without issues, each cohort there are multiple internships where the organizers step in provide support to both interns and mentors. They also are almost always available via Zulip to both interns and mentors.
Outreachy's deep support of interns, along with your mentoring partnership, means 80% of past Outreachy interns continue to contribute to open source after their internship.
We need your community's help to identify and convince organizations to provide donations to help Outreachy sustain our deep support of interns, and retain their amazing talent in our open source community. Please don't think about this as just finding funding for your interns for this internship cohort. This is about ensuring the future of Outreachy, and we ask for your help to fund our essential program activities.
Please share Outreachy's sponsorship information with any organization you think may want to donate: https://www.outreachy.org/sponsor/
Outreachy is seeking mentors from open source communities.
Outreachy welcomes many different types of open source communities. Whether you are a three-person community focused on open science research, or a large open source community that needs better documentation, Outreachy welcomes you!
Examples of open source communities that have participated in Outreachy include:
We encourage you to read our community participation rules.
In the past, Outreachy internship projects have included:
There are two main rules for internship projects:
If you want to check whether your project idea is suitable for Outreachy, contact Outreachy organizers
The heart of Outreachy is our volunteer mentors. Mentors work directly with Outreachy applicants and interns.
Outreachy looks for mentors who are helpful, patient, welcoming, and kind.
Mentor time commitment:
Mentors will need to provide an internship project description. Outreachy does not allow applicants to submit project ideas.
It is okay for mentors to submit multiple project ideas. Communities with sponsorship for one intern tend to list 1 to 3 projects. Some communities list as many as 5 to 7 projects.
Outreachy encourages co-mentoring! Co-mentoring is when two or more people mentor the same Outreachy intern.
Mentors will need to provide a list of tasks for applicants to work on during the contribution period.
| Feb. 6, 2026 at 4pm UTC | Community sign up opens |
| Feb. 6, 2026 at 4pm UTC | Initial applications open |
| Feb. 13, 2026 at 4pm UTC | Initial application deadline |
| Feb. 26, 2026 at 4pm UTC | ⚠️ Deadline for communities to sign up to mentor |
| March 7, 2026 at 4pm UTC | ⚠️ Deadline for mentors to subject project descriptions |
| March 17, 2026 | Contribution period begins |
| April 15, 2026 | Contribution period ends |
| April 15, 2026 at 4pm UTC | Final application deadline |
| April 22, 2026 | Intern selection deadline |
| April 29, 2026 | Outreachy organizers finalize intern selections |
| April 30, 2026 at 4pm UTC | Interns are publicly announced on the alums page |
| May 18, 2026 to Aug. 17, 2026 | Internships period |
As everyone is aware, donations to Outreachy have decreased over the last few years. Because of this, Outreachy is not currently able to fund any internships out of our general activities fund.
Outreachy's finances are at a critical point. We would be so grateful if all of our communities help us identify fundraising leads so that Outreachy can continue to run.
Donation amounts
In order to run our program in the most basic way, Outreachy needs to receive donations of at least $8,000 to $10,000 USD per intern we accept. This breaks down to:
Outreachy is currently facing critical financial challenges. At this time, communities must donate at least $8,000 USD per intern they wish to mentor. We really hope communities increase their donation beyond that to ensure Outreachy can continue running.
Outreachy is a labor intensive program. Outreachy organizers are highly involved with interns. Outreachy organizers work closely with your community's mentors to empower your interns to pursue a future in FOSS. While most of our internships complete without issues, each cohort there are multiple internships where the organizers step in provide support to both interns and mentors. They also are almost always available via Zulip to both interns and mentors.
Outreachy's deep support of interns, along with your mentoring partnership, means 80% of past Outreachy interns continue to contribute to open source after their internship.
We need your community's help to identify and convince organizations to provide donations to help Outreachy sustain our deep support of interns, and retain their amazing talent in our open source community. Please don't think about this as just finding funding for your interns for this internship cohort. This is about ensuring the future of Outreachy, and we ask for your help to fund our essential program activities.
