As a public-benefit corporation under § 52 of the German Fiscal Code, we finance our educational, research and public-interest work through three pillars: donations, public funding, and contributions from the GitCover group (AFJD, CFP, GCD, ADA). This page makes the funding share transparent — which programmes we apply to, who in the group is eligible to apply, and what role the non-profit GCC plays.

• NLnet NGI Zero Commons Fund — title: Digital commons for compliance infrastructure; traeger: NLnet Foundation (EU / Horizon Europe); frist: 1 Aug 2026 (subsequent deadlines every 2 months); rolle: GCC as applicant (non-profit, open source): Funding for open-source infrastructure in the public interest. Fit: GCEP (GitCover Exchange Protocol), the OSCAL toolchain and the V7GUID standard as internet commons. Grant size €5,000–50,000. Lightweight procedure (~2 pages).

• DIGI-Zuschuss Hessen — title: IT hardware and security equipment; traeger: WIBank (State of Hesse, ESF co-financed); frist: Portal open, project completion by 30 Nov 2026; rolle: Applicant: CFP or ADA (GCC is not 'commercial trade'): 50 % grant on eligible capital expenditure, max. €10,000 per application. Eligible: new ICT systems, IT security, external hardware/software. GCC benefits indirectly via group procurement.

• BSFZ Research Allowance (Forschungszulage) — title: GCUCB + AI reward module (R&D); traeger: BSFZ / Tax Office (ELSTER); frist: ongoing, annual application; rolle: Applicants: AFJD / CFP / GCD (GCC is tax-exempt): Statutory R&D funding on a legal-entitlement basis. Assessment base up to €12 m per fiscal year, subsidy rate 25 % (standard) or 35 % (SME). Research questions N1–N3 plus the new AI reward module (RLHF/PRM/VPRM on OSCAL/OPA pipelines) are filed as the BSFZ research module 2026–2028.

• BMBF KMU-innovativ IKT — title: Collaborative project: AI-compliance orchestration; traeger: BMBF (two-stage procedure); frist: Outline windows twice a year; rolle: GCD as main applicant, GCC as consortium partner: R&D funding for technology-open ICT projects with SME involvement. GCC can join as a non-profit research partner (not as lead). GCD takes the SME role as main applicant. Strong fit for the AI reward module.

• EU Digital Europe — COMPLIANCE — title: Digital solutions for regulatory compliance; traeger: European Commission (DIGITAL-2026-AI-DATA-10-COMPLIANCE); frist: 1 Oct 2026; rolle: Consortium with a university and an SME (GCC as partner): An exceptionally precise thematic overlap with GitCover's core topic. The DIGITAL-2026-AI-DATA-10-COMPLIANCE budget line explicitly funds solutions for regulatory compliance. A consortium with a university and another SME would be ideal.

• BMWK Vocational Training Centres Digital — title: Workshop and lab infrastructure (90 % grant); traeger: BAFA / BMWK; frist: ongoing; rolle: GCC as applicant (precondition: ÜBS recognition): Up to 90 % funding for the digital equipment of inter-company vocational training centres and competence centres (minimum investment €30,000). Strategically relevant for our educational mission (Moodle platform, workshop and conference equipment). Precondition: ÜBS recognition by BAFA.

• Prototype Fund / Software Sprint — title: Open-source prototypes (data security / infrastructure); traeger: BMBF (Prototype Fund); frist: 30 Nov 2026 (annual regular deadline); rolle: Applicant: Axel Druschel as freelance developer: Up to €47,500 (individuals) or €95,000 (teams), 95 % of project-related personnel and overhead costs, 6-month duration. Eligible: freelancers or teams — not companies. Fit: GCEP prototype, OSCAL toolchain, V7GUID specification as open source.

What we are preparing right now

We are building up our funding pipeline step by step. The work involved — research, application drafting, consortium building, reporting — is carried out within the group and forms part of our operational activities (education, research, public-interest work under § 52 AO). The following steps are in progress or in preparation:

• June 2026: Prepare the BSFZ certification for the AI reward module (alongside GCUCB). Draft the NLnet outline for GCEP / OSCAL toolchain.
• July 2026: Formally check BMWK ÜBS recognition for GCC as a potential competence centre. Apply for the DIGI-Zuschuss Hessen via CFP/ADA.
• August 2026: NLnet deadline 1 Aug — final proposal submission.
• September/October 2026: Build the EU Digital Europe COMPLIANCE consortium and submit by the 1 Oct deadline.
• November 2026: Submit the Prototype Fund outline (30 Nov).

What group-level funding means

The GitCover group is structured by division of labour: AFJD, CFP, GCD and ADA are the operational, tax-paying entities — they apply for R&D and digitalisation funding (BSFZ, BMBF, go-digital, DIGI-Zuschuss Hessen, BMWK Digital Jetzt). GCC as a public-benefit corporation is tax-exempt (§ 5 KStG) and benefits directly from programmes tailored to non-profit purposes (NLnet, BMWK ÜBS, EU education lines) and indirectly from R&D results across the group.

Commercial offerings and funding-advisory services that we as a non-profit cannot provide ourselves are referred to our commercial sisters within the group — for example CFP (Coverflex Project UG) for go-digital consulting or GCD (GitCover Development UG) for BMBF collaborative projects as the SME main applicant.

Transparency

Granted funding, source of funds and their use are published in the annual activity report (see Activities, Q4/2027) together with the annual financial statements pursuant to § 63 AO. Funder logos and acknowledgements will appear on this page once the first grant is awarded and the grantors agree to publication.