Grants

2026 LingComm Grants – Small Grants for Communicating Linguistics to Wider Audiences

We want to see more linguistics in the world! 

The 2026 LingComm Grants are $300 (USD) to support linguistics communication projects that bring pop linguistics to broader audiences in new and engaging ways. The grants also include a mentoring meeting with Gretchen McCulloch, Lauren Gawne, and/or an experienced lingcommer who we have personally selected to be relevant to your project to ask your lingcomm process questions, and promotion of your project to our lingthusiastic audience. 

We have six $300 LingComm Grants on any topic related to linguistics and an additional $300 Kirby Conrod and Friends LGBTQ+ LingComm Grant.

The initial grants are funded by Lingthusiasm, thanks to the kind support of our patrons, and judged by Gretchen McCulloch and Lauren Gawne. You can help fund the  grants and other LingComm projects here. Additional grants in 2026 were funded thanks to Daniel Currie Hall, Sarah Kelen, Lukas Graf, Rob Monarch and other anonymous donors

Applications can be submitted through this Google Form.

Dates

Applications and funding close: 30th of April, midnight 2026 (i.e. as long as it is still April anywhere in the world)

Winners announced:  Winners and Lingthusiasm patrons will find out by Friday, May 17th, 2026. We will publically announce the winner on Monday, May 20th, 2026. All applicants will be notified of outcomes before they are published. 

Frequently Asked Questions

What are you looking for in a LingComm grant application? 

We’re looking for projects that bring linguistics to broader audiences in new and engaging ways.

We’re open to any area of linguistics, but we encourage projects to pick a specific topic, theme, and/or audience rather than a general “what is linguistics” aimed at everyone. It may help to do some searches and look through the Resources page to see what already exists — what makes your project different from what’s already available?  

We’re also looking for projects that are specific enough in scope that $300 can provide a significant boost to what you’re already doing and where we can see the initial effects of the grant by the end of the year, even around other work and/or school commitments that you presumably have. (This is about 6 months from when we announce the winner.) We recognize that projects do have a lifecycle, and you don’t have to promise us free content for the internet indefinitely, but we do ask you to talk to us about how the grant fits into the longer-term longevity of your project.

Why do you ask about new audiences?

We want communication about linguistics to reach as many people as possible, and thinking critically and creatively about projects to cater to a wide range of people using your own unique voice makes that happen. We strongly encourage people from backgrounds that have been underrepresented in linguistics communication to apply, perhaps reaching new audiences that you yourself are a part of. We also encourage you to use this section to talk about how your project will be accessible, such as with transcripts, captions, or alt-text. The application itself is in English for the time being, but we also welcome proposals for LingComm projects that aren’t in English. 

Do I have to have experience at doing LingComm?

No! You just have to have a good idea that you can realistically make happen. However, you probably have experiences from other areas in your life that you might be able to draw on. Everyone has to start their lingcomm career somewhere, so maybe this will be your start!

Can I apply for an existing project?

Yes! Just make clear how the money will help you to make the project better. (One idea is to use the money for an accessibility upgrade for a current project, such as by creating transcripts or translations.) 

How many grants are you giving out?

The size and number of grants changes from round to round as we experiment with new formats and receive different levels of additional support. The number of grants for this round is listed at the top of this page, and we will announce the final number of grants we are able to give before the application deadline. 

Can I apply to the LingComm Grants for more than one project?

You can apply for at most one solo project, and at most one project with the same team of people, however, there is in principle no limit on the number of different project teams that an individual person can be a co-applicant on. That said, like with the scoping of the projects in the first place, we encourage you to reasonably assess your energy levels and ability to create multiple things, and to not over-commit yourself. Furthermore, one of our goals with these grants is to broaden the field of LingComm, and giving out several grants to a single person is less likely to accomplish that goal.

What can I spend the money on? Can I pay myself?

There are no specific rules, restrictions, or reporting requirements about how you spend the money. (No keeping track of receipts!) We will simply send you the money, and you can spend it however you see fit, whether that’s on equipment, tools, website hosting, paying yourself or someone else for time, something else, or some combination. However, if you’re a prof applying for this grant primarily to pay students, consider instead encouraging your students to apply for their own project directly. 

You will, however, have a collection of linguistics fans online who are following the LingComm results and excited to see what you make! No pressure 🙂

Is research lingcomm? Is language documentation lingcomm? 

These grants are about sharing linguistics with new audiences, rather than generating new linguistic knowledge or documentation. While we do not fund research, documentation or revitalisation directly, we do support people communicating linguistic work by themselves or others to new audiences, which can include specific language communities. For examples of what the LingComm Grant has previously funded, see the Grantees page. For more support and funding opportunities for documentation and revitalisation, check out the Endangered Language Fund and the Endangered Languages Project.

Do I need to be based in a particular place? 

Nope! Anywhere that we’re able to electronically transfer money is fine. Mentoring meetings happen electronically in a format that you and your mentor decide, such as via videochat, audio call, or text chat. 

Does it need to be an internet-based project? 

Not necessarily! If you want to do linguistics with a physical group of people in your local community, that’s also great! In this case, we encourage you to post any activities you did or write up a blog post about it, to help anyone who wants to do something similar. See the LingComm IRL series for examples of local community activities.

How can I support the LingComm Grant?

The LingComm Grants are funded through the kind support of grant funders Lingthusiasm patrons on Patreon. We use the Lingthusiasm patreon as a convenient support platform, and Lingthusiasm team members help with the admin for the grants. You do not have to be a Lingthusiasm patron to support the grants or apply for a grant. Lingthusiasm patrons get other fun perks at various levels, like access to over 100 bonus episodes and the Lingthusiasm Discord server! All current patrons get to find out about the successful grantee(s) before the general public (all applicants will also be informed of the success of their application before this).

You can check out our Grantees page to see what the previous years’ projects and their descriptions looked like! We’re really pleased with how all of them turned out!

I’d like to support the LingComm Grant, but I don’t have money to spare!

The LingComm Grant only works if we also get applications, so it’s also a big help to share it with anyone you think might be interested in lingcomm! 

We’ll also be posting about the grantee(s) once decided, so we encourage you to support them as well by checking out their projects, following them on social media, etc. You can follow previous years’ grantees here. 

Do you have any samples of what LingComm Grant projects might look like?

You can check out our Grantees page to see what the 2020 and 2022 projects and their descriptions looked like! We’re really pleased with how all of them turned out!

I don’t really need a grant myself, but I love the idea of feeling like I am part of a broader lingcomm community!

We applaud your sense of enthusiasm, and yes, you don’t need to apply for or receive a LingComm Grant to be doing lingcomm, especially if you already have other sources of funds! You might also be interested in the LingComm Conference, other news and resources. You can also join the LingComm mailing list to stay in the loop on lingcomm.

What if I want to know more about lingcomm? 

Check out our Resources page for pointers to other lingcomm projects for inspiration, meta resources for doing lingcomm, and other resources on scicomm and indie web projects, such as Creative Commons.

How can I stay in the loop about the LingComm Grant? 

To find out when we announce the winners and other LingComm Grant updates, sign up for the LingComm mailing list or the Lingthusiasm monthly email list.