The Nextcloud Include initiative: How Nextcloud supports diversity in open source

Almost seven years ago, in October 2018, our CEO and founder Frank Kartlitschek used the € 20,000 from winning the prestigious Reinhard von Koenig award to launch a brand new initiative: “Nextcloud Include.”

As an open source diversity project, Nextcloud Include addresses the needs of underrepresented groups to join the Nextcloud project. By building an inclusive and diverse space to collaborate we can ensure the development of world class software.

Because open source is for everyone, so everyone should get the opportunity for a seat at the table.

Where are we today? How the Nextcloud Include initiative works

By winning the Reinhard von Koenig award, Frank joined an impressive list of previous winners, including employees from Daimler AG and Atlatec GmbH for work on self-driving cars.

He decided to invest the prize money in expanding our diversity and inclusion efforts, such as the earlier participation in Rails Girls Summer of Code. With the €20,000 award, he could kickstart Nextcloud Include, a foundation that Nextcloud has been building ever since.

To manage the fund responsibly, we partnered with KDE e.V, a trusted non-profit in the open source world. Nextcloud appointed a small group of diversity advocates to oversee how to spend the funds, focusing on 3 main areas:

• Mentoring: Supporting people who are new to the community
• Travel support: Sponsoring travel and accommodation to join Nextcloud events
• Internships: Hiring students to intern at Nextcloud GmbH

Anyone can apply, and we aim to keep the selection process fair, transparent, and accessible.

What can Nextcloud Include do for you?

With Nextcloud Include, we want to support diversity in open source by ensuring underrepresented groups can enjoy mentoring, travel support, or an internship.

Mentoring

At Nextcloud, we try to enable everyone to get involved. From technical tasks like building an app to translating and helping out on the forums: our community works on tasks all across the Nextcloud ecosystem every day.

However the tech community can feel like an exclusive and closed group, especially for people from underrepresented groups.

That’s why we have mentors available to welcome you in the Nextcloud community, help you overcome obstacles, and get started with your first ideas.

Travel support

Every year, we organize global Nextcloud events to bring our community together and learn, share information, develop, and have a lot of fun.

To make sure everyone can participate in our events, from big hackweeks to small get-togethers, participants can apply for a sponsorship to cover their travel and accommodation costs.

Typically we support 80% of the total costs for transport and hotel, but we can be flexible if that’s not enough for you to attend. Please note: the travel support program is specifically for people from underrepresented groups in open source.

We also have the community travel support program available for other needs.

Join Nextcloud Include for an internship

By providing opportunities to gain valuable skills and experience, we are able to encourage individuals to enter the workforce — or make a career change.

The Nextcloud Include initiative supports applicants from all backgrounds, including recent graduates or professionals looking for a new job opportunity, to join our team.

The open source Nextcloud community offers you the chance to build a network as well as work experience. The internship program is available for areas where we are currently hiring, as well as for spontaneous applications.

What this means for you

Do you know anyone who wants to be part of the open source tech community, but doesn’t know where to start? Or are you thinking of joining us, but in need of a little push to make it happen?

Check out the dedicated page about the Nextcloud Include initiative, or reach out to us directly with any questions.