Most charitable organizations spend a meaningful chunk of their donations on overhead. OpenSats is not most charitable organizations.
The 501(c)(3) public charity announced it has allocated over $36.6 million to 413 grantees spread across more than 40 countries. Every dollar of that went directly to recipients. The organization covers its own operational costs separately, running what it calls a 100% pass-through funding model.
To put the number in perspective: $36.6 million distributed globally, in Bitcoin, with transaction fees that in Q2 2026 totaled just $12.51 for 36 BTC sent.
How OpenSats actually works
Founded in 2020, OpenSats operates two primary grant pools. The General Fund backs Bitcoin development and adjacent open-source tooling. The Nostr Fund supports builders working on the decentralized social protocol.
Monthly disbursements average around $1 million, with transaction fees running under 0.001% of amounts sent. A nine-person board governs the operation, and the organization publishes financial statements, bylaws, and grantee progress reports on a regular basis.
Major donors include Jack Dorsey’s #startsmall initiative and the Reynolds Foundation, both of which have contributed multimillion-dollar sums. Those contributions gave OpenSats the runway to scale from modest early allocations to the current $1M-per-month pace without compromising its pass-through commitment.
Why the funding model matters beyond the numbers
OpenSats sidesteps the charitable sector’s overhead problem by separating its two balance sheets entirely: operational funding comes from sources designated for that purpose, and grant funding flows straight through.
The Q2 2026 disbursement data illustrates this concretely. OpenSats sent 36 BTC to grantees that quarter and paid $12.51 in fees. A traditional wire transfer for a comparable sum would typically cost hundreds to thousands of dollars depending on destination countries, and could take several business days to settle.
The open-source angle and what it signals
The 413 grantees figure is meaningful in this context. Spreading funding across that many recipients in 40-plus countries means the organization is reaching contributors who would likely never appear on a corporate open-source grant shortlist. Some of those developers are working on Bitcoin Core. Others are building Nostr clients, privacy tools, educational resources, or infrastructure code.
For the Bitcoin ecosystem specifically, a well-funded, transparent, independent grant-making institution reduces the risk that protocol development becomes dependent on any single corporate backer. Bitcoin’s history includes periods where a handful of companies effectively controlled the direction of developer funding.