Welcome to the OpenStreetMap Foundation! Thank you for supporting our work by becoming a member.

Your membership helps us remain independent from any one funding source and covers some of our core operational expenses in supporting the OpenStreetMap project, such as hardware costs, legal fees and other expenses of our working groups and administration. You can learn more about how we manage our finance here.

Below you will find information on the many ways you can get involved at regional, local, and national levels. There are new opportunities all the time, so even if you are already an active OSM contributor, take a minute to read and click through the links. As a member, you will be eligible to vote on resolutions and elections at the Annual General Meeting, so please pay special attention to that section.

Thank you very much for supporting the OSMF!

– the OSMF Board, Working Groups, and fellow Members

Ways to Get Involved

Contact Channels

The OpenStreetMap community uses a variety of different contact channels, such as mailing lists, forum, IRC, Slack, Twitter, Facebook and Telegram. Have a look at our Contact Channels to find the one that suits you. Many local groups have their own channels which you can discover through the Community Index map. Additionally, if you want to locate mappers near you, use Pascal Neis’ tool.

OSM Community Forum in Discourse

We encourage you to join the OSM Community Forum in Discourse where discussions about OSMF and the OSM wider community happens. You can easily join by logging in using your OSM account.

OSMF-talk Mailing List

As a member of the OpenStreetMap Foundation you can now participate in OSMF-talk, our Foundation’s mailing list. If you would like to, please You can subscribe here by using the email address you use to sign up as a OSMF member.

Local Chapters

The current, formally established Local Chapters can be found in the Local Chapters page. Are you part of a registered non-profit organization within your OSM community? Consider applying to be a Local Chapter!

Both Local Chapters and the many, additional local groups help you connect with other community members in your area.Check the current events.

Monthly OSMF Board Meeting

You are also welcome to attend the monthly online meetings of the OSMF Board, which are held on BigBlueButton and at the end of the meeting ask questions related to the topics under discussion. Meetings are usually announced on the OSMF-talk mailing list, and you can find the upcoming agenda and minutes of past meetings at the minutes’ page on the OSMF wiki.

OSM Annual General Meeting (AGM)  

The OSM Annual General Meeting is the time each year when OSMF members vote on special resolutions and elect new members of the board. The date varies a bit each year, so be sure to watch for the date on the main OSMF channels.

As a member of the OSM Foundation you can influence the direction of the project by voting on our yearly board elections for the people whom you think are most qualified to serve on the board. Note that you must be a member in good standing 180 days before the AGM in order to vote, so keep your membership current! You can also influence the direction of the project by voting on special resolutions presented at the AGM. Learn more about the AGM.

OSMF News

You can read news about the OSM Foundation on the official OpenStreetMap blog. Posts are translated to other languages, such as German, Japanese and Croatian. Contact our Communication Working Group if you’d like to translate posts in your language!

Like us and follow us on Twitter, Mastodon, Instagram or Facebook.

You can also get weekly news about the OpenStreetMap Project from WeeklyOSM – a project independent from the OSM Foundation. They offer RSS feeds in several languages (English, Español, Japanese, Français, Čeština, Română, Turkish) and you can subscribe to their mailing list.

Working Groups

Would you like to get actively involved with one of our volunteer Working Groups? If so, we are always open to new members, whether to take part regularly or to work on a particular issue that interests you.

• Data WG
  • Would you like to help set policy on data and detect and stop vandalism and imports that do not comply with guidelines? Join us!
• Operations WG
  • We ensure the operation and smooth running of the XML editing API and data distribution services and forecast demand and the purchasing of hardware required to meet the priorities.
• Licensing WG
  • The promotion of open geospatial data through practical, coherent and clear licensing is our number one priority!
• Membership WG
  • Join us to administer the membership database, answer routine membership queries and increase the OSMF Membership!
• Communication WG
  • Let’s communicate the work of the Foundation and related news, through official channels; translate posts in other languages; or do some graphic design!
• Engineering WG
  • We support open source software development related to OpenStreetMap since 2021. The group is always welcoming additional members!
• State of the Map WG
  • Like event organizing? Join us to plan and execute the annual gathering or OpenStreetMap contributors and enthusiasts, “The State of the Map”.
• Local Chapters WG
  • Does community engagement interest you? Join us in growing communities and establish Local Chapters!

State of the Map (SotM) (local, regional, national)

Check stateofthemap.org or follow SotM on Twitter and Mastodon to find out where our annual conference will be held. You can also find many past talks as videos linked from previous SoTM sites. Also note that more local SotM conferences are also held, such as SotM-Asia, SotM-Africa, SotM-LatAm, SotM-Eu, SotM-US and others!

Support for OSM

Lastly, maybe you can ask your company or organisation if they would like to support the OSM by becoming a Corporate Member!

Your support through the OSMF membership keeps the OpenStreetMap project running and helps to retain its independence from any one funding source. We are happy that you have joined us. Let’s build the best map ever!