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LF Decentralized Trust Mentorship Program

Program Description

The LF Decentralized Trust Mentorship Program provides a structured remote learning opportunity for aspiring decentralized tech developers, researchers, and other contributors. LF Decentralized Trust project maintainers, experienced developers, and active community members will mentor participants, guiding them to complete a mentorship project with a defined scope and outcome. Mentors and mentees will collaborate remotely from their preferred locations, with regular evaluations and feedback provided. Mentees will have the opportunity to showcase their learnings and contributions through blogging, speaking at meetups or regional events, or traveling to a global event to present their work in person and network with the broader community. The mentorship program plays an important role in introducing new talent to the LF Decentralized Trust projects and community, which contributes to maintaining and enhancing the health and sustainability of our open source community.

Benefits for Mentees

  • Gain exposure to first-hand experience with real-world open source software development

  • Learn to effectively use open source development infrastructure, tooling, and best practices

  • Make an impact on large scale open source projects through code contribution, documentation, or research

  • Learn open source culture and best practices directly from open source professionals

  • Develop close working relationships with open source professionals and industry business leaders to expand professional network

  • Showcase work and raise profile in the decentralized tech space and open source development community in general

Benefits for Mentors

  • Defined avenue to share your passion and expertise in open source development and contribution

  • Structured opportunity to teach and guide new contributors towards making productive contributions

  • Get additional help to address needs and gaps in feature or code development, research, or documentation

  • Nurture the health and sustainability of your project and community by onboarding and training new talent

2026 Program Dates

  • 02 Feb 2026 - 6 Mar 2026 mentors (maintainers and active community members) submitting mentorship project proposals by creating a Mentorship Project new issue; please review the proposal guidelines before submitting

  • 9 Mar 2026 - 25 Mar 2026 mentorship project proposal review by LF Decentralized Trust Technical Advisory Council (TAC); mentors or proposal submitters may be asked to clarify or address questions raised by the TAC

  • 27 Mar 2026 - 8 May 2026 mentee application period on LFX Mentorship

  • 11 May 2026 - 22 May 2026 mentee application review and applicant interview

  • 25 May 2026 - 29 May 2026 selected mentee notification and acceptance

  • 01 June 2026 - 12 Jun 2026 1st 2 weeks of June mentee onboarding/orientation

  • 15 Jun 2026 - 30 Nov 2026 mentee/mentor working period (mentees are expected to commit ~12-15 hours a week on a consistent basis during this time)
  • 24 Aug 2026 - 31 Aug 2026 midterm mentee evaluation and report
  • 15 Nov 2026 - 30 Nov 2026 final mentee evaluation and report

Note: The program dates are subject to change.

Mentee Stipend

Eligible mentees may receive a stipend, calculated using a tiered structured based on their country of residence during the program. The stipend will be paid in two installments:

  • Midterm Stipend - paid to mentees who are making satisfactory progreess and in good standing as evaluated by mentors during midterm evaluation

  • Final Stipend - paid to mentees upon successful project completion as evaluated by mentors and confirmed by program staff.

Questions?

Please email mentorship@lfdecentralizedtrust.org