The initial allocation for the awards will be US$1 million, initially to groups which Mozilla depends on, and later to other groups which help to make the community better.

Mitchell Baker, chief executive of the Foundation, said in a post on her blog: "The Mozilla Open Source Support programme is designed to recognise and celebrate communities who are leading the way with open source projects that contribute to our work and the health of the web."

Input has been sought on the design of the programme and suggestions can be sent to the Mozilla Open Source Support mailing list.

The Foundation will start immediately implementing awards forfor open source and free software projects on which Mozilla relies. It has started compiling a basic list.

"Our goal is to identify up to 10 projects we rely on and can fund in a thoughtful, meaningful way by December 12," Ms Baker wrote.

The Foundation has invited the community to identify projects that are good candidates for the awards.