Google is running the Summer of Code where they'll pay 4500$ to each
applicant to develop an open source application during the summer, they
have to be mentored by an organization which will get 500$ for each
mentored coder, unfortunately, I don't see any Lisp organization there:
http://code.google.com/summerofcode.html
The FAQ for coders is at http://code.google.com/summfaq.html and the
FAQ for mentorers is at http://code.google.com/mentfaq.html, in short,
the mentorers' responsabilities are
Create a pool of ideas for students to choose from.
Have a person available to take in student ideas should they not find
something that appeals to them.
Have a person available to review the incoming applications marked
for that organization and decide who should go forward with the effort.
Have a person to monitor the progress of the students and mentor them
as the project goes forward.
Have a person ready to take over for that person in the event they go
on vacation, are hit by a bus, etc...
Be able to tell us about the developer, how they worked with the
group, if they should be invited back should we do another summer of
code, etc..
I bet there are some Lisp projects that could take the boost of
code/money.