Open BSS - Open Source Unix at Open Source Unix

If there is a gap in the open source software world for a particular application/system, is it generally possible to find companies/public organisations to help fund the creation of that project if someone is willing to coordinate / manage the project? Does anyone have any examples of projects initiated in this way? I'm thinking of a scale of project larger than a Google summer of code.

The whole point of open source is that it is developed cheaply to make it publicly available. Nobody will fund anything for it. If you develop a useful program and others think it has potential you may find they will assist free in the development. If it becomes a big enough project a company may provide limited funding to make it suit their use. You have to release the source code of everything you distribute or it ceases to be open source.