Snowdrift.coop as a 2021 High Priority Free Software Project
blog.snowdrift.coop
blog.snowdrift.coop
Finding a sustainable funding model for free/libre/open (FLO) software is a perennial topic on HN. Snowdrift.coop is one such attempt. We are hopeful that we may succeed where [others] have failed due to our novel mechanism, Crowdmatching. It is described in the post, but in short it's a matching pledge that combines the best of Patreon and Kickstarter.
One of the larger challenges is communicating the scope of our vision. "Sustainable funding" to us doesn't mean "maintaining the status quo, but with less burnout", it means FLO software [out]competing its proprietary counterparts; longer-term, we plan to support other public goods, not only software.
We've been around since 2014 (before Patreon!), slowly working toward launch. It has been a long journey, [in part] because of the ethical standards we've held ourselves to — we also use exclusively FLO tools (with one compromise: using gitlab.com) and operate as a non-profit cooperative (no conflict of interest between VC and the public benefit). But we're finally near the home stretch, and expect to launch Soon…
The irony isn't lost on us, that Snowdrift.coop struggles with the same issues we're looking to solve. Without reliable funding, we rely primarily (currently 100%) on volunteers, which means that progress is inconsistent, based on availability. That's one of the reasons why we're asking to be included on the FSF's High Priority Projects list — additional help could make the difference between launching "Soon" in 2 years vs 2 months. It's also the reason why Snowdrift.coop ought to be on the list — almost every FLO project struggles with this.
Our scope is wide enough that there's room for any skill set, but we can particularly use help with frontend development (especialy css), finalizing our organizational/legal structure (especially 501(c)(3) issues), and project management / organization.
I'll do my best to answer follow-up questions (while trying to balance time spent on HN vs getting any work done today).
[others]: https://wiki.snowdrift.coop/market-research/other-crowdfundi...
[in part]: the other parts are the regular challenges that any organization faces; the Snowdrift.coop team is working on this because we care, not because we have the most experience running a fully remote, global team.
Patreon was announced in 2013 I think. But Snowdrift.coop still was started first, as the first rough prototype proposal was up online in early 2013 actually.
(This is a bit internal feedback, I'm the co-founder of Snowdrift.coop who was more involved at that early time)