Ask HN: Do you donate money to open source?

I operate a tithe and give approx 10% of what I earn to causes I believe in. These are not all charities, and some include one-off donations to OSS projects.

I typically choose privacy and security related projects, individuals, and causes, these can be big projects like Signal, or regular donations for things like https://www.openrightsgroup.org/ , or random donations to smaller projects (that are sometimes individuals and mostly OSS but it being OSS isn't the core criteria).

I also include small charities that do things like refurbish old company laptops by servicing and installing Ubuntu and then providing them to schools and causes that cannot afford them.

It's mostly stable with a little scatter gun, I keep track in my monthly budget and just hover around that 10% mark. When I sold shares, I did extend the tithe to that too.

Edit: I am not religious but did learn of tithes when I was young and it seemed like a good thing that some religions do and I figured that if I started when young I'd never notice it. Mostly I don't notice it (though when I was saving for a mortgage I did stop and think I would've achieved it a lot sooner were I to not have the tithe - I stopped for a few months when I moved but slowly restored it).

I’ve donated to the FreeBSD Foundation a couple of times.

https://freebsdfoundation.org/donate/

There used to be a way to give to the FreeBSD Foundation when you bought something on Humble Bundle too, but I haven’t bought anything via Humble Bundle for a good while and last time I tried to give money to FreeBSD Foundation that way I couldn’t figure out how to do it again.

I also used the fundraiser feature on Facebook one time on my birthday and posted that for my birthday I wished that people help give money to the FreeBSD Foundation, because FreeBSD means a lot to me. I also described FreeBSD a bit in the post and why I wanted to do this fundraiser. So a couple of friends and family members contributed to this fundraiser of mine. It was a very small scale thing, but it was nice to do this and I appreciated that those friends and family members helped me donate a bit of money for a project that I find important.

I make it a point to at least make one-time donations to every opensource tool that I find useful and foundations that do good stuff for digital rights in general. Off the top of my head:

- (Monthly) IFF https://internetfreedom.in/

- Mozilla

- EFF

- Wikipedia

- KDE

- Manjaro

- Simpletask https://github.com/mpcjanssen/simpletask-android

- DownThemAll https://www.downthemall.net/

I don't donate at all. However, I'm just answering to question whether you're going to get a representative distribution of answers from both categories.

I do! I'm sponsoring this effort to catch linux trackpad software up to mac standards. Not affiliated with them in any other way, was simply blown away by a friends magic pad, right about the same time this project started. https://github.com/gitclear/libinput

edit: I also like to buy merch from OSS affiliated companies. e.g. mozilla hoodie, Neo4j shirt etc.

Tarsnap contributes its December operating profits to support open source software each year. In past years this has included conferences but it looks like the FreeBSD Foundation might be getting a bigger chunk of cash this time.

I don't personally donate cash; instead, I contribute my time. And in fact I take donations to support my work: https://patreon.com/cperciva

Yes, there are a few developers I directly fund via patreon and github sponsors. I also do occasional one-off donations.

I have also given money to nonprofits that are adjacent to open source, such as the Free Software Conservancy.

I also write a lot of software and release it under FOSS licenses. Over the years most of it has been unfunded (and I never sought funding) but some of it (and, this year, most of it) is developed on a contract basis so money is changing hands, but again no looking for "donations" from users who happen to pick it up from github or whatever.

I donate monthly to the blender foundation. I’m not really using the software anymore but just love what they enable for the creative community.

I don't, though I've never given it a ton of thought until now

Thinking about it: individual donations to OSS are an odd thing. I can see two reasons an entity might donate:

1) They believe ideologically in the impact the project has on the world

2) They directly benefit from it (and feel a social obligation and/or just want to make sure it remains sustainable)

But the thing is:

1) There aren't many software projects I could see being invested in at an ideological level. Maybe a BSD or a Firefox, but not like, a web framework.

2) Similarly there aren't many software projects that an individual would directly benefit from in their personal life. Again maybe a BSD or a Firefox, but not really a web framework.

A business benefits greatly from those libraries and frameworks, and should absolutely donate (though they rarely do), and if I had my own business as an individual then it would donate to the OSS that it used. But as an employed individual I don't feel like I should be subsidizing the projects that my employer - and not myself - is benefitting from.

None of this is to discourage anyone who feels moved to donate to a project for their own reasons, but I think (and I think we all know) OSS funding is broken, and won't be fixed through sheer principle.

Related, I donate money to musicians (whose music I otherwise listen to for free). I donate by buying albums on Bandcamp, on the first Friday of the month (today) -- 100% goes to the musicians on those days (after payment-processor fees). https://daily.bandcamp.com/features/bandcamp-fridays-2021

"Donate", no. But I do put around $1k/mo into open source sponsorships for advertising purposes.

I donate time. If you were to value that time I guess it would be quite a lot of money.

Donated to Signal and I intend to donate again to other projects as soon as I can. Unfortunately I'm not working so it's not that easy, but I'm doing my part to report bugs for every software I use, even using beta versions.

https://fsf.org - yes.

I've donated a tiny amount to Crystal.

I hope that once they get a full IDE-experience (debugging, autocomplete, etc) that it will really take off.

But this question has prompted me to think more about who/what to donate to more, especially to those that have vastly impacted my digital life. Some off the top of my head:

- homebrew -- it's wild to image the times before homebrew - @tpope -- I use vim a lot less these days but Tim Pope has been an incredibly prolific plugin writer - linux foundation / fsf - obvi - Languages: Clojurists together, Crystal, etc.

There's a great powerlifting archive tool (written in Rust!) called Open Powerlifting, and I am on their patreon for $3/month. Not huge obviously. But I love that it's the best place online to get powerlifting results, it doesn't have any ads for anything, and it is first and foremost a high-touch labor of love from powerlifters to help the community.

https://openpowerlifting.org

Edit: I realized I'm still a patron (per episode so it does not matter) for the defunct podcast Lambda Cast. This isn't quite sponsoring an open source dev but it seemed related. Wild that I started listening to this after I enjoyed messing with Ramda.js and now I write Haskell at work. Weird life.

https://soundcloud.com/lambda-cast

Donating ~$15 on GitHub and some others platforms. I have a good income, and using OSS on everyday basis, so why not :)

I've arranged for my employer to sponsor a few small projects via Patreon. We chose some projects that we found especially useful, but that are small enough that our donation could make a difference.

Yep, I donate a little bit to the GrapheneOS project. It's nothing given how much I benefit from it and how much money I save versus being in the Apple ecosystem like I used to be.

Yes, I donate regularly. There was a time when I wasn’t earning a lot to donate but still benefitted from the work freely provided by others. So I see it as a way of supporting current work and paying it forward so that others who cannot afford to buy software (or don’t have access to do so…) don’t get left out.

Mozilla Thunderbird

Mozilla Foundation (would donate to Firefox directly if there were a way to do that)

Some Firefox extensions

VLC Player

The Document Foundation (LibreOffice)

Free Software Foundation

Wikipedia (stopped after sometime due to the heavy annoyances)

and some others I may be forgetting right now.

Yes. LiberaPay made it easy enough and I like those projects.

Yes. If we (Gitpod) use your software in our software please get in contact.

[1] https://www.gitpod.io/blog/gitpod-open-source-sustainability...

[2] https://www.gitpod.io/blog/devxconf-wrap

A few hundred bucks every month from my personal funds to some specific projects via GitHub sponsorships + some patreons. Been doing this for a while and plan to continue.

I sponsor a cup of coffee per month ($2) to a github to a project I use for non-business reasons to take notes (Joplin).

Yes, to both Vue and Nuxt via Open Collective. I use both tools so I like to give back to ensure work continues. I also like the idea of backing the 2nd horse in the race, so to speak, to keep competition active. A lot of backing and money is already behind React and its ecosystem, so putting my money towards Vue development feels like a win for me as well as potentially keeping the other frameworks and tools innovative.

I don't. I donate to humanitarian causes, as my resources are limited and I believe this is where my gifts would have the most impact at truly bettering the condition of my fellow humans.

I also believe that corporations should be far, far more involved in OSS' financing, as they are the largest beneficiaries of it while skimping on the costs. We should not even promote personal donations to OSS.

Most employers will do a match if the donation is to a charity. Things like the Debian project (although the charity that manages it has a different name), FSF, etc, qualify. Always check with your employer before making a donation in case they're willing to contribute, too. Also, donations are often tax deductible.

(edit: I am an fsf member and have contributed to the Debian project)

Just started donating to bcachefs on Patreon. Seems like a effcient use of money since its one guy and i believe in the goal.

Can't wait for it to make it in tree. Shocked more companies don't have more to donate. Especially considering how much man hours and pain btfs caused my previous company alone. They could have bank rolled this entire project for a fraction.

Yes! Of course the comments here will skew towards people who do, but maybe that’s motivating :-)

I don’t donate crazy much, a few streaming services worth, split across many projects. I’m not going to single handedly fund any project, but if everyone gives that amount, a lot of worries are solved.

It also feels pretty good.

Here and there, but still rarely. I tend to donate after interacting with maintainers of a project I can't live without.

I do contribute detailed bug reports, feedback and code fixes when I can, but truth be told, I'm not giving back nearly as much as I get from open source software.

Not at the moment, but I've donated a sizeable amount in the past to various projects. After learning the precarious conditions that some non-profits operate in my city (especially around animal welfare), I decided to divert my donations to them.

Wikimedia foundation. Does that count ?

Not FOSS directly but let’s encrypt.

I previously used to donate to Wikipedia monthly. I still donate to Mozilla in the hopes that Firefox will someday regain market share and stop the Google monopoly. I hope to be in a position to donate more in the future

Projects directly... rarely. I throw a few bucks at a project I really like from time to time, but nothing reoccurring.

Organisations that make open source projects (like for example Tor Project or Wikimedia), that I do at least once a year.

I donate money to some open source projects, and also to the FSF and EFF. I was also able to get previous employers to match my donations. Good reminder for me to see if my current employer will do that.

Personally I donate to XState library and GIMP development, sometimes to Wikipedia.

Made a suggestion to the company I work at, to sponsor OSS projects we use: currently $ 1600 per month, mostly via GitHub sponsors.

Yes. I make a monthly donation to Eleventy via Open Collective. From time to time, I also “buy a coffee” (as the term goes) for the dev(s) behind certain other FOSS or OSS projects I’ve found useful.

I have in the past, and probably will again. I can get turned off by the attitudes of those involved, though. I shouldn't; that's my limitation. But the elitism is sometimes pretty strong.

Ockam does!

https://github.com/ockam-network/ockam/discussions/864

Donating about $5/month to free software projects on Patreon

I did several times.

To Mozilla, because I am happy Firefox user and want it to stay competitive.

To Whisper system, because I love Signal and want everyone to use it.

To Wikimedia, because I use Wikipedia everyday.

I've donated to OSS foundations in the past but haven't funded projects via Github, Patreon or direct donations (e.g. Apache, Eclipse, Mozilla, etc).

Yes, directly to two developers: Andreas Kling with SerenityOS (because it's cool) and Hector Martin for Asahi Linux (because it's also cool).

Is there a tool for making an donation to a bunch of open source at once?

Or a system tool that monitors what you use and helps you allocate donations?

No not at all. However most of the companies I worked at donated or were heavily involved in open source.

I donate regularly using github sponsor and occasionally directly to projects I use.

I have regular small donations set up to some devs that also host their projects.

Yes, a little over $30 a month via Patreon pledges to individual developers.

Donate monthly ($10) to FSF.

A year ago I donated enough to lichess to cover a whole day of operations (cost breakdown here: https://lichess.org/costs). Got the sweet badge

Now their current daily cost is a few hundred more than I donated

I donate via patreon to some devs making opensource (very niche projects)

Yes, to the R foundation.

Yes, I do.

And this is not limited to Open Source.

I use a lot of open source stuff in my work and life.

When I see something that really adds value to my life, I donate to it.

The process is like this:

1. Use a product for long enough (months to years).

2. I see that the product makes my life easier and/or makes some activity really enjoyable- it adds value to my life, in general.

3. They are not assholes. They don't shove ads down your throat or ask for donation five times a day, or block really essential features behind a paywall.

If these three criteria are met, I donate money to them, although never automatically recurrent payment. Only one-time donations, sometimes repeatedly.

This way, I have donated to or bought paid versions of-

1. Linux Mint

2. Blender

3. Ebookdroid (android reader app)

4. Lithium (Epub reader app)

5. Qbittorrent

6. Infinity (privacy-focused reddit client that lets you download videos)

And many others.

I've been an FSF member for years, if that counts.

Nope. Don't donate to any charities either.

i've got receipts in my email from kicad, krita and freebsd.

i also support that guy working on freecad on patreon. (realthunder? something?)

I've donated to freecad, eff and mozilla.

I have donated to Firefox and Scratch.

With how few Silicon Valley developers (i.e., they can afford it) I've seen pay for Sublime Text, I'm going to guess "no."

Wish I could.

yeah to stuff I don't even use sometimes, I just like that it exists

I have a couple times.

I donated to Crystal.

no

What I'm wondering is - where would donated money actually go?

I'm reminded of disease research charities where most of the money goes to administrative overhead and the people doing the work and making the breakthroughs don't see any of it.