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Comment by diggan | Hacker News Reader

> Is it normal to take seven months to decide which projects to fund?

Is not normal for FOSS projects to get funding to use however they see fit at all, so the whole situation is "not normal" from the get go. Might be too long for your schedule, but at least they're getting funding from somewhere.

> It makes it difficult for the projects to do any kind of planning, right?

What planning do you think they engaged with before the funding? I haven't checked all the projects, but most projects seems to be "first time receivers" of this sort of funding, so unlikely they had much plans beyond "it'd be nice if we could eventually do this sometime" before the funding, and now they could hopefully feel a bit more stable to start doing some planning.

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> What planning do you think they engaged with before the funding?

If the goal is to fund full-time development of something and they don’t know if they are going to get the funding for seven months, they will have to take employment elsewhere. If they take employment elsewhere, when the funding comes in, they will have to turn it down or quit the job they just got. Seems like it forces an unpleasant choice.

> If the goal is to fund full-time development of something and they don’t know if they are going to get the funding for seven months

In my experience, that's not the goal most FOSS projects have in mind from day 1. You might be working somewhere else, yet still release FOSS software and if it something in particular gets traction and makes sense to spend longer time on, you might start considering trying to be funded for full-time in some way.

But unless you have some following/funding from earlier, I don't think people jump feet first into FOSS like that, expecting "full-time employment" pay working on their project, but starts with something with smaller sources of income, like Open Collective or GitHub Sponsors/

> that's not the goal most FOSS projects have in mind from day 1.

Most FOSS projects from day one, no. But I would say that it’s the goal for most FOSS projects when they apply for funding. Paying for development time is surely the most common use for this money, right?

> But unless you have some following/funding from earlier, I don't think people jump feet first into FOSS like that, expecting "full-time employment" pay working on their project, but starts with something with smaller sources of income, like Open Collective or GitHub Sponsors/

If the smaller sources of income don’t pay the bills then the dilemma still occurs, and if they do pay the bills then the funding isn’t needed.

> But I would say that it’s the goal for most FOSS projects when they apply for funding

Yes, but I'm guessing most are applying for funding before quitting their full-time jobs, not after. So there isn't really anything to plan if they don't have any realistic chance at spending full-time on the project.

> If the smaller sources of income don’t pay the bills then the dilemma still occurs, and if they do pay the bills then the funding isn’t needed.

The dilemma of what, continue doing what they've been doing; releasing and maintaining FOSS, without being paid for it?

> The dilemma of what, continue doing what they've been doing; releasing and maintaining FOSS, without being paid for it?

From my earlier comment:

> If they take employment elsewhere, when the funding comes in, they will have to turn it down or quit the job they just got. Seems like it forces an unpleasant choice.

The project I'm working on (https://zenprivacy.net) currently has an active application with NLNet. Everyone's situation is different, but let me share ours. We had a source of funding that allowed us to work on the project full-time, but it unfortunately ran out a few months ago. We're now in the exact same position @JimDabell described - trying to decide what to do with an unclear timeline ahead. I'm of course hugely grateful to everyone behind the foundation, but it would've been nice if there were a separate "fast track" for established projects.

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