5 ms·

I’m hoping that with GitHub getting into the donation game, things will get a little better for funding open source. This is just the symptom. It’s really dif

I’m hoping that with GitHub getting into the donation game, things will get a little better for funding open source. This is just the symptom. It’s really difficult to convince people to part with just $100 a year to fund something critical to our org. I do fund some projects, but there are plenty of others that I use regularly that I don’t fund monthly

lacker 7y ago
The problem is that the $100 usually isn’t funding something critical to your org. If you are getting some key feature in return for your money most organizations will be happy to pay, a lot more than $100 really. But giving someone $100 for a product whose stated price is $0 doesn’t make as much sense.
- chaostheory 7y ago
  > If you are getting some key feature in return for your money most organizations will be happy to pay, a lot more than $100 really. I don't feel this is true. How many major organizations donate or sponsor django, vue, or another major framework that's a key part of their business?
  - lacker 7y ago
    They aren't getting Django or Vue in return for their money. They get Django and Vue for free. If there's an additional feature that doesn't exist and they need someone to develop it, they are typically willing to pay for that feature.
nitwit005 7y ago
I suspect you'd see people doing this even if they were well funded. Charities often happily continue fundraising long after they've reached their goals.
- chaostheory 7y ago
  Sure, but the majority aren't even close to being well funded.
caniszczyk 7y ago
donation's don't work well https://www.aniszczyk.org/2019/03/25/troubles-with-the-open-source-gig-economy-and-sustainability-tip-jar/ https://www.aniszczyk.org/2019/03/25/troubles-with-the-open-...
- chaostheory 7y ago
  It's a good article that highlights issues with Patreon like startups... but this was before Github got into the game, and it's definitely a different and much bigger animal.

lacker 7y ago

The problem is that the $100 usually isn’t funding something critical to your org. If you are getting some key feature in return for your money most organizations will be happy to pay, a lot more than $100 really. But giving someone $100 for a product whose stated price is $0 doesn’t make as much sense.

chaostheory 7y ago
> If you are getting some key feature in return for your money most organizations will be happy to pay, a lot more than $100 really. I don't feel this is true. How many major organizations donate or sponsor django, vue, or another major framework that's a key part of their business?
- lacker 7y ago
  They aren't getting Django or Vue in return for their money. They get Django and Vue for free. If there's an additional feature that doesn't exist and they need someone to develop it, they are typically willing to pay for that feature.

nitwit005 7y ago

I suspect you'd see people doing this even if they were well funded. Charities often happily continue fundraising long after they've reached their goals.

chaostheory 7y ago
Sure, but the majority aren't even close to being well funded.

caniszczyk 7y ago

donation's don't work well https://www.aniszczyk.org/2019/03/25/troubles-with-the-open-source-gig-economy-and-sustainability-tip-jar/ https://www.aniszczyk.org/2019/03/25/troubles-with-the-open-...

chaostheory 7y ago
It's a good article that highlights issues with Patreon like startups... but this was before Github got into the game, and it's definitely a different and much bigger animal.