This is almost exactly what an open source software foundation does. For example, consider the Apache Software Foundation. The Apache web server and the other

This is almost exactly what an open source software foundation does. For example, consider the Apache Software Foundation. The Apache web server and the other projects they work on provide massive amounts of value to the world, but they don't sell them. It is sustained through donations, I believe, and it seems to be working just fine for them. Without knowing more about your idea, how can we judge whether it's worth it to follow through with it?