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"(a) making it easy to fund projects" I don't know how it is in the US, but in EU you need a regular invoice for a business expense. So if a company wants to su

by pulse7 6y ago

"(a) making it easy to fund projects" I don't know how it is in the US, but in EU you need a regular invoice for a business expense. So if a company wants to support an open-source project today, they need an invoice from the authors. Now try to get this from the author of your favorite GitHub open-source library... And for large corporations you need to get a quote / an offer so that a business decision may be made and budget may get allocated... Now try to get an offer from the author...

smarx007 6y ago
Pretty sure https://www.tidelift.com/ https://www.tidelift.com/ can invoice you. Upd: GH has announced they can do too https://github.blog/2020-12-08-new-from-universe-2020-dark-mode-github-sponsors-for-companies-and-more/#companies-can-now-invest-in-open-source-with-github-sponsors https://github.blog/2020-12-08-new-from-universe-2020-dark-m... "Starting today, investing in open source is as easy as just adding it to your GitHub bill!"
nrvn 6y ago
What about non-profit organizations, donations, charity funds? I doubt that there is absolutely no way for EU based companies and people to support open source projects snd teams behind them
- pulse7 6y ago
  In my country a company can legally donate if: a) organization is on a list of approved non-profit organizations or b) you sign a contract with organization where the purpose of donations is clearly defined. Usually authors of open-source projects are not "approved non-profits" so you must have a contract with them...
pabs3 6y ago
At one one place I work we successfully contracted the authors of random GitHub projects to add features we needed, so it is definitely doable. I've also had companies/folks contact me randomly about improvements to open source projects I've worked on. For larger projects there are usually lots of consulting companies able to do that too.

by pulse7 6y ago

smarx007 6y ago

Pretty sure https://www.tidelift.com/ https://www.tidelift.com/ can invoice you. Upd: GH has announced they can do too https://github.blog/2020-12-08-new-from-universe-2020-dark-mode-github-sponsors-for-companies-and-more/#companies-can-now-invest-in-open-source-with-github-sponsors https://github.blog/2020-12-08-new-from-universe-2020-dark-m... "Starting today, investing in open source is as easy as just adding it to your GitHub bill!"

nrvn 6y ago

What about non-profit organizations, donations, charity funds? I doubt that there is absolutely no way for EU based companies and people to support open source projects snd teams behind them

pulse7 6y ago
In my country a company can legally donate if: a) organization is on a list of approved non-profit organizations or b) you sign a contract with organization where the purpose of donations is clearly defined. Usually authors of open-source projects are not "approved non-profits" so you must have a contract with them...

pabs3 6y ago

At one one place I work we successfully contracted the authors of random GitHub projects to add features we needed, so it is definitely doable. I've also had companies/folks contact me randomly about improvements to open source projects I've worked on. For larger projects there are usually lots of consulting companies able to do that too.