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Open Source Endowment – new funding source for open source maintainers

endowment.dev

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Re: Open Source Endowment – new funding source for open source maintainers

#131

Post by limagnolia »

PaulDavisThe1st wrote: post #130
kvinogradov wrote: post #2

Over the last few years I've talked with hundreds of people in the dev community, and almost everyone shared the same concern: there's no sustainable funding for critical OSS maintenance, and without it the modern world runs on an increasingly fragile foundation. I have personal experience with university endowments, and at some point noticed that the open source world is remarkably similar to a top research universi…

I've been working on the same libre project for more than 25 years, and making a living from it for about 15, so I have my own perspective on this. The biggest issue that I see is that even for things that are in some respects "finished", grants on the order of $5k do not change the maintainance picture very much at all. If there's a sudden crisis with critical infrastructure, people will step. But that's precisely w…

A grant can be for a lot more than $5,000. It can be for as much as the grant-making org has and wants to spend. Grants can be given on an ongoing basis as well.

Re: Open Source Endowment – new funding source for open source maintainers

#132

Post by kvinogradov »

gtowey wrote: post #125
kvinogradov wrote: post #2

Over the last few years I've talked with hundreds of people in the dev community, and almost everyone shared the same concern: there's no sustainable funding for critical OSS maintenance, and without it the modern world runs on an increasingly fragile foundation. I have personal experience with university endowments, and at some point noticed that the open source world is remarkably similar to a top research universi…

700k from 60+ "founding donors" = an average of 11k per person. These are people who have net worth values in the 10's to 100's of millions of dollars and they could only give ~10k to open source software? My goodness we're cooked. The oligarchs are so unbelievably cheap.

OSE has a diverse community of donors, and most of them are not even close to that net worth level. Around 75% of our donors contributed in $1-200k range. We think that every donation matters, and hugely respect everybody supporting open source.

May I ask what it’s the right share of net worth one should donate to OSS? And what’s this share in your personal case?

Re: Open Source Endowment – new funding source for open source maintainers

#133

Post by whattheheckheck »

gtowey wrote: post #125
kvinogradov wrote: post #2

Over the last few years I've talked with hundreds of people in the dev community, and almost everyone shared the same concern: there's no sustainable funding for critical OSS maintenance, and without it the modern world runs on an increasingly fragile foundation. I have personal experience with university endowments, and at some point noticed that the open source world is remarkably similar to a top research universi…

700k from 60+ "founding donors" = an average of 11k per person. These are people who have net worth values in the 10's to 100's of millions of dollars and they could only give ~10k to open source software? My goodness we're cooked. The oligarchs are so unbelievably cheap.

They didn't get there by being nice so by definition they're cutthroat tight wads

Re: Open Source Endowment – new funding source for open source maintainers

#134

Post by kvinogradov »

PaulDavisThe1st wrote: post #130
kvinogradov wrote: post #2

Over the last few years I've talked with hundreds of people in the dev community, and almost everyone shared the same concern: there's no sustainable funding for critical OSS maintenance, and without it the modern world runs on an increasingly fragile foundation. I have personal experience with university endowments, and at some point noticed that the open source world is remarkably similar to a top research universi…

I've been working on the same libre project for more than 25 years, and making a living from it for about 15, so I have my own perspective on this. The biggest issue that I see is that even for things that are in some respects "finished", grants on the order of $5k do not change the maintainance picture very much at all. If there's a sudden crisis with critical infrastructure, people will step. But that's precisely w…

Now the Open Source Endowment is a very small organization that starts with ~$5k microgrants. It is not enough for a living but still should help maintainers not only financially but also by allocating attention.

As it grows bigger, the grant size will also grow. One can help with this by donating and bringing in new donors!

Re: Open Source Endowment – new funding source for open source maintainers

#135

Post by kvinogradov »

PaulDavisThe1st wrote: post #126
kvinogradov wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The explanation is simple — nobody can predict exact annual returns, and they tend to fluctuate. We aim to spend at least 5% per year on OSS grants and need to decide if we can spend more on them or should reinvest based on specific annual results. And target earnings should overcome inflation.

Reasonable answer, but this part: > Why not build something super minimal that requires less management and operating costs? That doesn't have the market risk at the center of it all? That doesn't have more points for fraud and abuse? could still be usefully addressed.

“super minimal that requires less management and operating costs” - that’s exactly our current setup, and always will be the target!

Now OSE has no paid employees - the team is 100% volunteers. Its Board Directors and the Executive Director are required to personally donate $1000+/year. Operating costs are close to zero.

As organization evolves there might be higher operating costs, but our commitment to keep them as low as possible.

Re: Open Source Endowment – new funding source for open source maintainers

#136

Post by kvinogradov »

PaulDavisThe1st wrote: post #126
kvinogradov wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The explanation is simple — nobody can predict exact annual returns, and they tend to fluctuate. We aim to spend at least 5% per year on OSS grants and need to decide if we can spend more on them or should reinvest based on specific annual results. And target earnings should overcome inflation.

Reasonable answer, but this part: > Why not build something super minimal that requires less management and operating costs? That doesn't have the market risk at the center of it all? That doesn't have more points for fraud and abuse? could still be usefully addressed.

The best long-term protection from fraud and abuse are aligned incentives through skin in the game. That’s why we legally require all people in governance to be Members ($1000+/year donation). This is an important topic, and here you can find more context on this: https://kvinogradov.com/osendowment/

Re: Open Source Endowment – new funding source for open source maintainers

#138

Post by PaulDavisThe1st »

kvinogradov wrote: post #136
PaulDavisThe1st wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reasonable answer, but this part: > Why not build something super minimal that requires less management and operating costs? That doesn't have the market risk at the center of it all? That doesn't have more points for fraud and abuse? could still be usefully addressed.

The best long-term protection from fraud and abuse are aligned incentives through skin in the game. That’s why we legally require all people in governance to be Members ($1000+/year donation). This is an important topic, and here you can find more context on this: https://kvinogradov.com/osendowment/

I think this is really missing the point of the question. I know that it is common for endowments to be invested "in the market" - people believe that's the most responsible thing to do. But the question was about why do things the normal way? Why link up market performance of a set of investments with funding mechanisms for OSS? If you're going to be bold and try to fund something that is, in market and economic terms, quite off-norm, why do that using entirely normal systems that are at the core of a capitalist economy?

Re: Open Source Endowment – new funding source for open source maintainers

#139

Post by PaulDavisThe1st »

kvinogradov wrote: post #134
PaulDavisThe1st wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been working on the same libre project for more than 25 years, and making a living from it for about 15, so I have my own perspective on this. The biggest issue that I see is that even for things that are in some respects "finished", grants on the order of $5k do not change the maintainance picture very much at all. If there's a sudden crisis with critical infrastructure, people will step. But that's precisely w…

Now the Open Source Endowment is a very small organization that starts with ~$5k microgrants. It is not enough for a living but still should help maintainers not only financially but also by allocating attention. As it grows bigger, the grant size will also grow. One can help with this by donating and bringing in new donors!

I think my point is that grants may not be the way to get what is desired. Most people need predictable, long term income. You can get stuff done with grants, no doubt. But that's not the question - the question is can you build long term sustainable maintainance mechanisms for OSS. I hope you're right and I'm wrong.

Re: Open Source Endowment – new funding source for open source maintainers

#140

Post by pabs3 »

nwellnhof wrote: post #104
whit537 wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Noted in the abstract, thanks. Concrete examples more useful ofc.

Concrete examples: GNU software, musl C library, everything from x.org and freedesktop.org. Just have a look at the top 1,000 projects from the Debian popularity contest and you'll find many projects outside the Github bubble. Why not use the Debian package name in your nomination form instead of a Github URL? Any project important enough to matter will have a Debian package, right? If you're trying to come up with s…

Debian definitely doesn't package every piece of software that needs funding.
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