Donate

I care a lot about open source, but am still thinking about a viable business model behind it. If an open source project can generate money, it can be reinvested in that project, accelerating development.

I've seen a few examples of business models that seem to be compatible with open source software:

Ultimaker makes the open source Cura slicer software while selling 3D printers.
InfluxDB makes the open source time series database while selling that software as a service (hosting, maintenance).
Red Hat contributes to Linux while selling licenses and services for their open source software.

Besides those business models, a lot of open source projects rely on donations to cover the costs of the project. Sometimes companies donate larger amounts and sometimes they receive enough to hire people.

I think the business model to rely on donations is fundamentally different from the others in the list, because donations are voluntary while paying for products or services is not. Game theoretically it does not make sense to donate, it's the well-known free rider problem.

Yet, I think there's more to life than game theory and optimizing for money. I care about some of those projects, and I hope even small donations can - if not accelerate their development - at least extend their lifetime.

This page is here for those projects. It's a list of projects I personally care about. I'll use it to refer friends to: in case they owe me one, if they lose a bet to me or if I 3D print something for them, this is where they can find where to donate.