Funding the FOSS Ecosystem
The Funding Gap in FOSS: What We Learned and How to Close It
<p>Funding remains one of the biggest challenges in sustaining free and open source software. In this interactive workshop, we will use the results of a global survey and interview series start a conversation around how developers, users and maintainers think about money in FOSS and what it means for the future of our ecosystem. During the session we will explore donation campaign best practices from FOSS projects, discuss the role transparency and clear policies play in how funds are handled, and give participants an opportunity to learn, contribute, connect and explore how we can help make FOSS more sustainable.</p>
Weitere Infos
| Live Stream | https://live.fosdem.org/watch/ud2218a |
|---|---|
| Format | devroom |
| Sprache | Englisch |
Weitere Sessions
| 31.01.26 |
<p>For nearly a decade, Open Collective has served as the financial and legal infrastructure for over 3,000 open source projects, managing millions in funding. However, for much of that history, the platform itself was owned by Venture Capitalists a tension that sits at the heart of the FOSS funding conversation.</p> <p>In this talk, we reveal how the platform’s largest users, specifically the Open Source Collective—orchestrated a coup to boot out the initial investors and restructure the ...
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| 31.01.26 |
<p>Free software has no shortage of talent, ideas, or users, but it does have a funding problem. The largest potential funding source already exists: public procurement. Governments spend billions each year on software and digital services, but most of that money flows into proprietary silos that limit transparency, reuse, and sovereignty.</p> <p>If we take “Public Money, Public Code” - https://publiccode.eu - seriously, we must recognize that procurement (not donations or sponsorships) is ...
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| 31.01.26 |
<p>This talk is a call-to-action to join our campaign to convince the European Union that, in order to secure its digital future, it should invest in open source maintenance via an EU Sovereign Tech Fund (EU-STF).</p> <p>Right now, the EU is negotiating its multi-year budget for the period of 2028-2034. Traditionally, the EU budget has been focused on regional development and agriculture, but more and more policymakers are realizing that investment in our digital infrastructure is just as ...
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| 31.01.26 |
<p>This is a session combining the experience of several FOSS projects in their funding journey. Each will have 10 minutes to present, after which a Q&A session will happen. </p> <p>The presenting FOSS projects will be:</p> <ul> <li> <p>Mockoon is a popular open-source API tool, built and maintained from Luxembourg. In this talk, its creator shares the journey of growing a developer tool used by thousands, without external funding. Learn what worked (and didn't) in the pursuit of ...
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| 31.01.26 |
<p>The Domain Name System (DNS) is one of the core pillars of the internet, enabling users to navigate the web reliably and securely. However, underfunded open source DNS projects create systemic risks, exposing millions of users to vulnerabilities and threatening the stability and security of the entire internet. </p> <p>The Nominet DNS Fund aims to tackle these critical gaps by investing in the security, resilience, and long-term viability of these essential open source components, recognising ...
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| 31.01.26 |
<p>This talk, based on <a href="https://doi.org/10.12688/openreseurope.20210.1">a paper in <em>Open Research Europe</em></a>, will discuss the current state of research software funding, propose a way of thinking about the different models that are currently used, and suggest new models to better support the global research software community.</p> <p>Today, research software funding operates across a disconnected landscape of public and private grant-making organizations, leading to ...
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| 31.01.26 |
<p>The open source funding landscape is changing. Funders struggle to effectively measure and communicate the impact of their programs beyond case-by-case stories. This disconnect threatens the long-term sustainability of funding and thus the sustainability of FOSS. We spent the last year talking with FOSS funding organizations and grant recipients to understand their approach to grant funding, impact reporting, and FOSS sustainability. We also sought to understand the disconnect between the ...
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