funding.yml
is used by github and lives in a .github
folder in your git repo. There is the first-party Github sponsors, but also third-party “supported” items, plus you can add a custom entry that is just a link:
github: [octocat, surftocat]
patreon: octocat
tidelift: npm/octo-package
custom: ["https://www.paypal.me/octocat", octocat.com]
So, for starters, we should encourage stricteq and similar links in custom. It’s hidden behind the “Sponsors” button, which isn’t quite the right terminology.
Adding a FUNDING.md file
The meat of my idea that I’d love feedback on is this.
Can we suggest that people start adding a new file in the root of their repos that talks about how the project / the maintainers are funded / supported?
Here are two examples:
Bob maintains this library for his own needs. Donations are welcome but not necessary. Paid support or feature requests can be considered, please contact Bob if interested
Or:
Alice maintains this application as her day job. Your donations and commercial license purchases enable her to work on it full time, keep it bug free, and implement new features. Donations, sponsorships, and professional support, as well as custom development and implementation, are all available through Alice and the partners listed below.
I envision a handful of templates.
The goals are:
- encourage people to signal how and if they want funding, how people can help with cash
- promote maintainer and third party consulting around it
- help build a community of people who want to be have open source software as their day job
Example found in the wild:
musl has a Patreon to fund maintenance and development by the main project author, Rich Felker.
Other code contribitors have also performed porting and implementation of new functionality by contract. If there is functionality you need and want to fund that is or might be in the scope of the project, or that could be met with a side project (for an example, see musl-nscd), please get in touch.
What do you think of this idea?