diff --git a/pages/01.blog/how-we-started-to-donate-to-open-source-at-work/blog.md b/pages/01.blog/how-we-started-to-donate-to-open-source-at-work/blog.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..890b4f7 --- /dev/null +++ b/pages/01.blog/how-we-started-to-donate-to-open-source-at-work/blog.md @@ -0,0 +1,121 @@ +--- +title: 'How we started to donate to Open Source at work' +taxonomy: + tag: + - work + - freesoftware + - donations +content: + items: + - '@self.children' + limit: 5 + order: + by: date + dir: desc + pagination: true + url_taxonomy_filters: true +--- + +## Pitching the idea + +As you might have seen in the news, there have been a lot of articles over the +years that Open Source software doesn't receive enough support, especially +financially. + +At my employer [Contria GmbH](https://www.contria.ch) we use a lot of Open Source software: + +- Ubuntu as the base OS for our VMs +- Ansible to deploy the VMs +- Nginx, PHP and MariaDB to run the applications +- Vagrant and Virtualbox to set up a development environment + +To just name a few and as well some tools provided by individuals for free. For +example digwebinterface.com. + +I would consider myself a Free Software enthusiast and read a lot of those +articles mentioned above. So a few years ago I decided, I would try and ask if +Contria would be willing to donate to the various Open Source projects we use +to build and run our products. + +When I spoke with the manager of the company about it, I wasn't actually met +with a lot of resistance. I mentioned the problems a lot of Open Source +projects had with funding and asked if we as Contria might be wiling to do +something in this regard. He quickly saw the reasoning behind the idea and was +willing to continue with the project. + +> Just like that? + +_Yes just like that. I hope that it will be this easy for everyone who tries to +do something similar._ + +## Getting started + +After the initial pitch it took a few years before we actually started with the +project. But in 2021 I was able to officially dedicate some of my time to the +project. + +I started to create a short list with software and projects we used and seemed +worth to donate to. I focused mainly on non-profit organisations and +individuals. For example, while we use Ubuntu it makes more sense to me to +donate to Debian. Ubuntu is based on Debian and Canonical, the company behind +Ubuntu, is already profitable. + +In addition to the larger and more system related projects, I would like to +start curating a list of essential packages we use in our products. We're not +quite there yet, but I expect this to be something to grow each year anyway. + +After I created the list I assigned a percentage to each project. Currently, +these are just 5 and 10%. Roughly weighed by importance to us and a bit by the +size of the project. I did it this way so that the distribution wasn't based on +the budget because when I created the list I didn't know yet how much money I +was able to spend. It then turned out that the budget would be a **few +thousand** Swiss Francs, I could freely allocate. + +> That doesn't sound like much for a swiss company with over 20 employees. + +_Compared to the licenses we pay for proprietary software it's indeed not that +much. But then again, it's still quite a substancial amount. Who knows maybe it +will grow in the future._ + +Last year we had about 40% left which I didn't allocate to a specific project. +We didn't just want to keep the money and were sure that there were very +important but "hidden" projects we didn't think of. Think OpenSSL for example +which was one of the most prominent examples in recent years.\\ +We first thought about giving the money to the FSFE or a similar foundation. A +lot of them do a very good job, but we felt that some of them might be a bit too +political for a company to donate to. +We then found the [Open Source Collective](https://www.oscollective.org/) which was exactly what we were +looking for. Projects can apply for funding at the Open Source Collective, and +they would then distribute the donations between the projects. So any leftover +budget we have goes fully to the Open Source Collective now. + +## Problems when donating + +For most projects it was very easy to donate to. Especially when they are on +[opencollective.com](https://opencollective.com). Donating through PayPal works as well but we prefer +Open Collective. + +Some projects have regular bank accounts which you can donate to, for some this +worked well but was more involved for us because I would have to go through the +financial department. In the case of the Drupal foundation we weren't able to +donate at all because something was wrong with the address of their bank. +Luckily they are now on Open Collective. + +One project we quite like and use a lot didn't collect its donation, and it +looks like the project might have become unmaintained. I'm not sure yet of we +donate to it again this year. I really appreciate the work but if the money +doesn't get used we probably give it better to a project that does use it. + +## Final thoughts + +I'm very happy with the outcome of our donating project. I feel that the +amount we donate is sustainable, and it shows that we as a company care about +these projects.\\ +Since it's my employer I'm writing here about I can't make any predictions, but +I will keep advocating for the use and support of Open Source and especially +Free Software inside our company. + +For other people that think their employer might be able to contribute to Open +Source projects, I can give the following advice:\\ +The main reason why we didn't do it before, was that we didn't have someone who +carried the idea forward. So go ahead and give it a try :).