The purpose of this blog is simple: help Free Open Source Software (FOSS) maintainers get paid for their free labor.
It takes enormous time, effort, experience, and money to maintain open-source software, triage and fix issues, add new features, provide free support, and do other administrative work. Their free work often qualifies as part-time or even full-time jobs.
FOSS maintainers deserve to be paid for their hard work supporting themselves and their families. The community benefits from their labor, and the community should help fund them.
The community includes everyone who benefits in any way from the free and open-source software:
- end-users
- contributors
- sponsors
- vendors/partners
This blog will focus on getting your community to fund the project (and you!) providing tips, strategies, and advice based on my experience with open source projects and professional marketing consulting.
Open Source
Over the past 17 years, I've used open-source software, sponsored projects and maintainers, contributed to various projects in various roles, and currently am a director/treasurer (volunteer) of ClassicPress Initiative - a 501(c)3 non-profit managing ClassicPress CMS, a fork of WordPress.
I'll talk a lot about ClassicPress, its trials and tribulations, and lessons learned trying to get community to fund it.
Work
Professionally, I've done a few things:
- 2009 - present - marketing consultant helping small and medium-sized businesses leverage online marketing to generate leads and sales.
- 2009-2010 - convention director for an international non-profit.
- 2005-2009 - US Navy veteran.
I also have a Bachelor's degree in Photojournalism/Journalism from Rochester Institute of Technology (Go Tigers!).
To learn more and connect with me, visit my LinkedIn profile or follow on Twitter and Mastodon.
Personal
A Ukrainian who grew up in the US, married a Trinidadian gyal, and now living in Canada with two kids and the third one is on the way. If you can't tell, I enjoy stress in my life ðŸ˜ðŸ˜‚.
You can learn more about our family on the blog, Instagram, and Tiktok.
If you have any questions, contact me.