[HN Gopher] We need to talk about funding
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       We need to talk about funding
        
       Author : chris_overseas
       Score  : 25 points
       Date   : 2023-10-26 20:55 UTC (2 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (octoprint.org)
 (TXT) w3m dump (octoprint.org)
        
       | tivert wrote:
       | I've recently learned a somewhat uncomfortable truth: pretty much
       | every nonprofit needs to _constantly_ be spending effort
       | wrangling up funding _or it will die_. It 's annoying and
       | uncomfortable truth, but it's true. The money won't find its way
       | into the door on its own.
        
         | candiddevmike wrote:
         | Octoprint isn't a non-profit?
        
         | burnte wrote:
         | For-profits have to spend money to keep bringing it in, too.
         | Every company has an Accounts Receivable person, even if it's a
         | one-person business you spend a lot of time bringing in
         | business and bringing in payments. Everyone's quick to buy, few
         | are quick to pay.
        
       | latchkey wrote:
       | Interesting to state this without a reason...
       | 
       | "Please understand that I can not and will not accept crypto
       | currencies."
       | 
       | Edit: My reasoning for this being interesting is that if I'm
       | having a hard time finding funding, I'd work to lower any
       | barriers to enable people to give me money. For example, a while
       | back, the ASF received a large bitcoin donation, which ended up
       | funding things for quite some time.
        
         | OJFord wrote:
         | Not really, if you have no interest in doing so and people keep
         | asking for it. There might not _be_ any particular reason, it
         | 's just a FAQ.
        
         | hightrix wrote:
         | Is it? If this is your stance, expanding upon the why only
         | opens the door for others to attempt to change your mind. If
         | this person does not wish to engage in that conversation then
         | offering more information, in this case, does nothing positive
         | for the person posting this message.
        
       | mholt wrote:
       | If Gina is reading this, can I just say: wow! It's so cool that
       | you've had _hundreds_ of sponsors on GitHub (almost 1000!) and
       | that 's really exciting size for a user base!
       | 
       | I see you're seeking corporate sponsors. Awesome -- I think this
       | can offset a significant amount of your expenses and pave the way
       | to sustainability. IME it is much easier to sign on a handful of
       | business sponsors than it is to get hundreds or thousands of
       | users to commit to a few dollars a month. Your ROI will likely be
       | much higher.
       | 
       | If you want to make it even easier for businesses to sponsor, can
       | I suggest adding significantly higher tiers to your GitHub
       | Sponsors offering? Most companies probably won't even pay
       | attention to the other funding venues you list, but GitHub is
       | likely already an approved vendor. Try to add a few tiers in the
       | hundreds of dollars per month and the thousands of dollars per
       | month.
       | 
       | You're doing great with this initiative. An earnest yet
       | professional SOS is not a bad thing to do when a project is in
       | peril.
       | 
       | For more inspiration, I hope this can help:
       | https://matt.life/writing/the-asymmetry-of-open-source
        
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       (page generated 2023-10-26 23:00 UTC)