A VC and some big-name programmers are trying to solve open source’s funding problem, permanently
Source: TechCrunch
Open Source Endowment
A group of notable open‑source programmers is teaming up with a VC investor to launch a nonprofit called the Open Source Endowment. Their goal: permanently solve the perennial problem of funding open‑source software development.
Backers
- Thomas Dohmke – former GitHub CEO, who raised a record $60 M for his dev‑tool startup Entire (TechCrunch).
- Mitchell Hashimoto – founder of HashiCorp, acquired by IBM for $6.4 B last year (TechCrunch).
- Paul Copplestone – founder and CEO of Supabase (TechCrunch podcast).
- An NGINX co‑founder.
- The creators of Vue.js and cURL.
- Executives from Elastic, Spotify, and other leading tech firms.
All told, the project has over 50 donors so far.
Current Status
- The nonprofit has just obtained formal 501(c)(3) status.
- Commitments exceed $750 K.
- Founder Konstantin Vinogradov projects $100 M in assets within seven years.
About the Founder
Konstantin Vinogradov is a venture investor focused on open‑source, AI, and infrastructure software. He was previously a general partner at Runa Capital and says he has “some experience with university endowments,” which are among the largest investors in venture‑capital funds (as told to TechCrunch).
“There is no source of sustainable funding for open‑source maintainers. And that’s a really big problem.”
Maintainers are the developers who keep open‑source projects alive—debugging, reviewing community contributions, and building new features.
How the Endowment Will Work
The endowment will support projects that meet criteria such as:
- Scale of usage – number of end users or downstream projects that depend on the software.
- Funding gap – projects that are not already well‑supported by grants, donations, or umbrella organizations (e.g., Linux’s Alpha‑Omega).
Vinogradov has already assembled a board of experts to oversee the nonprofit’s activities.
Cash‑Strapped, Burned‑Out
The lack of money in open source is hardly new. Open‑source software is typically given away, and since the community often contributes time and effort freely, up to 86 % of open‑source developers are not paid for their work【1】.
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This isn’t much of a problem for hobbyists or for professional developers paid by their companies to maintain projects, but such a system stands on shaky ground. Open‑source software is the bedrock upon which the internet stands, and virtually every large company uses open‑source tools in some way. In fact, open‑source software accounts for up to 55 % of the tech stack in organizations【2】, and is present in everything from databases to operating systems.
While it is certainly possible for open‑source developers to commercialize their free projects to gain wealth beyond their wildest dreams【3】, the odds—to misquote The Hunger Games—are not in their favor.
There is, and has been for decades, a core of developers who volunteer their time and effort for free to manage popular, important, and critical projects. Many of them are burned out【4】.
A Notable Flashpoint
The issue entered public consciousness in 2014 with the OpenSSL Heartbleed disaster【5】, where a critical security bug in an open‑source project used by most of the internet was maintained by a single developer.
Funding Attempts Over the Years
| Approach | Example | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Corporate‑sponsored donations | The Linux Foundation | Brought in ≈ $300 M last year【6】, largely from corporate sponsors. Its Alpha‑Omega Project issued $5.8 M to 14 projects in 2025. |
| Direct corporate contributions | Anthropic → Python Software Foundation | In January, Anthropic donated $1.5 M【7】. The foundation was thrilled, but Anthropic had just raised $30 B that month【8】—making the donation “couch‑change.” |
| Community‑driven funding | Ruby community controversy | Long‑time maintainers left after concerns about sponsor (Spotify) influence, as reported by The Register【9】. |
| Endowment model | Open Source Endowment | Aims to support projects while avoiding donor‑influence risks. |
“The only way to support open source sustainably is private funds,” says Vinogradov.
Why Haven’t Endowments Been Tried Before?
Endowments require patience. They invest most of their assets, spending only a fraction of the annual income, and need years or even decades to grow to a meaningful size. If managed correctly, this patience can yield an independent fund that supports critical open‑source projects forever.
References
- Open‑source developers are exhausted – ITSFOSS
- World of Open Source 2025 – Linux Foundation
- Databricks‑Perplexity co‑founder pledges $100 M – TechCrunch
- Burnout in open source – Open Source Pledge
- Heartbleed disaster – TechCrunch (2014)
- $300 M Linux Foundation revenue – Phoronix
- Anthropic donates $1.5 M to PSF – Python Discussion Forum
- Anthropic raises $30 B – TechCrunch (2026)
- Ruby community sponsor controversy – The Register