Why I'm supporting the petition to recognize open-source work as volunteering in Germany
Source: Dev.to
Disclaimer: This post reflects my personal opinion and is published on my own website. I’m speaking as a Community Manager / DevRels who works at the intersection of developers and open source, not on behalf of my employer.
A call we should all stand behind
The petition, initiated by TYPO3 Association board member Boris Hinzer, calls for open‑source work to be formally recognized as volunteer work in Germany. If adopted, this change would place digital volunteerism alongside long‑established categories such as youth work, rescue services, and civic‑association roles. It would acknowledge that contributing code, documentation, translations, security fixes, and community support is every bit as valuable to society as volunteering offline.
Those of us working in the open‑source ecosystem know this firsthand. Platforms like TYPO3, Joomla, Shopware, and countless others are built on a foundation of open‑source software and thrive because of community contributions. Every improvement, every security patch, every documentation update, and every new idea often starts with individuals who give their time because they believe in open knowledge and shared responsibility. Recognizing this work as volunteering is overdue.
The open‑source dependency crisis
Have you ever run composer install, npm update, or pip install today? For most of us in tech, these commands are as routine as turning on our computers. They pull in the building blocks of our applications—open‑source packages maintained by developers around the world.
But what happens when that stops?
Imagine waking up to find Packagist, NPM, and PyPI all offline. Not just slow, but gone. In his powerful piece, Open Source Blackout, Sebastian Bergmann paints this chilling picture. It’s a scenario where global software development grinds to a halt, taking a significant chunk of the $8.8 trillion economy built on open source down with it.
This dystopian vision highlights a stark reality: our industry’s critical infrastructure is largely sustained by goodwill, unpaid weekends, and the burnout of a few dedicated souls. It’s a system we’ve normalized, but it’s not sustainable.
Which brings me to a small but significant step happening right here in Germany: a petition that aims to officially recognize work on open source as volunteering.
The petition: a simple ask with deep implications
The petition Recognition of Work on Open Source as Volunteering in Germany might sound bureaucratic, but its goal is profoundly important. It calls on the German government to formally acknowledge that contributing to open‑source software is a valuable form of civic engagement, on par with volunteering at a sports club, your local fire department, or even the Schreber garden association around the corner.
What does a petition actually do in Germany?
For my international readers, it’s helpful to understand the mechanism. In Germany, petitions are a formal tool for citizens to bring issues to the attention of their parliament (the Bundestag). If a petition gathers enough public support, it can be heard in a parliamentary committee. Lawmakers must then discuss the matter publicly and issue an official response.
It’s not a direct law‑making tool, but it’s a powerful amplifier. It forces a conversation at the highest level. Signing this petition is a way to tell the German government:
“This matters. The digital infrastructure of our country, and our economy, relies on this unpaid work. It’s time to look at the rules.”
The volunteer‑status complication: why this matters legally
So, why is getting “volunteer” status such a big deal? It comes down to the legal and fiscal framework for non‑profit organisations in Germany.
- Currently, if a group of open‑source developers wants tax benefits or to receive tax‑deductible donations, they typically need to form a registered association and successfully apply for non‑profit status.
- This works for some, but it’s a poor fit for the decentralized, often global, and informal nature of many open‑source projects. It creates a huge barrier.
The situation becomes even clearer when you look at past struggles. Consider the case of J! and Beyond, the organisation behind the Joomla! content‑management system. In 2016, the German tax authorities moved to strip them of their non‑profit status. The core question was: Is supporting open‑source software truly a charitable purpose under German law?
As detailed in (German‑only) articles like „Ist ein Verein zur Unterstützung von Open‑Source‑Software gemeinnützig?“ and coverage by heise online, the organisation eventually won its case—but the fight took years and consumed significant financial and human resources.
Bottom line
Open‑source software underpins modern life, yet the people who keep it alive remain largely invisible to law‑makers and tax authorities. Recognising open‑source contributions as volunteering would:
- Align legal and fiscal treatment with the societal value created.
- Lower barriers for projects to obtain non‑profit status and accept donations.
- Signal that digital civic engagement is as important as traditional volunteer work.
If you care about a sustainable, resilient digital future, please consider signing the petition and sharing it with your network. Together we can give the volunteers behind the code the recognition they deserve.
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Why you should care (and sign)
Whether you’re a developer pushing commits, or an online merchant whose entire storefront depends on open‑source plugins and frameworks, this directly affects you.
For developers:
It’s about sustainability and fairness. It’s a step toward a system where the countless hours you pour into open source can be legally acknowledged, and the projects you love can receive support without jumping through impossible bureaucratic hoops. It helps prevent the burnout Bergmann describes.
For online merchants and businesses:
A healthy, legally recognized open‑source ecosystem is more resilient. When maintainers have the backing of a supportive legal and fiscal environment, the risk of critical projects being abandoned due to burnout or lack of funds decreases. Your business, which relies on this “free” infrastructure, gains stability.
“Commercial‑scale use without commercial‑scale support is unsustainable.” – Bergmann
The joint statement from OpenSSF, Packagist, Maven Central, PyPI, crates.io and others is a desperate plea for help. While this German petition is just one piece of a much larger puzzle, it’s a concrete, actionable step we can take right now to build a more sustainable foundation.
It’s a gentle nudge to the system, asking it to recognize the world as it is today: a world where maintaining digital public infrastructure is one of the most important forms of volunteer work there is.
Please, take a moment, read the petition, and add your name. Let’s help build a future where the “Open Source Blackout” remains just a thought experiment.
➡️ Sign the Petition: Recognition of Work on Open Source as Volunteering in Germany