Over the last 6 months or so I’ve been trying to switch to (mostly) open source software. I’d like to somehow contribute to the software I use and the people making it, but I have no programming expertise or other skills that would be useful. Is there anywhere I can set up a monthly donation so I can at least help support the people who do have those skills?

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[–] 31 points 9 months ago (5 children)

There is no central location to donate to open source software in general. Most open source projects include donation details on their website or in their code repositories.

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  • [–] 12 points 9 months ago

    Yeah, just check out the website or GitHub of your favorite distro, desktop environment, or application, almost all of them will have donation options. I’ve given to EndeavourOS a couple times. Feels good.

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  • [–] [S] 3 points 9 months ago (3 children)

    That was my first thought, but I hoped there was some kind of foundation that supported multiple developers/projects to which I could set up a recurring donation.

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  • [–] 16 points 9 months ago* (1 child)

    There are a few such foundations!

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  • [–] 1 point 9 months ago

    That is not a thing. But every donation platform out there that the various developers use has a "recurring donation" option that is almost what you are looking for.

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  • [–] 16 points 9 months ago (1 child)

    I feel like I do nothing but plug liberapay these days, but it really is great and it’s how I do what you’re trying to do. Because of the processing fees payment networks charge, it’s usually more realistic to do yearly rather than monthly donations if the amount is small, but it’s otherwise exactly what it sounds like you want

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  • [–] 5 points 9 months ago

    Is there anywhere I can set up a monthly donation so I can at least help support the people who do have those skills?

    Yes, many places. They are usually listed under the "donate" section of what ever project you want to support.

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  • [–] 5 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)
    [–] 4 points 9 months ago

    I asked this same question not long ago!

    Find small projects you like and donate. Their dev sites usually have a donate option.

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  • [–] 3 points 9 months ago

    Look at something you use daily,  Go to their github and donate there. Preferably to a project that needs more funding. 

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