Donate: Difference between revisions

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There is also the problem that we have no structure (foundation, association, NGO, etc) to collect money. Setting up such a structure represents a huge cost in money and effort (you need a lawyer, an accountant, and do a lot of administrative tasks). The very small team of FreeCAD would spend all its time doing this instead of coding if we were to do it at this moment, even if we could collect enough money to support it. This [http://lwn.net/Articles/561336/ article] explains the problem pretty well. We are however evaluating several options, such as joining an [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_free_and_open-source_software_organizations umbrella organization], and this situation might get better soon. As a temporary solution, we have set up [https://liberapay.com/FreeCAD/|a Liberapay joint account] which you can donate to (more info [https://twitter.com/yorikvanhavre/status/1157668816995966976?s=20|here in this Tweeter discussion]).
There is also the problem that we have no structure (foundation, association, NGO, etc) to collect money. Setting up such a structure represents a huge cost in money and effort (you need a lawyer, an accountant, and do a lot of administrative tasks). The very small team of FreeCAD would spend all its time doing this instead of coding if we were to do it at this moment, even if we could collect enough money to support it. This [http://lwn.net/Articles/561336/ article] explains the problem pretty well. We are however evaluating joining an [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_free_and_open-source_software_organizations umbrella organization], which will remedy the situation greatly.


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There are however small costs generated by running the FreeCAD project, namely paying for the web hosting of this site. At the moment they are all payed by Jürgen, who you can help directly (see below)
There are however already many ways you can already contribute to the project or its developers financially, both as an individual or a company. See below:


== The options == <!--T:6-->
== The options == <!--T:6-->

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* FreeCAD has an official [https://liberapay.com/FreeCAD FreeCAD team account], on which you can donate via credit card, paypal or SEPA bank transfer. Any money received there is split equally between all the developers participating (a list is shown on the Liberapay page). This is currently the best option as it helps developers directly.

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* FreeCAD also has a [https://salt.bountysource.com/teams/freecad Bountysource] account, where it is possible to donate money via credit card or paypal to the FreeCAD project as a whole, or as a bounty for a specific issue you would like to be addressed and solved. This is a more interesting option if you want to see your donation specifically used in a particular area or benefit the project more generically. However, using the Bountysource money is a more complex process for us, and there might be a bigger delay between donating and seeing your donation used effectively.


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* A first, direct option is to support the current web hosting costs by donating to Jürgen's [https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?item_name=Donation+to+FreeCAD&cmd=_donations&business=Mail%40juergen-riegel.net paypal account]. Be aware that at the moment we have no structure to redirect this money to other uses, and there is no way to emit receipts other than the one that paypal will give you, or use this donation for tax deduction or anything like that. This solution should therefore not be used by companies that need more concrete guarantees, nor if you want to keep track of what your money was used for.
* Another very useful option is to support the web hosting costs by donating directly to Jürgen's [https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?item_name=Donation+to+FreeCAD&cmd=_donations&business=Mail%40juergen-riegel.net paypal account]. Jürgen currently supports the web hosting costs alone.


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** [[User:Yorik|Yorik]] via [https://www.patreon.com/yorikvanhavre Patreon] [[File:patreonporange.png|20px|yorikvanhavre|link=https://www.patreon.com/yorikvanhavre]] or [https://liberapay.com/yorik Liberapay]
** [[User:Yorik|Yorik]] via [https://www.patreon.com/yorikvanhavre Patreon] [[File:patreonporange.png|20px|yorikvanhavre|link=https://www.patreon.com/yorikvanhavre]] or [https://liberapay.com/yorik Liberapay]
** [[User:Kkremitzki|Kurt Kremitzki]] via [https://www.patreon.com/kkremitzki Patreon] [[File:patreonporange.png|20px|kkremitzki|link=https://www.patreon.com/kkremitzki]] or [https://liberapay.com/kkremitzki Liberapay]
** [[User:Kkremitzki|Kurt Kremitzki]] via [https://www.patreon.com/kkremitzki Patreon] [[File:patreonporange.png|20px|kkremitzki|link=https://www.patreon.com/kkremitzki]] or [https://liberapay.com/kkremitzki Liberapay]
** Lei Zheng aka [https://github.com/realthunder Realthunder] via [https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=2SM8GY3U2UUJN PayPal] or [https://www.patreon.com/thundereal/overview Patreon] [[File:patreonporange.png|20px|Patreon]]
** Lei Zheng aka [https://github.com/realthunder Realthunder] via [https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=2SM8GY3U2UUJN PayPal], [https://liberapay.com/realthunder/ Liberapay] or [https://www.patreon.com/thundereal Patreon] [[File:patreonporange.png|20px|Patreon]]
** Lorenz aka looooo via [https://liberapay.com/looooo/donate Liberapay] for developing [https://github.com/looooo/freecad.gears FCGears workbench]
** Lorenz aka looooo via [https://liberapay.com/looooo/donate Liberapay] ([https://github.com/looooo/freecad.gears FCGears workbench])
** Amritpal Singh aka amrit3701 via [https://liberapay.com/amrit3701 Liberapay] or [https://www.patreon.com/amrit3701 Patreon] [[File:patreonporange.png|20px|Patreon]] ([https://github.com/amrit3701/FreeCAD-Reinforcement Rebar addon])

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* We recently setup a [https://salt.bountysource.com/teams/freecad Bountysource] account, where it is possible to donate money to the FreeCAD project as a whole, or as a bounty for a specific issue you would like to be addressed and solved.


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* This is the time of crowdfunding, where all kinds of projects and ideas can sometimes raise a lot of money and interest. Why not invent something new that could be done for FreeCAD with money, or help with finding better solutions? Feel free to discuss it on the forum. We have a [http://forum.freecadweb.org/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=12242 thread] specifically to discuss funding possibilities.
* This is the time of crowdfunding, where all kinds of projects and ideas can sometimes raise a lot of money and interest. Why not invent something new that could be done for FreeCAD with money, or help with finding better solutions? Feel free to discuss it on the forum. We have a [http://forum.freecadweb.org/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=12242 thread] specifically to discuss funding possibilities.

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Revision as of 09:52, 3 July 2020

More and more people are asking how to help the FreeCAD project by donating money. There are a couple of options available:

The situation

FreeCAD is at the moment still a very small project, with a limited team of developers. Most of us have day jobs, and we all work on FreeCAD during our free time. Having more money would not change this situation sensibly (none of them would have more time to dedicate to FreeCAD). Some of us, however, have a more flexible work scheme where money can make a difference (see below).

There is also the problem that we have no structure (foundation, association, NGO, etc) to collect money. Setting up such a structure represents a huge cost in money and effort (you need a lawyer, an accountant, and do a lot of administrative tasks). The very small team of FreeCAD would spend all its time doing this instead of coding if we were to do it at this moment, even if we could collect enough money to support it. This article explains the problem pretty well. We are however evaluating joining an umbrella organization, which will remedy the situation greatly.

There are however already many ways you can already contribute to the project or its developers financially, both as an individual or a company. See below:

The options

  • FreeCAD has an official FreeCAD team account, on which you can donate via credit card, paypal or SEPA bank transfer. Any money received there is split equally between all the developers participating (a list is shown on the Liberapay page). This is currently the best option as it helps developers directly.
  • FreeCAD also has a Bountysource account, where it is possible to donate money via credit card or paypal to the FreeCAD project as a whole, or as a bounty for a specific issue you would like to be addressed and solved. This is a more interesting option if you want to see your donation specifically used in a particular area or benefit the project more generically. However, using the Bountysource money is a more complex process for us, and there might be a bigger delay between donating and seeing your donation used effectively.
  • Another very useful option is to support the web hosting costs by donating directly to Jürgen's paypal account. Jürgen currently supports the web hosting costs alone.
  • There might be other developers interested in doing specific coding if you have an idea to be implemented, and would like to accelerate its development by paying a developer to work on it. It's up to you to build up an idea, discuss it on the forum, and find developers interested in doing it. By finding more users wanting to invest some money together, you may also raise the bounty, making it more likely to succeed. There is also a "jobs" section on the forum, where you can post job proposals.
  • Instead of donating money, consider donating time. It might help the project much more. There are many ways you can help the project other than coding or donating money, for example helping to translate, helping new users, or helping to write good documentation.
  • This is the time of crowdfunding, where all kinds of projects and ideas can sometimes raise a lot of money and interest. Why not invent something new that could be done for FreeCAD with money, or help with finding better solutions? Feel free to discuss it on the forum. We have a thread specifically to discuss funding possibilities.