Donations
Paul Brown
paul.brown at kde.org
Wed Dec 25 09:53:19 GMT 2024
On Tuesday 24 December 2024 17:05:48 Central European Standard Time Ricardo
Morayta wrote:
> Im officially schooled
> Thank you for the time you took to do it,
> Only way to grow is together
>
> You got my 50€ yearly
>
> I used nobora with kde plasma and I LOVE IT
> THANK YOU for that too i guess
My personal view is that many Free Software projects designed for the common
good should be funded with public money, the same way as roads, hospitals and
national parks. In our modest way, we hope we are contributing products and
services that are useful to the general public.
This, in part, happens, as projects under the KDE umbrella often submit
applications for grants from the EU, and sometimes we get them. But the EU is
cutting back on grants to Free Software (in favour of AI!) and, although we
appreciate as always the support public institutions have offered us in the
past, in our expeirence is that the funding from these have been a bit too
irregular, withoout any guarantee of continuity. So you can't really mid or
long term with them; and insufficient to cover KDE's needs as a whole.
This means we have to fall back on donations, as usual.
Another interesting point to bear in mind is that, as a non-profit, we are
legally not allowed to accumulate wealth. This means that all donations are
re-invested into the community. For example, if we have a specific job that
needs doing, like... I don't know... interfacing with the embassy
administration of country X so we can get permits for contributors so they can
come to events in another country, we may be able to hire a specialised person
to do that and we would spend money on that and that year Akademy attendess
would meet and be able to work with contributors from country X at the event
in the flesh (we have found that getting contributors working together in the
same room is VERY productive from time to time).
If we didn't raise enough money the prior year (remember: we cannot accumulate
wealth)... well... that none of the above happens and contributors from
country X have to stay home.
Cheers
Paul
>
> Merry Christmas y'all
>
> On Tue, 24 Dec 2024, 04:37 Jumpei Ogawa, <phanective at gmail.com> wrote:
> > Sorry, I found a sentence in broken English in my last message.
> >
> > > but he might think that the KDE team does not want to use KDE without
> >
> > donations in my young days.
> >
> > but he might think that the KDE team does not want to use KDE without
> > donations *like me* in my young days.
> >
> > On Tue, Dec 24, 2024, 10:24 Jumpei Ogawa <phanective at gmail.com> wrote:
> >> Paul,
> >>
> >> >> now i'm afraid to keep using KDE,
> >> >
> >> > Oh no! Why?
> >>
> >> While Ricardo's message sounds a bit mad, I slightly understand his
> >> feelings.
> >>
> >> When I was young, I avoided using free (== at no cost) software on the
> >> Internet if the authors strongly asked for donations.
> >> I feel it sounds like the authors do not want us to use their software
> >> without donations. I thought it was unethical to keep using the software
> >> without donating.
> >>
> >> Now I got old and overbold, so I don't care about using free things on
> >> the Internet, including KDE software, without donations so much recently
> >> ―
> >> but I'm still feeling a bit ashamed for writing that.
> >>
> >> I guess Ricardo is not ashamed or feeling guilty for using KDE software
> >> without donations, but he might think that the KDE team does not want to
> >> use KDE without donations in my young days.
> >>
> >> It would be nice for people like us if you clarified that we can still
> >> use KDE software for free (at no cost) even if you don't donate in the
> >> donation messages.
> >> However, it might reduce the donations, so I respect your decision even
> >> if you don't do so.
> >>
> >> Jumpei
> >>
> >> On Tue, Dec 24, 2024 at 8:26 AM Paul Brown <paul.brown at kde.org> wrote:
> >>> Hello Ricardo,
> >>>
> >>> > What is this asking for donations?
> >>>
> >>> As a non-profit charity, we are not in the business of selling products
> >>> or
> >>> services. We give our stuff away for free. We also do not want to rely
> >>> on big
> >>> tech corporations for funding, as that would put us in their debt, a
> >>> position
> >>> we would prefer not to be in.
> >>>
> >>> Therefore, funding our operations via user donations is one of the only
> >>> resources we have. We like to think the KDE is (funded) by the people,
> >>> for the
> >>> people 🙂.
> >>>
> >>> > now i'm afraid to keep using KDE,
> >>>
> >>> Oh no! Why?
> >>>
> >>> > i think nme like 90% of linux users don't use windows because of our
> >>>
> >>> wish
> >>>
> >>> > to not support money grabbing/powersick apes,
> >>>
> >>> We actually like apes. Not so money-grabbing/powersick techbros. Way
> >>> worse
> >>> than apes, I assure you.
> >>>
> >>> > Now you're telling me you don't do this because you want to?
> >>>
> >>> Oh, yes. We do it because we want to. Unfortunately doing what we want
> >>> often
> >>> costs money too. If we organise an event, say, in Germany, and we want
> >>> to fly
> >>> one of our contributors in from Vietnam, and that contributor does not
> >>> have
> >>> much money, we want to help them arrange their visa, get a ticket, have
> >>> somewhere to sleep, and food to eat when they get here. All that costs
> >>> money.
> >>>
> >>> If we want to allow people from all over the world to download our
> >>> software to
> >>> enjoy (for free), we have to have space where we can set up or
> >>> repositories,
> >>> servers available 24/7, Internet connections, and so on. All That costs
> >>> money.
> >>>
> >>> If we want to help people discover our software and stop being exploted
> >>> and
> >>> abused by proprietary software producers, we need to take our stuff to
> >>> them, to
> >>> their congresses, we need to rent booths, pay for tickets, travel
> >>> expenses and
> >>> accommodation (again!), hire equipment to display things properly, print
> >>> stickers... All that costs money.
> >>>
> >>> If a developers need a break from their day jobs to spend time on their
> >>> free
> >>> projects because users are demanding a new feature or they need to
> >>> stabilise
> >>> the code, they (and often their faimilies) will need to eat and live
> >>> during
> >>> the months they are working on that. All that costs money.
> >>>
> >>> > if so, then don't do it, get a job at Apple or Microsoft
> >>>
> >>> Oh! Most our contributors have second jobs, I assure you. And thanks to
> >>> that
> >>> you are enjoying our software for free. But, as implied above, creating
> >>> and
> >>> distributing free software is much more expensive than you are
> >>> imagining.
> >>>
> >>> > and forget you had
> >>> > a role in helping human freedom become a reality
> >>> > you want money go do something else ,
> >>>
> >>> The money ensures the survival of the project. If we did not look for
> >>> funding
> >>> one year, I can assure that the next there would be no more KDE for
> >>> anybody.
> >>>
> >>> We wish we did not have to pay salaries to contractors, for an office
> >>> space, for
> >>> travelling, for equipment to test our software on, or lawyers and
> >>> accountants
> >>> to keep us safe, for servers and Internet connections, et cetera, et
> >>> cetera.
> >>> We wish all these things weere given to us for free. Unfortunately that
> >>> is not
> >>> the reality we live in.
> >>>
> >>> > very simple
> >>> > wanna help humanity get rid of sick apes, then i REALLY trhank you for
> >>> > youtr time and effort, and if you ever need help (free help) ill be
> >>>
> >>> VERY
> >>>
> >>> > happy to assist in anytrhing i vcan witrh ALL my free time for you,
> >>> > I ma 3d artist and know a thing or 2 about python so just give us a
> >>>
> >>> shout,
> >>>
> >>> > but PLEASE dont fuck up what you worked on so far, the line is VERY
> >>>
> >>> thin
> >>>
> >>> That is a very generous offer! Please take a look at
> >>>
> >>> https://community.kde.org/Get_Involved
> >>>
> >>> It will help you get an idea of how and where to start.
> >>>
> >>> Have a nice winter holiday!
> >>>
> >>> Kindest Regards
> >>>
> >>> Paul
> >>> --
> >>> Promotion & Communication
> >>>
> >>> www: https://kde.org
> >>> Mastodon: https://floss.social/@kde
> >>> Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kde/
> >>> LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/kde
> >>
> >> --
> >> Jumpei Ogawa (小川 純平)
--
Promotion & Communication
www: https://kde.org
Mastodon: https://floss.social/@kde
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kde/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/kde
More information about the kde-www
mailing list