2025-11-19 –, Main Room
A year ago at this OFA, we presented an idea: a permanent endowment for open source software. This presentation is the follow-up. It’s a case study of turning that idea into a real, functioning organization and funded endowment.
The problem is well-known. Critical open source projects are often underfunded and maintained by a few volunteers. This creates fragility in our digital infrastructure, leading to security risks like Heartbleed and the XZ backdoor. Short-term grants and corporate budgets aren't enough to solve the deep, systemic issue.
Our solution is the Open Source Endowment (OSE). We use the endowment model, common in universities, to create a permanent, stable source of funding. Donations build a principal fund, and we only spend the investment income on grants. This approach is designed for the long run.
In the past year, we've moved from concept to reality. We incorporated as a US nonprofit, set up our financial infrastructure, and started building a community of founding donors. The response has shown us there is a significant appetite for this kind of support.
This talk will share a practical look at our first year. We'll cover:
- The steps we took to get started, from legal setup to finding our first donors.
- The challenges we faced and what we learned.
- Our approach to data-driven, community-led grant-making (we want feedback from the OFA community here!)
- What our early results tell us about the future of sustainable OSS funding.
Our goal is to be transparent about what it takes to build a new funding institution for open source, showing that a systemic approach is both possible and effective.
The problem is well-known. Critical open source projects are often underfunded and maintained by a few volunteers. This creates fragility in our digital infrastructure, leading to security risks like Heartbleed and the XZ backdoor. Short-term grants and corporate budgets aren't enough to solve the deep, systemic issue. This talk provides a case study of turning the idea of a permanent endowment for open source software into a real, functioning organization and funded endowment.
The solution is the Open Source Endowment (OSE), which uses the endowment model, common in universities, to create a permanent, stable source of funding. Donations build a principal fund, and we only spend the investment income on grants. This approach is designed for the long run. In the past year, the OSE has moved from concept to reality. It has been incorporated as a US nonprofit, set up our financial infrastructure, and started building a community of founding donors. The response has shown that there is a significant appetite for this kind of support.
This talk will share a practical look at our first year, covering the approach, the steps the founders took to get started, the challenges faced and learnings, and future considerations for providing sustainable OSS funding. The goal of the talk is to be transparent about what it takes to build a new funding institution for open source, showing that a systemic approach is both possible and effective.
Jonathan Starr stands at the intersection of open source and open science. As the program manager of He drives work on The Map of Open Source Science and facilitates multiple long-duration “Innovation
Sprints”, tackling shared ecosystem-level challenges. As co-lead of SciOS and the Institute of Open
Science Practices, Jonathan designs and facilitates multiple global annual events and workshops
connecting technologists with researchers to develop numerous deep tech infrastructures enabling
open-by-design in research. Additionally, he consults on various projects designing novel publishing,
identifier, community, and incentive mechanisms for the scientific process. Burlington based.