Which FOSS projects do you financially support and why?

KDE because I liked it when I used it and wanted it to get even better. And Lichess because it's what I wish all free services were like. I should do more.

I budget my donations so I make an effort to see who I think need it the most. For example, I use Tor daily, but they have huge institutional funding. My to-do list app doesn't.

There are also some worthy candidates who simply reject donations, like Handbrake.

A few I haven't seen mentioned:

• Small websites anyone can use for FOSS services, like (e.g. Private.coffee, Disroot, Nadeko, Riseup)
• Any of the 5 remaining Invidious instances, Google has put effort into killing off other instances. Same with other social media alternative frontends.
• Someone mentioned F-Droid, I don't know what I'd do without the Google Store alternatives like Aurora.
• yt-dlp devs
• Lemmy and various instances
• Your operating systems, incl phones and servers if relevant
• Codeberg
• A few FOSS softwares used for non-fediverse sites I use. Look at all the sites you use and think about which ones are probably underfunded. Don't be afraid to ask if they haven't said anything.

GrapheneOS because we need a consumer privacy focused alternative to Google and Apple.

Because I find them useful.
And also I never pay for paid software (at least not directly).

Linux Mint 
Manjaro 
Tor Project 
The Document Foundation (LibreOffice) 
Arch Linux 
KDE 
Mozilla 
F-Droid 
Termux 
db0 Lemmy instance (lemmy.dbzer0.com) 
Arne Schwabe (dev of Android OVPN client) 
Deluan Quintao (dev of Navidrome server) 
Arty Bishop (dev of Look4Sat) 
sc07 (Fediverse Canvas creator) 
Markus Fisch (dev of Binary Eye) 
VideoLAN 
Meshtastic 
Kiwix 
FFmpeg 
IzzyOnDroid 
Lemmy   

Lichess because I use it a lot and it's my favourite website.

I support KDE, Mozilla and a fediverse instance currently. A small amount to each, each month, but it is worth it to me. I pay for VPN, email, and password manager, so contributing to KDE, Mozilla and the fediverse feels just like another small set of subscriptions.

I'm lucky I can afford to do this; I think any financial contribution of any size is appreciated by the FOSS world.

EDIT: In terms of things I'm thinking of - Jellyfin and maybe Piefed. Mozilla is a bit of a question mark for me with the AI stuff; but I still value Firefox immensely.

I financially support Patrick Volkerding, because his original business model (selling physical installation media) collapsed, the online shop he partnered with to sell merchandise fucked him over and he was forced to move back home to Minnesota for financial reasons. Yet he still keeps hanging on and maintaining one of the most unique Linux distros that exist, and the only one I vibe with.

None. Because I'm skint.

I support Thunderbird and Lemmy.

I support Thunderbird because it's a great email client and I use it daily. I feel like I owe them at least a few euros a month.

I support the development of Lemmy because it's a social media platform without a large company controlling it's content, and keeping that afloat with a small monthly payment is worth it to me.

Servo because it's time for a better browser!

I only began to support KDE yearly atm

Immich, it makes digital sovereignty possible thanks to it appealing UI (and it's quite solid otherwise too).

It's not very frequent, but I usually give money to Jami and to Lemmy.

I have no money atm but my last round of FOSS donations was just picking based on a function of how much I use a piece of software; how much I like it; and how much money I think it already gets. e.g. I didn't donate to the Linux kernel because that's already well-funded, even though I use it every day and like it well enough.

I think my last donations included River (the Wayland compositor I use). For the life of me I can't remember what else there was but I tend to do rounds of donations when I have money to spare and just pick software based on the above criteria.

I find it important to support projects that contribute to the greater free software ecosystem. I pick projects I benefit from and whose continued existence I am invested in, despite any faults.

• The NetBSD Project
• The Free Software Foundation (FSF)
• Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)
• The SDF plan9front server
• Project Gutenberg
• Standard Ebooks
• The Internet Archive (IA)
• The Wikimedia Foundation

Mastodon project and my local mastodon instance

It ain't much, but so far this year I donated to Disroot and Signal.

KDE

The NetBSD Foundation

Which open source projects have large expenses? Buying the creator a coffee is nice, but if money is actually required for something to exist I'd rather give there.

Right now I'm extremely poor, but maybe someday I'll be in the same boat as OP. My Lemmy instance and Tor come to mind, and then maybe Wikipedia, although I know their aggressive fundraising has already worked.

Edit: Oh shit, the Invidious instance I use should probably go first.

Octoprint. It's web page front end for 3d printers. Instead of copying to an SD card, walking to the printer, loading the file and printing, I can just upload and print. It also has camera support for timelapses and a very healthy addon ecosystem. I use it on both of my printers.

Just signal for now

digikam, it's a really great alternative to Adobe Lightroom.

I haven't financially supported project or developers, but I have supported fediverse streamers financially. That way they can support their infrastructure. I try to bug hunt it suggest improvement for foss projects since it helps improve and let maintainers and developers improve their projects

When I work with Ardour professionally, I always make a donation on a per-project basis, depending on budget of said project.

It is truly Pro Grade software, it deserves it.

And if the budget is small, I do i small donation, easy :)

i do KDE and Graphene, i usually sponsor bug hunts. might buy some system76 stuff if cosmic keeps getting better

Lemmy and Accrescent.

Gnome and Solus