Idea's to give sponsors more attention?

Have some feature requests, feedback, cool stuff to share, or want to know where FreeCAD is going? This is the place.
Forum rules
Be nice to others! Read the FreeCAD code of conduct!
User avatar
adrianinsaval
Veteran
Posts: 5541
Joined: Thu Apr 05, 2018 5:15 pm

Re: Idea's to give sponsors more attention?

Post by adrianinsaval »

yorik wrote: Fri May 27, 2022 9:27 am I'm always a bit worried of open-source projects becoming kind of wikipedias, mozillas, always begging for money and implicitly (my own perception of course) "threatening" to shut down if they don't get enough money.
IMO if we use careful wording this won't be the case, instead of "we need your help to keep going" we should say "if you like FreeCAD please consider donating". Popups and big banners asking for money (or doing ads for sponsors) in the software are a no-go for me, but a discrete link to a donation page would be ok, can be added to the about page too/instead.
I find it cool that a person or a community in a poor, remote rural area, for example in some parts of africa or latin america, can take FreeCAD and immediately feel its theirs, no strings attached.
+1 as a southamerican, I love the freedom of FreeCAD specially compared to the restrictions of all the big gratis CAD software out there and the issues with pirated ones.
Another cool and non-intrusive thing we could do is, after someone clicked one of the download buttons, be redirected to a page that suggests donation or sponsoring.
I like this, another commonly used approach is to put a user decided "price" for the software, that of course can be 0$ and could default to that too.
User avatar
kwahoo
Posts: 680
Joined: Fri Nov 29, 2013 3:09 pm
Contact:

Re: Idea's to give sponsors more attention?

Post by kwahoo »

adrianinsaval wrote: Fri May 27, 2022 3:13 pm I like this, another commonly used approach is to put a user decided "price" for the software, that of course can be 0$ and could default to that too.
This is a great idea, if done in non-intrusive way (eg. obfuscated free download button), imo.

Krita has an interesting business model. You can download it for free or buy on Windows Store, Steam (Windows/Mac/Linux) or Epic Store (Windows).
User avatar
adrianinsaval
Veteran
Posts: 5541
Joined: Thu Apr 05, 2018 5:15 pm

Re: Idea's to give sponsors more attention?

Post by adrianinsaval »

do those stores allow setting a user decided price? I feel like getting revenue from all those stores would be difficult to manage right now, if we get the software in some of those stores it might be better to give it for free but link to a donate page.
User avatar
kwahoo
Posts: 680
Joined: Fri Nov 29, 2013 3:09 pm
Contact:

Re: Idea's to give sponsors more attention?

Post by kwahoo »

adrianinsaval wrote: Fri May 27, 2022 3:31 pm do those stores allow setting a user decided price?
No, the developer decides. The price can be set at different levels for different locations, eg. Krita is 10x more expensive in Switzerland than in Argentina.

From the other hand, Blender is free everywhere and it uses these stores as free advertisement. And there is a side effect, these stores work like Linux repositories, allowing users to use the latest version only (optionally, the dev can allow users opt-in to beta or legacy branches).
User avatar
KurtF
Posts: 161
Joined: Fri Mar 04, 2022 7:36 pm
Location: North Carolina, US
Contact:

Re: Idea's to give sponsors more attention?

Post by KurtF »

Start page: "FreeCAD: Designing the Future Since 2001"

Under help menu, or maybe on the about window: "Help keep FreeCAD Ad-Free."

Just some thoughts...

Yeah, I looked that up. FC is 21 years old. It's old enough to drink. :-)
May whatever Higher Power you believe in bless the Ukrainians. They are a decent people who never hurt anybody.
User avatar
Kunda1
Veteran
Posts: 13434
Joined: Thu Jan 05, 2017 9:03 pm

Re: Idea's to give sponsors more attention?

Post by Kunda1 »

KurtF wrote: Fri May 27, 2022 4:31 pm "Help keep FreeCAD Ad-Free."
I wouldn't actually use that as a strategy because it's kind of a soft threat or a 'call to action motivated by fear' of a sorts. I'd rather it be,
FreeCAD doesn't intend to advertise and because of that the community of volunteers wants to emphasize that besides volunteering; sponsors/donations are extremely beneficial for the project. etc...etc...
Alone you go faster. Together we go farther
Please mark thread [Solved]
Want to contribute back to FC? Checkout:
'good first issues' | Open TODOs and FIXMEs | How to Help FreeCAD | How to report Bugs
Giulio Buccini
Posts: 541
Joined: Fri Aug 26, 2016 9:07 pm
Location: Munich - Gemany

Re: Idea's to give sponsors more attention?

Post by Giulio Buccini »

Off-topic - START
-------------------------------------------
I'm still a little bit confused about the pletora of ways to make donations for Freecad:

Bank account: BE04 0019 2896 4531
PayPal
OpenCollective
LiberaPay team account (not managed by the FPA)
BountySource
Github

Also, the Liberapay is "recommended" but then I read "not managed by the FPA".
I had to spend some time to understand the differences between the money going to developers and the money going to FPA as a whole. I bet that many people get frustrated and say to theirself "okay, I will look at this stuff more closely another day".

Please make a clear diagram with icons for the programmers, a big box for the FPA and arrows depicting the flow of money from the six sources.
just my two cents.
--------------------------------------------
Off-topic - END
User avatar
sliptonic
Veteran
Posts: 3457
Joined: Tue Oct 25, 2011 10:46 pm
Location: Columbia, Missouri
Contact:

Re: Idea's to give sponsors more attention?

Post by sliptonic »

Giulio Buccini wrote: Sat Jul 09, 2022 2:03 pm
I'm still a little bit confused about the pletora of ways to make donations for Freecad:
I recently answered a similar query by email to someone wanting to donate. I explained it this way.

A donation is always appreciated. There are several ways to do that:
Donations: One-time events, usually from individuals but sometimes from companies. There are several options for giving donations.
Sponsorship: An ongoing relationship. If you start a business and FreeCAD is an important part of it, you can sponsor and get a badge/link on our donation page.

Money received through donations and sponsorship goes to the FreeCAD Project Association (FPA) which works to advance the project as a whole.

Liberapay team
. This is a way of supporting developers. Money received here is shared by and goes directly to the developers who are trying to make a living by working on FreeCAD.

Patreon: If you want to encourage development in a specific area, you can support one of the developers. Realthunder (toponaming), Yorik (Architecture), Sliptonic (CAM/CNC) and others have pages.
Giulio Buccini
Posts: 541
Joined: Fri Aug 26, 2016 9:07 pm
Location: Munich - Gemany

Re: Idea's to give sponsors more attention?

Post by Giulio Buccini »

Yeah, I know this stuff (I make donation on regular basis), but, believe me, this is quite confusing.

For example, you say that with liberapay money is splitted between the programmers. But who the FPA is? They are still programmers... or not?
Another example: you say that you can donate to single programmers. Usually this programmers are focused on a single workbench or area. It not would be better if I could choose to sponsor/donate the "Path workbench" as a whole?
If the programmer "Sliptonic" ( :D ) moves from the Path Workbench to the Lattice workbench because that has become his new passion, then I have to redirect my donation. This sounds complicated.

I repeat, I'm not talking about me, but for the newbie approaching to Freecad for the first time.

In my vision, all should be more simple. The options should be:

1. Donate/sponsor Freecad as a whole
2. Donate/sponsor a specific workbench

Nothing more than this.

P.S.
Anyway, I could make a fancy diagram about sponsorship/donations, if there is any interest to pubblish it on the Freecad website. I think it could help people to understand the available options at the moment.
User avatar
sliptonic
Veteran
Posts: 3457
Joined: Tue Oct 25, 2011 10:46 pm
Location: Columbia, Missouri
Contact:

Re: Idea's to give sponsors more attention?

Post by sliptonic »

Giulio Buccini wrote: Sat Jul 09, 2022 5:53 pm Yeah, I know this stuff (I make donation on regular basis), but, believe me, this is quite confusing.

For example, you say that with liberapay money is splitted between the programmers. But who the FPA is? They are still programmers... or not?
The FPA is not paying out to developers. That might happen in the future for specific identifiable pieces of work but it isn't happening now. FPA is focused on infrastructure, intellectual property, and non-code related expenses. FPA membership can include non-programmers. By its own charter, it cannot pay its members simply for being members.
Another example: you say that you can donate to single programmers. Usually this programmers are focused on a single workbench or area. It not would be better if I could choose to sponsor/donate the "Path workbench" as a whole?
If the programmer "Sliptonic" ( :D ) moves from the Path Workbench to the Lattice workbench because that has become his new passion, then I have to redirect my donation. This sounds complicated.
It IS complicated. But it doesn't get less complicated with your vision. It just shifts the complexity onto the recipient organization. If many people donated to support Path, for example, how should the funds be allocated? Those donors want better CAM but those features depend on core functionality. I couldn't do anything in Path without the brilliant work of wmayer, realthunder, yorik, and many others.

I don't have any answers. If FOSS development is ever going to be a viable career path, then FOSS needs better funding solutions. We're experimenting with lots of models because no simple solution works. At this point, I think it's good that we have lots of options.
Post Reply