Bringing greater financial sustainability to open source communities

The Octoverse 2022 report highlights the widespread use of open source software by over 90% of companies and underscores the challenge of ensuring its financial sustainability, especially for developers maintaining critical software. GitHub, positioned at the intersection of open source communities and companies, has witnessed positive trends in sustainability, such as financial support from companies to open source foundations and the creation of open source program offices. However, this support often doesn't reach the developers directly. To address this, GitHub launched GitHub Sponsors in 2019, providing a platform for direct financial support to maintainers, aiming to foster sustainable careers in open source. The Sponsors for Companies program, currently in Beta, is designed to streamline company contributions, with plans for broader availability. The report emphasizes the need for companies to support open source projects directly and adapt to best practices in sponsorship while maintaining project autonomy. As the open source ecosystem evolves, GitHub is committed to expanding support tools and learning from the community to enhance sustainability.