GitHub had introduced a feature allowing developers to add a Pledgie badge to their public projects, enabling them to receive donations directly through a simple setup process involving their PayPal email. This initiative aimed to provide an easy way for project maintainers to earn money by linking their repositories to Pledgie, a service designed to facilitate donations. However, the feature has since been discontinued, with GitHub advising users to integrate their Pledgie code directly into their project's README to continue displaying donation options.