FairOSS Groundwater Program

FairOSS is a public-benefit corporation constructing a new model for sustaining open source communities, by creating a socially responsible framework around the “fair use” of open source in business. 

Today, roughly 99% of companies rely on open source technology and ~91% of codebases contain components greater than 4 years out of date or with no development activity in the last two years.  Even so, sustainable financing solutions continue to elude community-driven projects, and a majority of upstream dependencies remain a step removed from existing funding mechanisms.  Maintainer “burnout” has a real impact on communities as project issues overtake the ability and incentive to produce value.  However, with an emerging number of companies recognizing the value of investing in open source infrastructure and talent, and the increasing viability of new technologies, conditions exist for companies like FairOSS to make a real impact on the future of open source sustainability.

The FairOSS Groundwater Program, is a new paradigm for open source, viewing it as more than just a development methodology or marketing opportunity, but as a bi-directional flow of intellectual and financial investment in a common technology infrastructure.  In this paradigm, FairOSS raises Groundwater contributions from businesses using open source and acts as a financial custodian for open source projects.  Our contribution data is tracked and managed in ledgers representing software dependencies, total committed assets, and allocations for each project and contributor of open source value.  Contributions are disbursed directly to projects or through our partner distribution network.  The program lays the foundation for a new type of investment asset by exposing a fair market value for open source projects.

Companies already invest in employee retention, the same should be true for their communities.  FairOSS wants to initiate and track open source contributions and extend the possibilities of open source.  Through FairOSS, open source producers, business partners, companies, and investors will create new global economic opportunities in open source.

Interested in funding your dependencies? Click here