Earlier this year I wrote about the importance of treating open source as digital infrastructure in my post Agree and Amplify: Funding Open Source as Digital Infrastructure. The core idea is simple: the software that powers much of the internet should not depend solely on goodwill and spare time. It deserves durable investment.
That is why I am pleased to be a founding donor to the Open Source Endowment, a new initiative exploring a long-term funding model for critical open source infrastructure through community support.
Working in the WordPress ecosystem makes the sustainability challenge very real. WordPress powers a significant portion of the web and continues to evolve thanks to a global community of contributors, companies, and organizations investing time and resources into the project. Programs like Five for the Future have helped encourage that investment, but the broader open source ecosystem still struggles to ensure that essential projects and maintainers have stable, long-term support.
The Open Source Endowment proposes another approach: building a community-funded endowment designed to generate ongoing financial support for maintainers and critical projects. Rather than relying only on sponsorships or one-off donations, the goal is to create a lasting financial base whose returns can sustain open source work over time.
If open source truly is digital infrastructure, then we should be thinking about funding it like infrastructure as well. I am excited to support this effort and encourage others who care about the long-term sustainability of open source to take a look and consider donating.
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