Join me in taking a look at the current state of free and open source software funding, what the potential paths to financial sustainability currently look like for maintainers, and what new models are being explored.

• What options do projects have when looking to be financially sustainable long-term?
• What organizations are funding free and open source software, and how do they allocate it?
• What does it looks like to have funding that isn't subject to unstable corporate budgets and interests?
• What’s missing from our current models of funding?

I’ll include info from some of the top Open Source Program Offices currently funding corporate dependencies; government-funded initiatives aimed at sustaining digital public goods we all rely on; and user-sustained projects that rely on the goodwill of individuals. We’ll touch on what place Accelerators and Grants have in this, and peeling away the growth-curve expectations from investors who may, or may not, understand the needs of free and open source.

Let’s start 2024 with the crucial question: how do we ensure the software our societies depend on is sustainable long-term?