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List:       kde-community
Subject:    Re: Fundraising in KDE
From:       Carl Schwan <carl () carlschwan ! eu>
Date:       2020-09-23 14:27:58
Message-ID: ImRaCXkOb_nt56avldGupYZTPqoExPQyCk4hay107UB2jLpEv_HZc-10sXuW7-DIJwNSUscHdto6yigNWbGXRwfCy-Bl0OWwVF8W5RGTPmo= () carlschwan ! eu
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Le mercredi, septembre 23, 2020 11:26 AM, <jens@ohyran.se> a =C3=A9crit=
=C2=A0:

> > Yes, messaging -- for Blender it's easy because there are many companie=
s
>
> > funding them for whom blender is a complement that replaces expensive
> > alternatives. It's different for KDE, so that needs good thinking.
> > Also... Just like Blender, KDE probably needs to setup a second legal e=
ntity
> > that can fund freelance developers for certain projects or even outrigh=
t
> > hire them.
>
> This part is the tricky one to me. Where is the benefit for companies to
> sponsor KDE? I mean we have a group of different organizations that use P=
lasma
> for example - but how can we leverage that in to donations?

For large companies, we provide two products that can encourage them to inv=
est
some money in:

* End-user applications that are used in a professional context (Kdenlive, =
Krita,
KDevelop, ...). For Blender, they receive considerable donations because th=
ey
provided a cheaper alternative to Maya and other big 3D creative suites. Fo=
r KDE,
this is more difficult because 2d creation suites or IDEs are less expensiv=
e than
Maya for example. Still, I think we will always find companies who are inte=
rested
in replacing their =E2=82=AC300/year/user system with a cheaper system and =
willing to
invest in the long term viability of the open-source system.

* The frameworks: Companies are investing =E2=82=AC5000/year/developer for =
Qt and for
other libraries because it is more cost-efficient than reinventing the whee=
l and
maintaining their own custom libraries. This is an additional entry point f=
or
corporate donations if we are able to convince them that using and supporti=
ng
financially the KDE frameworks is a good long term choice. I actually worke=
d on
trying to improve the image of the frameworks with https://develop.kde.org/=
. This
still needs work on adding more content.

But I think the real strength of KDE is the huge amount of users around the
world and using KDE's software in various ways. Unlike Blender which target=
s
essentially 3D artists, KDE targets everyone with education software, graph=
ic
software, developer tools, but most importantly Plasma and various KDE
applications making it able to use your computer with only open-source and
privacy-respecting software. I think many people would pay a bit, if we wou=
ld
improve our communication around how the donation help making our software =
even
better and this will make their life easier.

This are just a few ideas and probably there are more possibilities to expl=
ore.

>
> What would we or those developers sponsored be able to deliver to those
> organisations that would justify their cost?
>
> The one thing I think could be done is contacting those organisations and
> simply dig through their usage, needs and wants and see what we are missi=
ng.
>
> That said, when we start doing this we will be tying ourselves to this mo=
del
> for a while which can have drawbacks too.


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