A VC and some big-name programmers are trying to solve open source's funding problem, permanently | TechCrunch

TechCrunch

by Julie Bort

February 26, 2026

AI-Generated Deep Dive Summary

A group of prominent open-source developers, venture capitalists, and tech leaders have teamed up to address the long-standing funding challenge in the open-source community by launching the Open Source Endowment. This nonprofit aims to provide sustainable financial support for open-source maintainers, who often face burnout due to a lack of resources. Backed by notable figures like Thomas Dohmke (former GitHub CEO), Mitchell Hashimoto (founder of HashiCorp), and Paul Copplestone (Supabase co-founder), the initiative has already raised over $750,000 in commitments and aspires to reach $100 million in assets within seven years. The endowment will focus on funding projects based on their impact, user base, and reliance by other technologies, while avoiding those already well-supported by existing grants or corporate donors. The lack of sustainable funding for open-source developers has been a critical issue for decades. Many open-source contributors are volunteers or rely on limited corporate sponsorships, leaving them cash-strapped and at risk of burnout. This problem gained attention during the 2014 OpenSSL Heartbleed disaster, where a single developer was responsible for maintaining a widely used security project. While organizations like the Linux Foundation and the Python Software Foundation provide some support through grants and donations, these efforts often fall short of addressing the broader funding gap. The Open Source Endowment aims to fill this void by creating a more reliable and scalable funding model for open-source projects. This initiative is significant because open-source software underpins much of the internet and technology industry. According to the article, up to 55% of an organization's tech stack consists of open-source tools, which are essential for databases, operating systems, and other critical infrastructure. By providing a new

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Originally published on TechCrunch on 2/26/2026