Fundraising 101 (or "Free as in Freedom So Who Pays for the Beer?")

Free and Open Source software may be largely created and maintained by the passion of volunteers, but projects still need funds to pay for things like bandwidth, hardware and the all important tee-shirts. Asking for money is hard – and taking it can be a lot more complicated than you might think. This talk covers the basics of sourcing financial support for your project.

Topics to be discussed include:

• Types of potential sponsors
• Big or small: deciding on a strategy
• How to find them
• What do sponsors want to buy – and what are you prepared to sell?
• Are “bounties” or per-feature fundraisers ever a good idea?
• How to “make the ask” – and how not to
• Other kinds of donations to consider
• The devil is in the details, aka paperwork & time management
• Some ideas on how to accept funds
• Does your project need to have a Foundation?
• Special considerations for events
• Pitfalls to avoid

Participants in this session should walk out with the information they need to develop at least the outline of a fund-raising plan for your project.