💖 awesome-sponsorships

🧊 🐙 🛖 🧪

Every project I have ever used is worth at least $1

—Everyone (someday)

Some ideas on how to earn more money as an open source developer.

How to use this project

1. Fork it, and check things off!
2. Get inspired by what others have built!
3. Add your own brilliant ideas, and send a PR!

Awesome Inspiration List

Check out these awesome profiles, and their creative tiers:

• github.com/sponsors/simonw
• github.com/sponsors/KelvinTegelaar

Awesome Check List (Quick)

How to get more sponsors!

• 1. Setting up the right tiers
• 2. Market myself
• 3. Ask for something in return for effort
• 4. Tier Benefit Option: Unique access - e.g. discord role
• 5. Tier Benefit Option: You will get a handwritten note
• 6. Tier Benefit Option: You will get a sticker (e.g. https://github.com/evcc-io/evcc/discussions/4446)
• 7. It needs to be transactional, so they feel like they are getting something
• 8. Offer premium support as a premium tier (email only, $99)
• 9. For a T-Shirt, the price needs to be 2x-4x the cost of the item.
• 10. Sponsors need to feel like community members, and I need to speak with them as members of my community
• 11. Top tier sponsorship will work for enterprise customers who come along and see value
• 12. People want to feel that what they are using will have stability, so telling them that they are helping support the longevity of the project is important, but just saying this will help me do this longer is not sufficient.
• 13. Create a webhook that sends them to a custom process that handles the various parts of the process
• 14. Need to go to forums, slacks, discords, stack overflows, and comment
• 15. Offer access to a private repo with special knowledge, like a tutorial
• 16. sponsor-ware / nag-ware e.g., material-mkdocs
• 17. Allow corps/anyone to have a spot in the project README which shows their logo and website link.
• 18. Have a spot in the readme for logos.
• 19. Getting recognition from the community causes the snowball effect
• 20. People will promote sponsorship for you
• 21. $11 should be the minimum (large coffee)
• 22. Contact account managers, they are invested in getting new clients, and pay tons for ads on Reddit
• 23. Knowing stats will help
• 24. Take the number you are thinking of, and then double it.
• 25. Grant access to private recipes repo for subscribers above a certain tier.

Sponsorships — Deep Actionable Checklist

A concise, practical checklist distilled from the “Funding for OSS via Sponsorships” transcript. Use it to set up, grow, and retain individual and corporate sponsors.

1) Foundation and Mindset

• Accept that “build it and they will come” is a myth. Plan to market and engage.
• See sponsors as community members, not just customers.
• Overcome the “panhandling” fear by offering clear, transactional value in tiers.
• Communicate that sponsorship converts a project into a durable product (longevity and support).
• Recognize culture/geography: tipping/donation norms vary (e.g., NA vs EU).

2) Community & Visibility

• Create or join community hubs (Discord/Slack/forums) around your niche.
• Be consistently helpful in industry spaces: answer questions, share knowledge, build reputation.
• Encourage word-of-mouth: ask users to share, email vendors, and advocate publicly.
• Treat competitors and vendors as community participants; feedback is valuable.

3) Sponsorship Tiers that Convert (Make it Transactional)

• Avoid $1–$5 “coffee” tiers as your primary focus; they underprice your value.
• Use simple marketing framing: Bronze / Silver / Gold (and higher custom tiers).
• Price floors: consider ≥ price of a real-world coffee (~$10+) for entry tier.
• Define tangible perks clearly to set expectations and reduce entitlement concerns:
  • Discord role or private channel (status, early access to dev chat).
  • Premium support via email (no SLA if you prefer; state it explicitly).
  • Managed hosting of your open-source app (positioned as “hosting,” not full SaaS, if needed).
  • Physical swag (stickers, T‑shirts) — partner for fulfillment.
  • Exclusive docs/tutorials or “sponsorware” early access.
• Make some perks monthly-only (e.g., swag eligibility) to increase retention.
• For physical items, price tiers at least 2× total cost (item + shipping + ops).

4) Corporate Sponsorships

• Offer lightweight marketing placement:
  • README logo + link.
  • Small in-app logo (e.g., 240×80) with “sponsored by” label; link optional.
• Create higher-priced corporate tiers (e.g., $1k–$5k+ monthly) with marketing value.
• Pitch recognition/brand lift over raw visitor counts; emphasize reach in your niche.
• Outreach targets: marketing, business development, or account managers.
• Be flexible with payment: support invoicing or direct credit card outside GitHub Sponsors if needed.

5) Automation & Fulfillment

• Use the GitHub Sponsors webhook to trigger automations (e.g., n8n, Zapier):
  • Grant Discord roles or add to private channels.
  • Issue coupon codes or auto-create swag/merch orders.
  • Provision hosting/onboarding flows.
• If email isn’t provided, send a secure link for first-time sponsors to supply shipping or account details.

6) Pricing & Negotiation

• Anchor higher. Rule of thumb: take your number and double it for initial offers.
• Consider “factor of π” or even 10× for bespoke corporate value-adds.
• Offer custom tiers for companies needing special terms or perks.

7) Outreach Playbook

• Add a clear sponsor CTA on your site/app (e.g., “Get Hosting” → Sponsor page flow).
• Publish stories and updates that highlight sponsor impact and community wins.
• Ask satisfied users to CC vendors and peers when recommending your project.
• Leverage timely moments (launches, milestones, even controversy) to restate your value and call for sponsorships.

8) Messaging That Works

• “Your sponsorship funds ongoing maintenance and support so this stays alive and healthy.”
• “Sponsorship includes tangible benefits: [list your perks].”
• “Join the community — get a role, private channel access, and influence on roadmap.”

9) Retention & Churn

• Expect limited visibility into cancellation reasons; compensate with:
  • Occasional brief check-ins or feedback forms to sponsors.
  • Clear, durable perks (support/hosting) that provide ongoing value.
  • Transparent updates so sponsors see continued progress and relevance.

10) Quick Start (90‑Minute Sprint)

• 0–15 min: Draft 3–5 tiers (>= $10 entry; include at least one with support; one with hosting; one corporate marketing tier).
• 15–30 min: Write perk copy with clear expectations (e.g., “email support, no SLA”).
• 30–45 min: Add sponsor CTA to README and your website; create a community invite link.
• 45–60 min: Set up a Discord role/private channel; document how sponsors get access.
• 60–90 min: Configure GitHub Sponsors webhook to your automation (n8n/Zapier) to handle role assignment and welcome messages; create a form for shipping details if offering swag.

11) Examples You Can Adapt

• $10/mo — Community Supporter: Discord role + name color; occasional early updates.
• $25/mo — Swag Tier: annual sticker pack via partner fulfillment (auto-triggered by webhook).
• $99/mo — Premium Support & Hosting: hosted instance + email support (no SLA); onboarding form after first payment.
• $1,000–$5,000+/mo — Corporate Sponsor: README logo, small in-app logo, quarterly shout-out, optional invoice billing.

12) Guardrails

• Be explicit in perk descriptions to avoid mismatched expectations.
• Don’t overcommit on SLAs unless you can honor them.
• Keep fulfillment low-friction and automated; manual processes don’t scale.
• Revisit tiers periodically; adjust pricing and perks as demand and costs evolve.

—
Have a success to share or a tactic that worked for you? Add it here to iterate on the checklist.

🤝 Contributing

If you need some ideas of where to help check issues, or PRs,
or use the library and think about how it could be better.

🪇 Code of Conduct

Everyone interacting with this project’s codebases, issue trackers,
chat rooms and mailing lists agrees to follow the .

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📄 License

The project, constituting this README.md and the other files in the root directory (unless otherwise noted), is available as open source under the terms of
the MIT License .
See LICENSE.txt for the official Copyright Notice.

The rest of the assets, which are in subdirectories, each have a distinct license. It is a primary purpose of this project to document what those licenses are.

© Copyright

• Copyright (c) 2025 Peter H. Boling, of Galtzo.com , and awesome-sponsorships contributors

🤑 A request for help

Maintainers have teeth and need to pay their dentists.
After getting laid off in an RIF in March and filled with many dozens of rejections,
I’m now spending ~60+ hours a week building open source tools.
I’m hoping to be able to pay for my kids’ health insurance this month,
so if you value the work I am doing, I need your support.
Please consider sponsoring me or the project.

To join the community or get help 👇️ Join the Discord.

To say “thanks!” ☝️ Join the Discord or 👇️ send money.

💌 💌 💌

Please give the project a star ⭐ ♥.

Thanks for RTFM. ☺️