Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Finding Sponsors for an Open Source Project?

Posted by Cliff on from the money-money-money-moo-ney dept.

vertigo72 asks: "What's the best way to find sponsors for an open source project? Is there some people or foundations that give grants for the development of free software? We develop an open source (GPL) box office software: phpMyTicket. At our knowledge at the moment this is the only open source software of this kind. The program is in advanced beta stage and was already used in production environment by us and by other people. The program is rather complex and big: we support online ticket shop, box office with thermal printer and control at doors with barcode scanner. Smarty, PDF and email template engines are used. Paypal and some other gateways are supported. Now we want to continue and to add more professional features, but alas this requires more funding." "We tried to finance our development ourselves, but that didn't work. We tried support, installation and customization, and also a commercial license, but there are just not enough requests. We also had few donations (to the tune of around $50) via Sourceforge. Now, we searching for alternative solutions like sponsoring. Is there someone out there who can help us to keep the software free?"

4 of 209 comments (clear)

  1. Theaters by TildeMan · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Have you tried asking the national theater chains themselves? If you can convince them that this is something that will greatly benefit them and all their branches, they could very well be your best sponsors.

    1. Re:Theaters by nizo · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Maybe you could approach some independant theaters and such and see what they are using for software? Anyone big or little who is getting sucked dry by expensive software companies is bound to be interested. I have no idea how much companies pay for this type of software, but I do know there are plenty of other companies in other areas (*cough* Mentor Graphics/Cadence/Synopsis *cough*) who are vampires in need of some competition.

      --
      I Am My Own Worst Enemy
  2. Why, why, why? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    If someone can buy a thermal printer, hosting, and a barcode scanner, not to mention venue, why can't they pay for their ticket-selling software?

    "Hey, can you help me find someone who will give us money to give free help to people charging admission to shows?"

    WHY?

  3. Business Plan? by DogDude · · Score: 4, Interesting

    What I'm wondering, is, in your business plan, where did you suggest or think that the money was going to come from, and what happened to that revenue stream?

    --
    I don't respond to AC's.