OSS Funding through Fundable

John Pratt writes "FredCK, developer of the popular FCKEditor, recently raised $600 from supporters through Fundable to port his open source HTML editor to Safari. Fundable is a new site that lets groups of people pool money for specific purposes, like software features. Unlike generic donation dropboxes (such as PayPal buttons), if a group's targeted collection isn't reached after 2 or 4 weeks, everyone gets a complete refund." Newsforge has a piece discussing the site as well.

Comments

Like Linux Fund

[AKAImBatman]

So it's like Linux Fund except that the users get to donate money directly to projects?

It's actually kind of neat how various funding options have begun appearing. Writing OSS software is a thankless job that takes hundreds (sometimes thousands) of man-hours. I'm curious if there's a possibility in the future of software developers being employed full time on user funded projects.

Re:Like Linux Fund

[Rolan]

Except that LinuxFund is pretty much dead. The money there is in limbo. Notice the last update to the site was almost a year ago (July 30, 2004).

Public menace?

[sharkey]

The editor runs over Windows, Mac and Linux operating systems.

Didn't the guy who wrote SASSER get arrested for running over at least one of the listed OSes?

Re:Is Software Tangible Enough For This?

[th0mas.sixbit.org]

Uhm, no.

It is a donation system that happens to also have a method to return the donation in case the developer completely fails.

It's not "your software". You're donating to a group, helping them reach their goal. In the event they cannot reach their goal (by their definition, since it's their software), they can kindly refund the money.

What you're looking for is to hire a software developer (or company) to write software for you. That's not what this is. So move along.

But don't worry, you're modded up, so you have a great point.

I think we found that #2!

[fitten]

The concept, while unique, is quite simple. Anyone who has a product or service to sell, or needs monetary support for a charitable cause, or who wants to organize a group purchase, posts their requirement on Fundable.org. They specify the number of contributors needed and the amount of money required from each. They also specify a deadline by which to raise the needed capital. Fundable.org holds all contributions until the total amount requested is received, or the deadline is reached. If, by the deadline, the amount contributed is less than the required amount, the project is scrapped and the contributors receive a full refund.

So, all they do is collect money (and earn interest on said money) and watch a date. They don't care that the software is actually delivered and/or works (which is somewhat smart because they collect interest up until the deadline regardless and they aren't responsible for the quality or even the delivery of said product). I think we finally found that #2!

1. Collect money for someone
2. Collect interest on said money up until a deadline and either give the money back or give it to the person who set up the fund depending on amount.
3. Profit!!!