GitHub Sponsors: a new way to contribute to open source

We are very pleased to announce the start of beta testing of GitHub Sponsors , a new way of financial support for open source software developers that we use every day. Open source community members create tools for each of us, and GitHub Sponsors is a new way to help fund their projects.

To launch a new program and increase community funding, we also launch the GitHub Sponsors Matching Fund . GitHub is ready to pay developers up to $ 5000 for the first year of participation in GitHub Sponsors.

Become a sponsor
Have questions? FAQ

Today's development world is tightly coupled with open source. None of this would have been possible without a huge team of developers, designers, researchers, teachers, writers and many others who are dedicated to the development of technology. Now these extraordinary people, thanks to their GitHub profiles, can receive funding from the community that is related to their contribution to it.

No commissions

The open source community is the heart and core of GitHub. The participants who support our common digital infrastructure make this community even stronger, and as a thank you for this valuable contribution, GitHub Sponsors does not charge them for using the platform. We are also ready to pay all fees for processing payments during the first 12 months of the program, in honor of the celebration of its launch, and as a result, 100% of your money will go to the developer.

World team

GitHub Sponsors support payouts in every country where GitHub does business. We are all part of a worldwide software development team. Enhancing opportunities to participate in this team lies at the heart of our mission, so we are proud to provide this new tool for developers around the globe.

Any participants are welcome.

A large number of contributions to the project are crucial for a well-functioning product, but unfortunately it is very difficult to track in the code. GitHub Sponsors was created to finance all types of open source software development jobs. Anyone who contributes - as a developer, drafter, project mentor - is eligible for sponsorship.

Another way to contribute

GitHub Sponsors is another way to contribute to open source, in the form of financial support for the people who create and develop it. People’s cash rewards help them continue to do important work, expand opportunities for participation, and give developers the recognition they deserve. Starting today, any GitHub user can sponsor a member program developer.

Everything in the familiar GitHub interface

Now you can sponsor developers without being distracted from the usual affairs. When a participant answers a question, processes an issue or mergit code, you can go to his profile or simply hover over his name to express his financial gratitude.

With a new pop-up menu when you hover over the list of contra-users, you can look at the people who worked on the code you are interested in. With just a few clicks, it’s possible to transfer money to developers whose products you use every day.

Open source projects can also express their funding methods directly in their repositories. If you add master.github/FUNDING.yml to the branch , a new Sponsor button will appear at the top of the repository. Pressing the button opens a menu of financing options from this file.

The YAML format is flexible, so contributors and project participants can themselves specify methods for financing the project. You can specify one or more options: Open Collective , Community Bridge , Tidelift , Ko-fi and Patreon, or custom links to alternative methods.

First step

At the beginning, GitHub Sponsors starts small and simple, but our mission is much more ambitious - we want to expand opportunities for participation and use of open source code. We are here to serve the development community, and we look forward to receiving your feedback on what else you would like to see on GitHub Sponsors.

We also convened an advisory group to study the operational issues that teams face. The group consists of leaders of a number of open source projects, and we look forward to finding common development vectors. After all, open source is a team sport. If you and your team want to be in this advisory group or if you have ideas on how GitHub Sponsors can help the community, send an email to opensource@github.com .

Do you want to receive sponsorship for your work as a participant or owner of an open source project? - Add to the waiting list