A coalition of prominent open source developers and venture capitalists just launched the Open Source Endowment, a new funding mechanism designed to solve one of tech's most persistent problems: how to sustainably pay the developers who build the infrastructure powering the entire internet. The initiative arrives as major security incidents and maintainer burnout have exposed the fragility of software that billions depend on daily but few companies adequately support.
The Open Source Endowment represents a fundamental shift in how the tech industry approaches funding for the software that underpins virtually every application and service online. According to TechCrunch's exclusive report, the group of well-known programmers and at least one venture capitalist believe they've cracked the code on providing "funding for good" through an endowment structure similar to those used by universities and nonprofits.
The timing couldn't be more critical. Open source software powers everything from the servers running Amazon Web Services to the operating systems on billions of Android devices, yet the developers maintaining these projects often do so as unpaid volunteers or through inconsistent corporate sponsorships. The problem exploded into public consciousness after high-profile security incidents like the Log4j vulnerability in 2021 and the XZ Utils backdoor attempt in 2024 revealed that critical infrastructure components were being maintained by overworked individuals with minimal resources.
The endowment model differs sharply from existing funding approaches like GitHub Sponsors, Patreon campaigns, or one-off corporate grants. Rather than relying on recurring donations that can evaporate when company budgets tighten, an endowment builds a permanent capital base that generates returns to fund projects in perpetuity. It's the same principle that allows Harvard to distribute hundreds of millions annually to students and faculty from its $50 billion endowment without depleting the principal.
